the gothic novel part deux

In my last post I mentioned a few authors I’ve come across that have kept the gothic novel alive and well….

After doing an extensive search under Gothic on Amazon, I was amazed at the mass of books I found. Slowly, I narrowed it down, reading descriptions, reviews and Googling authors.

Anne Knoll caught my attention immediately with her most recent novel, The House in Thornton Wood (2002). And the clincher wasn’t the blurb or reviews, but the cover. (Yes, I have been known to take a chance on a book based on its cover. Is it so wrong?) Something about the look of the woman in the cloak, decaying stone castle behind, dark ominous clouds overhead in a deep red purple made me want to jump right in. And I’m glad I did.

HTW is the story of Olivia St. Claire, daughter of a housekeeper who passes on, and leaves her in the typical fashion of the gothic genre - desperate, alone, and penniless. Of course, this isn’t what a young woman desires in a class-driven, money-hungry, man’s world. Ahh, 19^th century England! Yet, unlike most gothic heroines, Olivia is a strong woman and she has a secret past that even she isn’t aware of. To top it off she has a hideous birthmark on the top of her hand that frightens children and the help. This should keep it interesting.

So Olivia takes a position as a governess for an exhaustingly evil little child at the Thornton house. Here we meet the odd, yet dashing Sir Evan Thornton and his crew. Another unexpected delight came with Sir Evan not being the main love interest! Who knew?? Olivia is more enthralled with the country doctor, Dr. Phillip McAllister, who’s a tad more down to earth and sexually charged than the imposing Sir Evan. There is a nice competition between the two men going and constant turmoil within Olivia. On the sex meter, I’d give it a 6, which is pretty high for an old school gothic. There’s nothing too graphic, but much more than chaste kisses. Way to go, Anne!

There are quite a few twists and turns that make the plot enjoyable. Pair that with complex characters and fascinating subplots featuring gypsies and home remedies and you’ve got a decent story on your hands.

Anne’s second to last novel, The Dark Secrets of the Villa Montelano (1993) seems like it could have been written by someone else. Not that it didn’t make the cut, but it is so radically different than HTW in style, character and format. It’s still a gothic, no doubt about that, but wow, what a difference nine years make.

DSVM tells the story of a poor English shop girl, Charlotte Stone, who finds out her dead father’s estranged and recently deceased mother has left her a grand villa in Maryland. She is told all of this by her so-called grandmother’s lawyer, a handsome man, by the name of Forrest. Forrest and Charlotte fall in love on the boat ride to the U.S. and get married all within the first few chapters. They even do the deed! This was slightly disappointing to me because I felt the romantic tension of the book was dead after that. And it kinda was. I mean, Charlotte and Forrest “get together” every so often when they finally settle in the new villa, but it’s ho-hum. Thus, the rest of the book centers around the mystery of the villa, the ghostly visions Charlotte sees and the cast of colorful inhabitants of the villa. Since Charlotte’s grandmother was a famous Italian opera singer she took in many aspiring singers, instructors and lovers….many of which still live there and for whatever reason Charlotte and Forrest don’t kick them all out. Most of them despise her for getting the villa and she’s convinced something more sinister is going on.

The characters are well done, even if they are minor ones, and I was impressed with how well she did with the sheer amount of them. I wasn’t all that into Forrest, who could be a jerk and rather condescending to Charlotte, who always forgave him. She does mistrust him and question him at times, but is so smitten she’d follow him to hell if it came to it. I’m not sure how I feel about that. We get to find out more about Charlotte’s past and get a lesson in Italian opera, which is nice. I enjoy lessons within fiction. It makes me feel like I’ve gotten something extra.

I have Anne’s other two novels, The Stolen Bride of Glengarra Castle (1990) and The Lost Lady of Hathaway Manor (1992) on my reading list. I’m sure she’ll surprise me again, because I honestly can’t find a similar theme besides a well written gothic. It could be worse…

Join me for my next post when I discuss the gothic works of Beverly C. Warren and Karen White.

grand total: 41178

Quote of the Day: I'm not a very good writer, but I'm an excellent rewriter. ~James Michener