Leah Konen is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she studied journalism and English literature. She is the author of the new thriller,
You Should Have Told Me. Her debut thriller,
All the Broken People was a
Rolling Stone,
Marie Claire,
She Reads, and
Charlotte Observer best summer book pick.
At Electric Lit, Konen tagged
seven of her "favorite thrillers that explore the darker side of motherhood," including:
The Upstairs House by Julia Fine
A ghost story—or is it?—that cuts to the very heart of motherhood, The Upstairs House centers Megan, a postpartum woman who finds herself both psychologically 
unravelling and guilt-wracked over her unfinished thesis about children’s literature. Struggling to care for her newborn largely alone while her husband travels for work, one day, Megan discovers the ghost of beloved children’s book author, Margaret Wise Brown, and her lover, Michael, who move into a “house” upstairs that only Megan can see. Megan’s psychological break is peppered with nods to Goodnight Moon—her first vision is that of a single red balloon in her labor and delivery room—and as we delve deeper into Megan’s psyche, and those upstairs ghosts, Fine’s superb writing and characterization forces us to reckon with the pressures we put on mothers and a horrifying lack of societal support.
Read about
another entry on the list.
My Book, The Movie: The Upstairs House.
The Page 69 Test: The Upstairs House.
--Marshal Zeringue
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