Sarafina

De: Philip Fracassi

Narrado por: Eric Fox, Ellie Gossage

From USA Today bestselling author, and Bram Stoker nominee, Philip Fracassi, comes a historical horror novel where three brothers go AWOL during one of the most violent battles of the Civil War, but find something much worse waiting in the woods.

Choosing to risk execution rather than be killed in a losing war, three brothers desert their posts and begin a long, arduous journey back home. After weeks of dealing with rough terrain while evading bandits and home guard soldiers—starving, injured, and exhausted—the brothers find a miracle deep in the dark woods. A home.

Living in a remote cabin is a beautiful woman, Sarafina, and her young son, Titus. Sarafina takes the soldiers in, cares for them, feeds them, offers them a place to rest. But the youngest of the brothers is wary—something is not what it seems. After discovering a mysterious creek and a strange underground cavern, he gets a strong sense that the cabin, and the fertile land surrounding it, might be harboring something nefarious, terrifying, and dangerous.

What ensues is a nightmare beyond imagination, an escalation of horrors that the brothers must somehow fight to survive. With tensions high, the country divided, and loyalties put to the test, Sarafina will take listeners on an epic journey of modern horror.

©2026 Philip Fracassi (P)2026 Vibrance Press

Reseñas de la Crítica

“A fairytale like no other, Fracassi has crafted a nightmarish story weaving together threads of mythology, history, fantasy, and horror that explores the bonds of brotherhood through a terrifying landscape of war, religion, and the supernatural.”—Scream Magazine

“Sarafina is the literary equivalent of a cannonball that’ll leave you bruised, bloody, and broken. A dark and unsettling novel that uses spiritual mythology, and the war America fought against itself, as the backdrop for a story that will twist your stomach and shred your nerves.”—Tyler Jones, author of Night of the Long Knives

“Philip Fracassi’s Sarafina is a shape-shifting fever dream: part historical epic, part coming of age—but its horrors are one-hundred-proof: pure, potent, and wholly terrifying.”—Nick Cutter, author of Little Heaven

Very enjoyable

Fantastic narration. Haunting story. Im so glad I stumbled across this book. Now I feel inclined to check out the rest of this author’s work. 5 stars.

Lulls you juuuuust enough….

I loved the pacing of the story, it was like sitting at the feet of a master storyteller, and the slow slow drip of realization, I relished every minute.

Haunting Southern Gothic Tale

This book was incredibly well-written, and the audio performance was great, too. I LOVED that the author didn’t cave to make the men in this story heroes. This book is about consequences, and I’m glad that the characters who were bad people got what was coming for them. You find yourself rooting for the “villain,” which is a rare feat to do in literature. Well done!

Fantastic southern gothic

I don’t want to spoil anything about the book, and the less you know about it going in the better, I feel. But I will say the story is excellent, taking unexpected turns and surprising you along the way. There are foreshadowings that are easy to dismiss in the moment, only for them to come back later and wallop you.

The writing itself is beautiful, but fitting to the story. It’s not flowery but is expressive. You really get the feeling of the locations and the characters inhabiting them. And the protagonists are rich and compelling.

The narrators are excellent. The story is told in first person, so the entire reading is a character performance, and both narrators meet the challenge, imbuing the characters with depth and feeling.

This is now one of my all time favorite listens, and I highly recommend it.

Soooo good! Loved the civil war premise.

Narrators were great! Wished it wouldn’t end! Will look for more by this author for sure!