DU Professor Rachel Feder Unleashes Colorado Gothic in Debut Novella 'The Turn'

Rachel Feder’s new novella, The Turn, is a spooky story about a live-in nanny named Baxter who works for her famous former professor’s family. Baxter starts feeling like her world is tilting on its axis. Strange things happen. She can’t quite remember them or explain them.

It’s a horror version of a "slow burn," Feder said. That’s a term from romance novels. It means the tension rises slowly. The atmosphere builds quickly.

Feder is an associate professor of English and literary arts at the University of Denver. She’s written several books, including Daisy, Harvester of Hearts, The Darcy Myth, and Birth Chart. She also co-wrote AstroLit and Taylor Swift by the Book. Her work looks at how literary history shapes the myths we all share.

She wrote The Turn during the summer of the COVID pandemic. She was in her childhood home in Boulder. Her younger son was a baby.

"The pandemic, wildfire, and a fraught former love affair flicker just beyond her field of vision," Feder said. "Baxter struggles to make sense of her story and to protect the children in her care."

The Colorado Sun featured an excerpt from the book as part of its SunLit series, which pairs excerpts with interviews. The series is a collaboration between the Sun and Colorado Humanities & Center For The Book.

"My fiction is also informed by my Colorado roots, and by my visceral attachment to the mountain landscapes of the Front Range," Feder said. "I’d describe both 'The Turn' and my current work-in-progress as Colorado Gothic."

She’s obsessed with the Gothic genre. She’s taught it and written about it extensively. It’s not merely a hobby. It’s part of her academic life.

She’s been thinking about the history of Gothic literature for a long time. She looks at how tales of historical haunting relate to questions of embodiment, gender, caregiving, and reproductive justice.

The Turn draws on all those interests. But it wasn’t a project she thought her way through. She felt her way through it.

"This is my fiction debut," Feder said. "It taught me how it feels to be overtaken by a story."

The question is whether locals will feel that sense of being overtaken. Feder lives in the Denver metro area. She teaches at DU. But her roots are in Colorado. The landscapes she writes about are the ones neighbors drive past every day.

The book came out of a specific time. The pandemic changed how people lived. Wildfires changed how people saw the mountains. The Turn captures that shift. It’s more than just a nanny story. It’s about a place and a time.

Feder didn’t invent the challenges. She lived them. She wrote the book while her son was young. She was in Boulder. The pandemic was happening. The fires were burning.

"The Turn" is a novella. It’s short. It moves fast. The opening pages set the tone. The tension builds. The atmosphere thickens.

It’s a spooky story. But it’s also a story about care. Baxter is a nanny. She’s protecting children. She’s trying to make sense of things.

Feder’s work explores how literary history informs shared mythologies. The Turn is part of that exploration. It’s a modern take on an old genre. It’s Colorado Gothic.

The book is available now. It’s a reflection of a specific moment in Colorado history. It’s a story about fear and love. It’s a story about a nanny and her charges.

Feder is an associate professor. She’s an author. She’s a mother. She’s a Coloradan.

"The Turn" is her fiction debut. It’s a spooky novella. It’s about a nanny. It’s about the pandemic. It’s about Colorado.