Review: 'House of Margins' by Tlotlo Tsamaase
Pub. Date: 26/05/2026
Publisher: Erewhon Books
Anaya Sebeya is missing.
Before her disappearance, Anaya was a brilliant writer: a rising star. Invited to a prestigious writing residency at Günter Huis, an eerie colonial mansion on the slopes of Devil’s Peak, Anaya was supposed to craft the next great African literary masterpiece—and so were four other young, emerging writers, all competing for the grand prize. But Anaya never made it home.
When a sensationalized true crime podcast about Anaya emerges, claiming to reveal everything that happened at Günter Huis, her sister Ranewa is both skeptical and furious. But with each surreal episode, Ranewa begins to piece together a truth worse than she ever could have imagined…
At Günter Huis, Anaya’s nightmares consume her. Time slips away from her. Günter Huis inflicts distorted visions and terrible supernatural visitations, pushing Anaya to tell a story no one dares. But exorcising the house’s endless cycle of evil requires a sacrifice that neither Anaya nor her fellows are ready to make.
A novel that is, in large part, a critique of not just racism but specifically also racism within the publishing industry, which asks African authors to adjust their writing, efface themselves and their languages, remove uncomfortable topics, etc. can be a little difficult to critique or review. I've been thinking of how to write this review because, in a way, House of Margins itself preempts or addresses what could be potential points of criticism from readers like myself (white, anglophone/European). The feedback Anaya gets, for example, to remove the Motswana from her writing because international readers won't understand it, is something I could mention in this review, since I don't speak Motswana and therefore also didn't understand the phrases Tsamaase uses throughout. I did enjoy the Motswana, however, and I also did enjoy how Tsamaase moves in this meta-fictional book. One of the reasons that I enjoy writing book reviews is that it encourages me to read beyond my own comfort zone and House of Margins is, in many ways, outside of my comfort zone. Despite being half-Dutch, I'm not as informed on Dutch colonialism and imperialism in Africa as I should be. Despite reading a lot and engaging with the publishing industry in various ways, I don't necessarily have the insight I should when it comes to the barriers thrown up for non-white authors. In this book, Tlotlo Tamaase made me confront these aspects, as well as what I expect of a narrative. I don't know if House of Margins will work for everyone and I don't even know if all of it worked for me, but I did find it very intriguing and informative, as well as gripping.
House of Margins is the story of two sisters, Anaya and Ranewa, but it is also the story of the suffering of African women and the story of the impenetrability of the publishing industry. Told through different mediums and in a style that borrows from surrealism and magical realism, it is no straightforward read. Anaya went missing a year ago on the evening of the the winner announcement of the Günther Huis writing competition. Now, a year later, one of the other competitors, the only white woman there, is releasing a podcast about it all which seems to appropriate Anaya's voice, while her sister, Ranewa, is still deeply impacted by her loss. When Anaya's phone suddenly appears to Ranewa, containing not just the podcast but also seemingly lost episodes by Anaya herself, Ranewa decides to try and find her sister, come what may. What unfolds is a story about writing and art, about publishing, about appropriating voices, about the horrors of slavery and imperialism, and about sisterhood. I recently ranted (a little) about a different book where I felt that the violence and horror served no clear purpose. That is not the case with House of Margins. While there is violence and horror that is difficult to face, these things are there for clear narrative and thematic reasons.
I read a part of Tlotlo Tsamaase's previous book, Womb City, and while I really enjoyed much of it, there was a point about halfway through where I had to put it down. I haven't come back to it since, but reading House of Margins has encouraged me to go back to it. There is something confronting about Tsamaase's writing. It's not that the tone is confrontational or that the stories are too out there, or anything like that, but as I mentioned at the top, reading Tsamaase's work really reminds me how much of my reading is still very white and Europe-focused. I have the same experience when reading, for example, Korean or Japanese literature, which makes me realise how much my expectations of what a book is like and how it might tell a story is shaped by Western literary expectations. In reading House of Margins I really liked how Tsamaase crafted her story, how her sentences were balanced between short and punchy on the one hand, and magical and surreal on the other. I also like how she builds the thoughts of her characters and unravels, slowly but surely, the complexities of their lived realities. The mix of media, from podcast episodes to different kinds of writing, was really interesting although I can imagine that perhaps it won't work for all readers. Overall, I had a really good time reading House of Margins and walked away with a lot to think about and a desire to both go back to Womb City and read more by Tsamaase in the future!
I give this novel...
4 Universes!
If my rating scale was different I'd probably give this 4,5 because I really like what Tsamaase does in House of Margins. It is a difficult and painful story she is telling, but she does it in a way that is not just necessary and important but also interesting from a literary craft perspective.
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