The House Built of Lust and Silence

By Tobias Otieno Ogola

"Some houses are made of bricks. Ours was built of secrets, silence... and the kind of love that bruises more than it embraces."

In this searing and unforgettable literary novel, The House Built of Lust and Silence tells the story of three siblings—Zion, Ariel, and Ezekiel—who return to their childhood home to confront the memory of Seraphina, their enigmatic and tormented mother. What begins as a reluctant reunion becomes a reckoning with the ghosts of their past—both living and dead.

Zion, a sensitive writer desperate to make sense of his fragmented boyhood, pens a haunting manuscript of their upbringing: a blend of poetry, memory, and longing. Ariel, a fierce but fractured woman, carries the scars of abandonment and desire, as she fights to heal others while learning to love herself. Ezekiel, the eldest, once the silent protector, is torn between faith and fury, politics and pain.

Their childhood was shaped by the mystery of their father's absence and Seraphina's shadowy grief, by whispered arguments, forbidden touches, and unspoken truths. But as adults, they gather not only to bury their mother—but to uncover her. And in doing so, they must finally face what was done to them—and what they've become in its aftermath.

Told in lyrical, visceral prose that pulses with truth and tenderness, Tobias Otieno Ogola's debut novel is both a raw confession and a poetic triumph. It explores what happens when children are forced to become their own healers, their own witnesses, and—ultimately—their own saviors.

The House Built of Lust and Silence is a story of memory and mercy, of inherited trauma and the healing power of siblinghood. Brutally honest yet achingly hopeful, it is for anyone who has ever tried to rebuild a life from the ashes of one unlived.

Tagline

"Maybe we were never mothered—But we mothered each other into survival."