Home Before Dark

Home Before Dark is a 2020 horror novel by Riley Sager. It tells the story of the Holt family and their brief time in Baneberry Hall, a haunted house in the mold of the home from The Amityville Horror. The story unfolds from two alternating first-person points of view. Half the chapters take place in the present and are narrated by the adult Maggie Holt. The other chapters are told by her father, Ewan Holt, as the narrator of his memoir, House of Horrors, about Baneberry Hall.

This guide uses the 2020 Dutton edition of Home Before Dark.

Content Warning: This study guide discusses death by suicide, mental health conditions, and the effects of childhood trauma.

Plot Summary

Ewan Holt narrates his memoir House of Horrors within the larger frame narrative of Home Before Dark (his daughter Maggie narrates the rest of the novel). The memoir tells the story of the Holt family’s time at Baneberry Hall before they were allegedly driven out by supernatural forces. In Ewan’s version of the story, shortly after moving in, he begins noticing strange events, and Maggie sees beings that she refers to as “Miss Pennyface” and “Mister Shadow,” who enter her room through the antique armoire.