A fierce, feminist retelling of Bluebeard by a brilliant young writer

Beatrice's father has been murdered. Her life is in disarray. Her future uncertain. But she will not be lied to any more. Vengeance will be hers.

'If you crossed The Miniaturist with Promising Young Woman, you'd get The House of Barbary . . . a blazing feminist roar of a novel' Naomi Kelsey

Beatrice has been lied to her whole life.

Beatrice Barbary has been raised to believe that while education will set her mind free, there are some questions better left unanswered.

Her life is in disarray.

But when her father, one of the most powerful men in Bern, is brutally murdered in their own home, she is left reeling, unprotected and vulnerable.

Her future uncertain.

Plunging head first into the mysteries surrounding her father and her own upbringing, Beatrice discovers The Order of St. Eve and the violent secrets they have been hiding her entire life.

It's time for her to take control.

Will she be able to right the wrongs of her father, or will the Order silence her first?

Set in a city at breaking point, Beatrice's story toes the dangerously thin line between retribution and revenge, and the choice we must make when confronted by evil.

Readers love The House of Barbary:
'I literally could not put it down'
'Gripping from the start'
'A macabre tale of secrets, revenge and death'
'I truly felt this tale was so original - I have never felt anything quite like it'
'An incredibly well-written tale from Isabelle Schuler'

"A novel of exceptional vigour and originality" - Sunday Times, 'the best historical fiction of 2025 - so far'

"A fierce, feminist retelling of the French Folklore, Bluebeard . . . After years of researching seventeenth-century Bern, Isabelle has created a story that is historically adjacent to the period and place. She has intertwined fact and fiction to bring us this Early Modern historical fiction of mystery and vengeance" - Gazette & Herald

"It is inspired distantly by the Bluebeard legend, but ‘outcreeps’ Angela Carter’s retelling of that famous myth. One of the most original books I have read in a long time" - Historical Novels Review, Issue 111 (February 2025)