Maynard's House
Herman Raucher's 1980 novel sends a young Vietnam veteran named Austin Fletcher into the dead Maine winter to claim a cabin willed to him by an army friend who died in the war. The house sits at the end of a long unplowed road, surrounded by snow that goes on for miles, and it is supposed to be a refuge. It is not. The walls creak with voices. Footprints appear where nobody walked. A pair of strange local children seem to know things about Austin he never told anyone. As cabin fever blurs into something darker, Austin begins to suspect that the house is haunted, that he himself is being slowly unmade, or that the war never really let him go. Raucher, best known for Summer of '42, builds the novel out of Yankee folklore, witch trials, and the quiet menace of being completely alone with your own grief, and the result is a slow burn New England ghost story that has stayed in print for good reason.
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Vietnam veteran Austin Fletcher inherits the small Maine cabin of a friend killed in the war. He moves in for the winter to write. The house, the snow, and the woods around it begin to behave like they have plans.
Maynard's House was written by Herman Raucher and published in 1980. Raucher is also known for Summer of '42 and the screenplay for Sweet November.
Yes. Maynard's House is a quiet, atmospheric horror novel set in a remote Maine cabin. It has gained a devoted following as a folk horror precursor and was reissued in 2014 after years out of print.
Maynard's House is 243 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, Maynard's House takes most readers 4 to 5 hours to finish.
Maynard's House is a standalone novel by Herman Raucher, not part of a series.
Maynard's House is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.
