HOUSE OF LAVENDER

Beware the House of Lavender—something dark blooms there.

2026

All Petra Babić has inherited are tales of loss. Which is why it comes as a shock when, following her mother’s passing, Petra learns her grandmother is not dead like her mother said, but alive and living on Tolba, a small island in Croatia. Desperate to find her last surviving family member and get answers about her heritage, Petra ventures to her ancestral home, the House of Lavender, known for its sprawling lavender fields—and the spirit who haunts its halls. For rarely does a night go by that Petra doesn’t lose herself to vivid nightmares, a crushing pressure on her chest, and the dizzying sense that something—or someone—is out to prevent her from embracing her inheritance. It takes all of Petra’s willpower to stay when everything reinforces her conviction that she doesn’t belong.  

1895

Whore. Sinner. Witch. No matter how many people Magdalena Derokov heals, the rumors persist. So, when she’s asked to help the ailing matriarch of the House of Lavender, she seizes this as the final opportunity to rehabilitate her reputation. As Magdalena races against time to heal the matriarch, she finds herself unexpectedly falling for the son of her greatest enemy, the man responsible for her ostracization and the founder of the House of Lavender. But are true love and acceptance possible for a woman who has always lived on the margins? 

Back in the present, Petra’s hauntings fade under the beating heat of the Croatian sun; it doesn’t hurt that Petra has a handsome, if somewhat gruff, local named Luka to show her around the island. As the sexual tension between them escalates, it also becomes harder for Petra to ignore the suspicious looks and barbed whispers of the townsfolk; they believe the House of Lavender is haunted by a mora, a figure from Croatian folklore whose quest for revenge mimics Petra’s suffocating nighttime experiences. As Petra learns about the untimely deaths of anyone her family has come to love, she begins to realize that her inheritance is far darker than she ever expected—and that falling for Luka means he's the next one in danger. 

Through the intersecting stories of Petra and Magdalena, HOUSE OF LAVENDER asks us to consider the lengths to which we go to belong, the cost of choosing love, and what makes a true monster when those in power are writing the narrative.