Susan Barker – Novelist
Old Soul
‘Sinister, mysterious and gorgeously realised, Old Soul is as good on the horror and subliminity of love (and its shadow, loneliness) as it is on nerve-flaying visions of the vicious supernatural.’ Kaliane Bradley, author of The Ministry of Time.
The woman never goes by the same name.
She never stays in the same place too long.
She never ages. She never dies.
But those around her do.
When two grieving strangers meet by chance in Osaka airport they uncover a disturbing connection. Jake’s best friend and Mariko’s twin brother each died, 6,000 miles apart, in brutal and unfathomable circumstances.
Each encountered a mesmerising, dark-haired woman in the days before their deaths. A woman who came looking for Mariko – and then disappeared.
Jake finds himself compelled to follow the trail set by Mariko’s revelations. It’s a trail that weaves across continents and centuries, leading back to the many who have died – in strange and terrifying and eerily similar ways – and those they left behind: bewildered, disbelieved, yet resolutely sure of what they saw.
And, at the centre of it all, there is the same beguiling woman. Her name may have changed, but her purpose has never wavered, and as Jake races to discover who, or what she is, she has already made her next choice.
But will knowing her secret be enough to stop her?
On Sale February 2025 – Fig Tree, Penguin (UK), Putnam (US).
‘A sweeping work of literary horror… Eerie and suspenseful… The slow-burning tension and lush, atmospheric prose build a creeping sense of dread that lingers long after the final page.’ Publishers Weekly, starred review
‘A perfect novel, one that is so compelling and criminally well-written that you can’t put it down… I can’t stop thinking about it.’ Bookriot
‘The Ministry of Time meets The Leviathan in this deeply imaginative, beautifully written hunt across centuries and continents.’ Bookseller, Editor’s Choice
‘The kind of brilliant, horrifying, stinking book I’m desperate for other people to read, so I can talk about it with them and get it out of my head. So much fun, fantastically tense and wonderful.’ Evie Wyld, author of The Echoes
‘A twisting, expansive epic of menacing wonder. This is a novel of expertly restrained power: a wild cat in a bejewelled cage.’ Kirsty Logan, author of Now She Is Witch
‘Old Soul is a mesmerising story brilliantly told. The way the novel slowly reveals its dark secrets as it moves with ease and elegance across continents and eras is hugely impressive.’ Ian McGuire, author of The North Water
‘Old Soul enticed me in with a chance meeting between mysterious strangers with one thing in common: a nameless horror that haunts them. The novel that follows is expansive, twisty, gripping and intelligent; I loved it.’ Jenn Ashworth, author of Ghosted
‘Like nothing else I’ve ever read… The kind of story you tell around a campfire as the lights of civilization begin to flicker out around you; a global, intelligent, and ambitious archetypal nightmare.’ Kristen Roupenian, author of Cat Person
‘Smart, taut, and twisty, Susan Barker’s Old Soul deftly delivers the chills.’ Karen Joy Fowler, author of We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves
‘Old Soul snags the reader in its claw and mesmerises from page one. I often wondered if I was devouring the story or vice versa, I was so engrossed. It is not an option to put this book down.’ Monique Roffey, author of The Mermaid of Black Conch
‘Beguiles, terrifies, and utterly seduces you as swiftly and slyly as the mysterious woman at its centre. It’s at once a thriller, a postmodern mystery, and an existential horror tale, but perhaps most deeply it speaks to our current moment: the drift and terrors of loneliness, the risks of intimacy and a piercing nostalgia that never lets us go’. Megan Abbott, author of El Dorado Drive
‘Sinister, unnerving and nightmarish. Old Soul will sneak into your dreams and haunt you.’ Claire Fuller, author of Unsettled Ground
‘Old Soul is the perfect read for the chilly depths of winter: a clever, spooky metaphysical mystery that spans continents—and even planets. Susan Barker’s novel kept me guessing until the end. You’ll never look at Venus quite the same way again.’ Chloe Benjamin, author of The Immortalists
‘Old Soul is an utterly addictive and completely immersive novel. Beautifully written and filled with engrossing characters and unforgettable landscapes, it is the most propulsive thing I have read all year.’ Lara Williams, author of Supper Club
‘An extraordinary achievement. A brutal interrogation of art, connection, the meaning of and impulse toward life itself. I couldn’t put it down.’ Beth Underdown, author of The Witchfinder’s Sister
‘A brilliant, engrossing read. Both beguiling and compulsive in all the right ways.’ Irenosen Okojie, author of Curandera
‘Susan Barker’s diabolically haunting novel begs to be read over and over, its intertwined stories a feat of literary prestidigitation. Darkly magical and irresistible, Old Soul feels like it reveals a truth that’s been long buried in our collective unconscious.’ Alma Katsu, author of The Hunger
‘An enthralling, gritty fever dream of a novel and a fable for the modern age.’ Lucy Rose, author of The Lamb
‘Elegant and eerie, mesmerising and compelling, Old Soul is like a glorious and terrible nightmare that you never want to wake up from.’ Sam Mills, author of The Watermark
‘Brilliantly thought-provoking, disturbing and highly complex, with the pace of a thriller and the heart of a tragic love story.’ Caroline Lea, author of Prize Women
‘Old Soul is as brilliant as it is terrifying, a master class in character development and the art of slow dread. Immortality is an addiction in this literary horrorscape, and Barker’s genius is in creating stories within stories until we are so engrossed in the spiral of characters that the novel becomes impossible to put down.’ Rachel Eve Moulton, author of The Insatiable Volt Sisters