Lately I’ve found myself drawn to contemporary novels of the gothic nature, so my plan for this blog is to share some of those with you.  In my opinion there’s just something wonderful about curling up in bed at night, reading by a single lamplight (or a candle if you really want to go that extra mile for ambiance), and getting goosebumps from a suspenseful story.

Here are a few that, to my delight, have been dangerously close to giving me eerie dreams:

1. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

“Last night I dreamt I went to Manderly again.”

And so I did. I haven’t read this book since I was in eighth grade (I can tell because of the scribbles and underlined words in my old copy), and re-reading it at 22 years old I found that I still loved it.  It follows the story of the second Mrs. de Winter, a young woman who, after a very short courtship, marries the charming Maxim de Winter of the grand Cornish estate Manderly.  Sounds too good to be true, and so it is.  Mrs. de Winter finds that Manderly is haunted by her predecessor Rebecca, Maxim’s beautiful first wife.  Creepiest of all is Mrs. Danvers, the housekeeper, who keeps the house running exactly as Rebecca had when she was alive.  Danvers even keeps Rebecca’s rooms aired and her favorite pajamas laid out for her each night.  Things are not, however, always as they seem, and this book certainly keeps you in suspense about what’s really going on at Manderly.

Fun fact: The 1940 film adaptation of this novel was directed by Alfred Hitchcock and won the Academy Award for Best Picture.  I certainly recommend that you watch it after reading the book.

2. We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson

I’ve mentioned this book on the Lemuria blog before (see that mention here), but I couldn’t leave it off this list. We Have Always Lived in the Castle is a twisted, creepy little tale about Merricat and Constance, two sisters living alone in their family’s dilapidated mansion. I don’t want to give away much but let’s just say that the rest of the family died from arsenic poisoning and the people of the nearby village hate Merricat and Constance. Things get strange, and it’s hard to say who is more frightening…Merricat and Constance or the village people.

3. The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

I’ve wanted to read this book for quite some time, and I’m happy that it finally found its way to my bookshelf and then my bedside table. The story was much darker, and well, scarier, than I’d expected. I actually thought it might give me a few nightmares (but I think stayed up too late reading to have or remember any dreams).  Margaret Lea, our narrator, is a lover of the classics, so it’s quite a surprise to her when she gets a letter from contemporary writing sensation Vida Winter.  The letter is a summons to the author’s home, an invitation to write Miss Winter’s biography. It should be noted that Vida Winter is famous for not only her many novels and short stories, but also for her habit of lying to all journalists who venture to ask her about her personal life. The story she tells Margaret about her childhood at a place called Angelfield is chilling and the reader almost hopes that she’s spinning yet another lie.

The Thirteenth Tale is full of  literary references and tie-ins to Victorian gothic classics like Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre, and The Turn of the Screw. Setterfield does a great job of making these classic tales foreshadow and reflect on bits of Vida Winter’s story.

So there you have it, the books that have been haunting my bedside table as of late.  If anyone has anything spooky to recommend, I’d be happy to hear about it.  -Kaycie

A few months ago our Penguin rep handed me a book that I ended up devouring over the next weekend: 22 Britannia Road by Amanda Hodgkinson. I have been waiting and waiting on the pub date, which is almost here! Attention literary readers, especially those who loved The Invisible Bridge and The Glass Room, for you all are in for another real treat!

Set in Poland during WWII and then after the war in an English shipping village, 22 Britannia Road cries out for recognition of the devastating and long lasting effects upon a war torn country and its inhabitants, especially those women and children who were left behind as their young husbands patriotically fled to be war heroes.

Rather than suffering another deplorable personal episode with a German soldier, beautiful Silvana grabs her young son and flees to the Polish countryside where they learn to live as peasants and find their food and shelter in the forests. As the narrator develops the twists and turns of the years in which they live in the wild, the reader wonders if they will actually get out alive. Of course, they do,or the story would have ended, but Silvana and her, almost feral, young son have been altered permanently, especially emotionally and psychologically.

Jump forward to the end of the war when Silvana and seven year old Aurek arrive in England, met at the train station by her husband, Janusz, who did remarkably survive the war, and has been living at 22 Britannia Road for some time hoping to get his wife and son back from Poland.

Building upon a long ago memory of  a special love before the war, the small family tries to reattach the emotional bonds, often failing miserably. When a third party enters the mix, sparks fly, but the “fire” comes when the truth about the young son emerges. The deep kept secret has all along been known by the reader, but watching how it plays out with the husband makes this novel all the more enticing and charismatic.

A debut novel, 22 Britannia Road will make waves, I predict. Authored by a young English woman born in Burnham-on-Sea,  the fast moving novel captures the emotions and personalities of each character beautifully. Amanda Hodgkinson, who currently lives with her husband and daughters in a farmhouse in southern France, will be receiving awards, I’m sure, for this splendid novel. She received her MA in creative writing from the University of East Anglia.

22 Britannia Road goes on sale Thursday, April 18th.  -Nan