This week on The Write Question, host Lauren Korn speaks with Kim Fu, author of The Valley of Vengeful Ghosts (Tin House Books; Zando Projects).
About the book:
In the aftermath of her mother’s death, Eleanor is unmoored. For years, her mother orchestrated every detail of her life—from meals, to laundry, to finances—so that Eleanor could focus on her career as a therapist. Left to navigate the world on her own, Eleanor clings to her mother’s final directive: use her inheritance to buy a house.
Desperate to obey her mother one last time, but finding few options she can afford, Eleanor impulsively buys a model home in a valley-turned-construction site, a picturesque development steeped in a shadowy history. It feels like a fresh start, until the rain comes—an endless, torrential downpour. As water seeps in through the house’s cracks, the line between what is real and what is not begins to blur. Haunted by the stories of her clients, a stream of workmen and bureaucrats she can’t trust, and visions of ghosts from her past and present, Eleanor’s reality unravels, and she is forced to reckon with the secrets she’s buried and the dark choices she’s made.
This conversation has been edited for time.
About Kim:
Kim Fu is the author of five books, including the 2026 novel The Valley of Vengeful Ghosts, a Belletrist Book Club pick, New York Times notable book, and Indigo bestseller.
Kim’s story collection Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century (2022) won the Washington State Book Award, the Pacific Northwest Book Award, and the Danuta Gleed Literary Award. It was also a finalist for the Giller Prize, the Ignyte Awards, the Shirley Jackson Awards, and the Saroyan International Prize. Stories in this collection have been selected for Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy and Best of the Net, featured on Levar Burton Reads and Selected Shorts, and optioned for television and film.
Kim lives in Seattle, Washington.
Mentioned in this episode:
Dark Tales, The Haunting of Hill House, and We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson (Penguin Random House)
Daphne du Maurier, author of My Cousin Rachel (Sourcebooks) and Rebecca (Little, Brown & Company)
Kim Fu recommends:
The Memory Police (Vintage Books) and The Diving Pool (Picador) by Yoko Ogawa, translated by Stephen Snyder
Bitter Orange and Unsettled Ground by Claire Fuller (Tin House Books; Zando Projects)
My Cousin Rachel (Sourcebooks) and Rebecca (Little, Brown & Company) by Daphne du Maurier
We Have Always Lived in the Castle and The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson (Penguin Random House)
Earthlings by Sayaka Murata, translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori (Grove Press)
Sleep Donation by Karen Russell (Vintage Books); listen to Lauren’s conversation with Karen about The Antidote here!
The Ghost Variations: One Hundred Stories by Kevin Brockmeier (Pantheon Books)
Discipline by Larissa Pham (Penguin Random House)
A Swim in a Pond in the Rain: In Which Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and Life by George Saunders (Penguin Random House)
I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman, translated by Ros Schwartz (Transit Books)
Everything Flirts: Philosophical Romances by Sharon Wahl (University of Iowa Press)
Death by a Thousand Cuts: Stories by Shashi Bhat (McClelland & Stewart; Penguin Random House Canada)
Intemperance by Sonora Jha (HarperCollins)
Liars by Sarah Manguso (Hogarth)
City of Night Birds by Juhea Kim (Ecco Press)
I Remember Lights by Ben Ladoceur (Book*hug Press)
Lauren Korn recommends:
The Valley of Vengeful Ghosts and Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century by Kim Fu (Tin House Books; Zando Projects)
The Haunting of Hill House and We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson (Penguin Random House)
The writing of Karen Russell, esp. The Antidote (Alfred A. Knopf); and Swamplandia!, Vampires in the Lemon Grove, and St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves (Vintage Books); listen to Lauren’s conversation with Karen here!
The Bunny by Mona Awad (Penguin Random House)
And Then She Fell by Alicia Elliott (Dutton Books); listen to Lauren’s conversation with Alicia here!
Bad Cree by Jessica Johns (Vintage Books); listen to Lauren’s conversation with Jessica here!
Feeding Ghosts by Tessa Hulls (Picador); listen to Lauren’s conversation with Tessa here!
Lauren is looking forward to reading: Best Offer Wins by Marisa Kashino (Celadon Books)
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The Write Question team for this episode was Lauren Korn, host, co-producer, and editor; and Chris Moyles, co-producer, editor, and sound engineer. This episode is supported by Fact & Fiction, an independent bookstore located in the heart of downtown Missoula, Montana, providing books for all ages and supporting the literary community in Montana and beyond. More information can be found at factandfictionbooks.com.
The Write Question logo and brand (2022) was designed by Molly Russell. You can see more of her work at iamthemollruss.com and on Instagram @iamthemollruss.
Funding for The Write Question comes from members of Montana Public Radio and from the Greater Montana Foundation—encouraging communication on issues, trends, and values of importance to Montanans. A hat-tip to Humanities Montana for supporting this program since 2008.
The Write Question is a production of Montana Public Radio.
