Short Bio

Amanda Havill Adgate is a writer and therapist whose work explores the dark intersections of trauma, memory, and the supernatural. With a background in mental health and a passion for gothic storytelling, Amanda weaves narratives that are both emotionally resonant and hauntingly atmospheric. Her fiction often centers on women navigating grief, isolation, and inherited horror, drawing inspiration from folklore, cult psychology, and feminist theory. She lives near the Appalachian Mountains with her feral children and the love of her life, where she balances writing with wild, wonder-filled chaos.

Current Works

THE WOUNDS WITHIN

Adult Horror, for fans of Mike Flanagan and Summer Sons.

Crafted as a contemporary horror in the vein of Rebecca and Jane Eyre, this story explores the legacy of trauma and abuse, and centers a protagonist suffering from suicidal ideation and PTSD.

A prisoner of her own mind, 21-year-old Maris would do anything to elude her painful memories and the merciless father who hunts her. When she's offered a job as a nanny on a remote island off the coast of Maine, she believes she's found a chance to leave the past behind–a past in which she witnessed a demonic cult brutally murder her best friend, and narrowly escaped a fate far worse.

Overwhelmed with survivor’s guilt and terrified her sanity is unraveling, Maris dismisses the feeling of being watched, ignores the way her young wards talk to the portrait of their dead mother, and convinces herself the shadows she sees in the hall outside her room are only her imagination. It isn't the first time since Rebecca's death she's shied away from things that weren't there.

But when a bloated, mutilated corpse washes up on the shore and her new home reveals connections to that same demonic cult, Maris can’t pretend any longer. She must face her father, raise old ghosts, and find a way off the isolated island before she loses her newfound family to the monsters that stole her last.

Upcoming Release, Fall 2025