The Cellar by Minette Walters

The Cellar

by Minette Walters

The terrifying Hammer novella by Minette Walters, bestselling author of The Sculptress and The Scold's Bridle

Muna's bedroom is a dark windowless cellar and her activities are confined to cooking and cleaning. She’s grown used to being maltreated by the Songoli family; to being a slave.

She’s never been outside, doesn’t know how to read or write, and cannot speak English.

At least that’s what the Songolis believe.

But Muna is far cleverer - and her plans more terrifying - than the Songolis, or anyone else, can ever imagine ...

Reviewed by Whitney @ First Impressions Reviews on

3 of 5 stars

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The beginning of Minette Walters’ novel, The Cellar, is all-consuming with a child’s disappearance, opening a Pandora’s Box of sorts.

Her captures, Ebuka and Metunde, known as Master and Princess to Muna are hard, bitter, and down right mean throughout the book’s entirety. It is very hard to shake. Although, as the plot progresses, despite getting his just desserts I began to feel sympathy for Ebuka and his new-found sorry state of circumstance.

At first, I felt sorry for Muna, trapped, beaten, raped and enslaved, but slowly, as the chapters turned so did my alliance with the girl. Muna, who comes off as poor and helpless at first, slowly starts to strip from this persona and changes into her evil ways. I soon began to breathe harder and jumped at the slightest creak, and like taking a shower after Psycho feared the basement stairs.

Walters’ writing was descriptive and cold with a calculated, psychological plot with eloquent pacing that gave me time to adjust to the dark.

Like the pan-out ending of The Talented Mr. Ripley, The Cellar is eerie and leaves the reader chilled, knowing that Muna’s task for justice is not yet complete.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 31 May, 2016: Finished reading
  • 31 May, 2016: Reviewed