A HOUSE LIKE AN ACCORDION by Audrey Burges – Review

I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

A House Like An Accordion by Audrey Burges
Published by Ace Books on May 21 2024
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Magical realism
Pages: 368
Format: Finished paperback
Source: Publisher
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The nitty-gritty: A surreal, complex and magical journey through one family’s odd history, A House Like An Accordion captivated me with its unique ideas and emotional family connections.

“Be mindful of the act of creation, and of creating. It carries great beauty, but it exacts a cost.”

Every once in a while you read a book that feels completely new and fresh, and for me that book is A House Like an Accordion. This is a weird and wonderful story that’s almost impossible to categorize, although the term “magical realism” seems to fit it best. Part mystery, part family drama, this is an emotional tale about family ties, losing loved ones and then finding them. And although that might not sound magical, the story is infused with a surreal quality that elevates it to the next level. Audrey Burges makes you believe that it’s possible to create reality through a drawing, or trap a bird in a sketch book by drawing it.

Keryth Miller wakes up one day with a big problem: she’s starting to disappear. Her left hand has vanished—well, it’s still there, it’s just invisible—which can only mean that her father Morrison, presumed dead, is still alive and is drawing her. He’s been missing for the past twenty years, but Keryth’s vanishing hand is proof that he’s out there somewhere. Leaving her husband and two children behind, she embarks on an epic quest, convinced that by revisiting all her childhood homes—homes her father literally created with a sketchbook and a piece of charcoal—she will eventually find the man himself. Joined by two high school friends from her past, as well as the Miller family attorney, Keryth dives headfirst into her odd, magical past, searching for answers than only her father can provide.

I’ve given you a very vague recap, since A House Like An Accordion is a hard book to describe. Burges tells her story from Keryth’s point of view, as we follow her on her journey to find her father. Her goal is to locate each house she lived in as a child, hoping that as she retraces her “footsteps,” she might find clues about her father’s location. Because of the unusual abilities of her father (which Keryth has as well), the family moved around a lot, simply because his creations drew unwanted attention. Keryth’s story moves between the past and present, and each family house from the past evokes its own memories. There’s her first house, Thorn House, covered in blackberry brambles. It was here that Morrison taught Keryth a harsh lesson about her abilities: he captured a Steller’s Jay in his book by drawing it from life, and now Keryth carries that sketchbook with her everywhere, as a reminder that her gift can be powerful and dangerous.

The House Where God Lived was created from the bones of an abandoned church, and it’s here that Keryth lived with her grandparents for a time. My favorite location, though, was The House in the Reeds, where Keryth lived as a teenager. During those years she met and befriended Erma and Tobias, who help her hunt for the houses in the present. It’s also the house where Keryth’s brother Neil was lost, an event that has haunted her ever since.

As the author dips in and out of the past, she slowly reveals the mysteries behind Keryth’s family, mysteries that stretch back to her grandparents. Why did Keryth’s mother disappear over and over again throughout her childhood, and what ultimately happened to her? Did Neil die that fateful day at The House in the Reeds, or is he simply lost somewhere? And will Keryth herself continue to disappear, or will finding her father cure her? Interspersed between chapters are epistolary fragments of letters, newspaper articles and announcements, which form a puzzle box of sorts and eventually answer many of these questions. This is a book for readers who love slow burn mysteries and enjoy piecing things together without much help from the author. In other words, Burges doesn’t hand feed you anything, which might frustrate some readers. I’ll admit I was confused at times, and for this reason I took a half star off my rating (otherwise this would have been a five star read). For me, the appeal was the journey and not necessarily the destination.

But wow, what a journey it was! In addition to Keryth’s search for her father, there’s a side plot involving Keryth’s rocky marriage with her husband Max. Keryth has become disconnected from Max and her daughters Ellory and Mindy, and leaving home to find her father certainly isn’t helping matters. But I loved the way the time away from her family ultimately puts her back on track, and she comes to realize how precious they are to her. The “imploding marriage” subplot isn’t the focus of the story, but it added a lovely emotional layer. Keryth’s feelings about her family are complex and hard to define, which resonated with me, as that’s how real life is sometimes. 

There’s yet another fascinating layer to the story involving Max’s drive to create an AI called Harold, which is based off Max’s dead father. “Harold” the prototype lives with Max and his family, and he was the perfect comic relief to this rather serious story. I loved Harold’s funny quips and grandfatherly expressions, and just like Alexa, you can ask Harold to help you with anything. Harold is a stress point in their marriage, though, since Max wants to make his AI more complex and widespread, while Keryth wants to put the brakes on Max’s overly ambitious ideas.

And of course, the idea of being able to “draw from life” and capture something living on paper has so many possibilities. Both Keryth and her father can also draw objects into existence, which is how their many strange houses came to be.

Ultimately, it was the emotional connections between the characters that made this such a memorable read for me. Burges gets to the heart of how complicated relationships can be, between a mother and her children, husband and wife, father and daughter, siblings and many more. The last few chapters are full of both shocking reveals and tender-hearted moments. A House Like An Accordion is the strange and magical story I didn’t know I needed, and I’m so glad I read it.

Big thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy.