Winner of a Saturday Visiter Award at the Poe International Festival
Welcome to Poe Cottage… Would you like a tour?
Jonah Peabody takes a job as caretaker and docent for the last home of Edgar Allan Poe in The Bronx, but from the moment he moves into Poe’s Basement—where the caretaker must live—he finds himself also living inside a Poe story, stalked by a man who seems to be his doppelganger and who seeks revenge for past misdeeds.
Jonah claims to be hunting for his lost sister, but as the narrative shifts between past and present, it’s clear that he’s not telling us the entire story. What is he hiding and why?
Haunted by the violent ghosts of his own family and Poe himself, Jonah must reconcile with his dark past before the dual shadow of guilt and grief buries him alive. Living in Poe’s Basement might just be his last chance at redemption.
The author himself lived in Poe Cottage many and many a year ago, and Poe & I is loosely based on that experience, but this is no memoir. It’s pure fiction. Or, as Poe might say, a hoax.