5 h 45 minAudiobook7 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What can walls and weapons protect when the danger reaches beyond time and space?
On a fishing holiday in western Ireland, Tonnison and his friend Berreggnog discover a manuscript among the ruins of a house. Its writer is an unnamed elderly recluse. His record draws them into a remote home where he lives with his sister and his old dog, Pepper—and where something terrible presses close.
In William Hope Hodgson's The House on the Borderland, a deep pit holds strange sights, and swinelike creatures gather outside the walls. The old man tries to defend his home and keep his sanity. This short horror novel brings a haunted house, a siege, and the terrifying scale of an aging universe into one frightened witness's account.
What you’ll discover
- A record among ruins Follow Tonnison and Berreggnog into a discovery that challenges a practical man's doubt.
- A home under siege Feel the pressure mount as creatures return night after night and press against the walls.
- A faithful companion Meet Pepper, the old dog whose senses warn of danger before his master notices.
- Dread beyond the house Encounter horror that stretches beyond earthly threats toward the vastness of time and space.
- The limits of control Share a frightened man's struggle to protect his home against forces he cannot understand.
Who will love it
For readers who love eerie atmosphere, early weird fiction and the roots of cosmic horror, with haunted houses, monstrous creatures and visions beyond space and time.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Two fishermen find a ruined house
- An old recluse lives with his sister and dog
- Strange sights come out of the pit
- The house becomes a fortress under siege
- His mind travels beyond time and space
- Fear, time and a story told by a witness
Who’s who
- The narratorAn elderly recluse who lives in the house and keeps a written record of the strange things he sees, trying to stay sane.
- TonnisonA fishing visitor in Ireland who finds the manuscript among the ruins and reads it with a practical man's doubt.
- BerreggnogTonnison's friend, who shares the fishing trip and the discovery of the ruined house by the chasm.
- The narrator's sisterA frightened but loyal woman who shares the house with her brother and relies on his protection.
- PepperThe old dog who is the narrator's close companion and senses danger before his master does.
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- Hardcover
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- Large print paperback
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- Large print hardcover
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The House on the Borderland
by William Hope Hodgson · 1908
In a remote house in Ireland, a recluse records horrors from a pit as his home becomes a fortress under siege.
Medium level5–10 hours to read25 languages
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In short
The House on the Borderland is a short horror novel by William Hope Hodgson, published in 1908. Hodgson was an English writer who had been a sailor, and his sea stories already showed his gift for lonely, threatening places.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
Two fishermen find a ruined house
The story opens in the year 1877. Two friends, a man named Tonnison and his companion Berreggnog, are on a fishing holiday in western Ireland. They stay in the small village of Kraighten, a quiet place far from the rest of the world.
While exploring, they follow a river to a deep chasm. Beside it, on the edge of the drop, they find the broken remains of a large house. Heaps of stone lie about, and the ground seems to hold some old unease. The villagers keep away from the place, and the two men soon learn why it has such a name.
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What is The House on the Borderland about?
It is about an old recluse who lives in an isolated house in Ireland. His written account describes attacks by monstrous creatures from a pit and a dreamlike journey through space and time.
When was The House on the Borderland written?
William Hope Hodgson published it in 1908. It is a work of fiction, though it is framed as a real manuscript found by two travelers in the ruins of the house.
Is The House on the Borderland hard to read?
Its eerie mood and striking images make it rewarding.
The author
William Hope Hodgson
1877–1918 · English horror and fantasy writer
William Hope Hodgson (1877–1918) was a British writer born in Essex, England. He worked as a sailor before becoming a writer. His novels include The House on the Borderland (1908) and The Night Land (1912). He served in the British Army and was killed in France during the First World War.
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