Elisabeth Thomas Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Elisabeth Thomas
Author Elisabeth Thomas was born in New Haven, Connecticut. She grew up in Brooklyn, New York, where she still lives and writes.

Elisabeth graduated from Yale University and works as an archivist for a modern art museum.

From an early age, she loved gothic novels such as “Jane Eyre” and “Rebecca”. She also enjoyed reading the novels of Jane Austen. In general, she loved reading classic literature.

Even though she loved them, she realized right from the start these books were not written for her. She knew that she wanted to become a novelist and would put herself and her family and her friends in the books she wrote and would reflect the world as she sees it.

She studied art history in college because she understands books so instinctively. She found that art history did not come naturally to her, which she found made it a great subject to study. A lot of the subject is made up of trying to describe the effect something visual will have on you.

Both her dad and her grandfather attended Yale. When her grandfather went, he was one of just four black men in Yale’s 1953 class. The dorm he stayed in was near a courtyard casually referred to as the “slave quarters”.

Her dad, who didn’t fit in many places, especially did not fit in at Yale. He would spend days wiring giant speakers into the bathroom in the dorm, since he wanted to listen to Chaka Khan during his showers. Later on, he would take a mental health leave before dropping out.

Elisabeth was raised to trust in the weight of a good education, however, to also beware of giant, antiquated, and white institutions. In their house, Yale reunion invites would go right into the trash, and calls for alumni donations would go right to the machine. She was told by her dad she could attend any college she wanted, just not Yale. Which she chose to attend.

She has always loved lush gothic novels and fairy tales. Stories about eerie houses and woods that are haunted by some rather bloody secrets. While she was at Yale, she walked among such houses each and every day. However, she was not dazzled by its architecture or its traditions. She felt zero tenderness for the Good Old Yale that was lauded during convocation and then exalted by the sweet tongued Whiffenpoofs.

Sure, she was a legacy, however it was one of hurt and racism. She only wanted to get her degree and then get out.

That being said, she still found herself slowing down to admire the handsome campus, lined with its stately elm trees and flowering courtyards. The classes were tough yet thrilling, meals were both warm and generous. Elisabeth made some brilliant, wild, and funny friends that came from distant countries and cities however lived right down the hall. They were ready for study breaks or midnight ABBA dance parties. It was a happy time for her.

After graduating, she entered a tough time in her life. Her parents got divorced, then her dad died suddenly from an illness. She penned a couple odd, rambling novels before trashing them both. Her friends’ Skype calls sounded way far away.

She didn’t realize just how bad things had gotten until she was on the train ride from her five-year reunion, and she burst into sobs. She wanted to go back.

When she got home from the reunion she had attended, she reread a draft of a novel that later became “Catherine House”. She had set out to pen the type of story she loved when she was a girl. One of sorceresses and monsters, creaking floorboards and whispering winds, the daring damsels that were trapped in intricate, ghostly manors.

Now, Elisabeth realized the real horror of the damsel and the manor. She was trapped, certainly, however she didn’t care. She wanted to stay in that odd, impossible, and magic house and would remain there forever.

With the novel, her goal was to have some things that were left odd and unclear, rather than have everything make sense.

With Ines, she wanted a character that women can put themselves into, and be vague about her backstory. Elisabeth found her easy and fun to write, because she winds up doing the exact opposite of what Elisabeth would.

Her debut novel, called “Catherine House”, was released in the year 2020, and is from the genre of literary fiction. It was published by William Morrow in North America.

“Catherine House” is the first stand alone novel and was released in the year 2020. That is what the Catherine experiment was. Give the house three years, three profound and total years, then you can become anybody or anything you want. Watch as all of your dreams begin coming true.

Catherine House is one American college with one major difference. The most brilliant are the only ones allowed to enter, and its graduates earn honor, wealth, and prestige. Over the three years they attend the school, they have to stay inside its black gates, having zero contact with their loved ones. They cannot have any association with the outside world. Those that break the rules are going to find themselves facing time inside the school’s infamous tower.

Ines goes into Catherine House while on the run from an incredibly dark secret, and welcomes the isolation that comes with the school. Sharing a room with Baby, who is damaged and sweet, and slowly starts to build the group of buddies that she never had outside the school. One day, though, Baby gets summoned to the tower, and is never heard from again. Ines is heartbroken, left to find all the secrets that Catherine House hides as she slowly gets increasingly seduced by its magnetic, dark power.

The novel spins with the subtle tinglings of horror and atmosphere, and is one that will rob you of your heart and devour you. Readers found themselves being seduced by Elisabeth’s gorgeous prose and the intoxication world she created. The mystery of the Catherine House was quite fascinating, finding out all of its secrets. Elisabeth gets you mesmerized right from the first page and doesn’t let you go.