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Mary Shelley began writing Frankenstein when she was only eighteen. At once a Gothic thriller, a passionate romance, and a cautionary tale about the dangers of science, Frankenstein tells the story of committed science student Victor Frankenstein. Obsessed with discovering the cause of generation and life and bestowing animation upon lifeless matter, Frankenstein assembles a human being from stolen body parts but; upon bringing it to life, he recoils in horror at the creature's hideousness. Tormented by isolation and loneliness, the once-innocent creature turns to evil and unleashes a campaign of murderous revenge against his creator, Frankenstein.
Frankenstein, an instant bestseller and an important ancestor of both the horror and science fiction genres, not only tells a terrifying story, but also raises profound, disturbing questions about the very nature of life and the place of humankind within the cosmos: What does it mean to be human? What responsibilities do we have to each other? How far can we go in tampering with Nature? In our age, filled with news of organ donation genetic engineering, and bio-terrorism, these questions are more relevant than ever. (Goodreads)
The Gashlycrumb Tinies is an alphabet book in which peculiar-looking children meet unfortunate and untimely deaths. Please be aware that while some of the illustrations are violent, but the style is meant to be interpreted as darkly humourous and deliciously disturbing. The featureless, cartoon quality of the faces indicate that they are not intended as realistic and serious, but instead silly, nonsensical and spooky. Do you think the book is intended for children or for adults?
Edward Gorey was an American illustrator who published this alphabet reader in 1962. You can read more about Gorey in this Britannica article. The article states, “Gorey drew a pen-and-ink world of beady-eyed, blank-faced individuals whose dignified Edwardian demeanour is undercut by silly and often macabre events.” While his work was produced much later than the Gothic movement, he is acknowledged as having a gothic sensibility. This work provides an example of the enjoyment of horror at the heart of the Gothic movement and visualises the dark, creepy settings.
‘I read The Call in one sitting. Well, ‘read’… I should actually say ‘inhaled’, or ‘devoured’, because I don’t think I took a single breath between opening the first page of this novel and the end.
Every child in Ireland knows that the time will come for them to answer the Call – that terrifying moment that they are transported to a brutal underworld to run for their lives against the Sidhe’s Wild Hunt. Naked and unarmed, barely one in a hundred makes it back alive. But the odds are changing.
The few veterans of the Call have set up schools to teach the next generations the language, combat skills, and knowledge they need to survive. One student, Nessa, tries harder than the rest. Crippled by polio, her parents debated killing her themselves as a mercy before the Call takes her, but Nessa is determined not to go quietly. At the Boyle Survival College she hones her strengths alongside her classmates. But as her friends are Called one by one and their mangled bodies returned, the odds stacked against her seem worse and worse… and she’s running out of time.
Nevernight follows the story of Mia Corvere as she trains at an elite and secret school to be an assassin so that she can take her revenge against the killers of her fallen family. Told by an unnamed narrator, Nevernight is a tightly paced adventure, full to the brim with intrigue, plotting, a dash of romance (but just a dash! Not too much) and so, so many savage murders. This is not a book for the faint of heart. Imagine if Hogwarts was situated in Renaissance Venice and populated entirely by sociopaths all out for their own competing brands of personal, bloody vengeance and you’re somewhat hitting the ballpark of Nevernight.
Mia is a compelling protagonist, fierce and furious, and at no point did I want her to ease off, rather, I wanted her to succeed in her training and get her vengeance. The world is fully built and Kristoff has drawn strongly from actual history but perfectly melded it with fantastic aspects, including a rich depiction of a religion based around two warring deities. It’s beautifully written and the narration is full of personality. It should certainly get bonus points for having one of the best opening lines I’ve read in a while. Kristoff has written an exciting and enthralling read that will appeal both to fans of the genre and to those just in need of a nice chunky story that they can really sink their teeth into.
Orphaned Jane Eyre endures an unhappy childhood, hated by her aunt and cousins and then sent to comfortless Lowood School. But life there improves and Jane stays on as a teacher, though she still longs for love and friendship. At Mr Rochester's house, where she goes to work as a governess, she hopes she might have found them - until she learns the terrible secret of the attic.
Wuthering Heights is a wild, passionate story of the intense love between Catherine Earnshaw and orphan, Heathcliff. After Mr Earnshaw's death, Heathcliff is bullied and humiliated by Catherine's brother Hindley and wrongly believing that his love for Catherine is not reciprocated, leaves Wuthering Heights, only to return years later as a wealthy and polished man. He proceeds to exact a terrible revenge for his former miseries. The action of the story is chaotic and unremittingly violent, but the accomplished handling of a complex structure, the evocative descriptions of the lonely moorland setting and the poetic grandeur of vision combine to make this unique novel a masterpiece of English literature. Set in 18th Century England when social and economic values were changing, Bronte explores themes of revenge, religion, class and prejudice. Bronte’s own home in the bleak Yorkshire moors provides the setting for the passions of the Heathcliff and Catherine.
The third novel from Australian Krystal Sutherland is a gothic horror story about a trio of sisters that is delightfully scary to read. The Hollow sisters – Grey, Vivi and Iris – are survivors of a mysterious kidnapping that occurred when they were kids. One minute they were on a Scottish street with their parents; the next moment they were gone. They reappeared on the same street a month later, with absolutely no memories, black irises and white hair. Ten years later, the eldest of the sisters, Grey, now an internationally famous model and fashion designer, has again disappeared.
Written from the perspective of Iris, the youngest, as she and Vivi try to discover what happened to Grey, the narrative is creepy and compelling. I have rarely read a book so infused with scents – rotting, noxious and gut wrenching – they practically ooze from the page. Flowers growing where they shouldn’t – out of bodies, walls and cavities – add to the novel’s spooky vibe.
This is not only a contemporary twisted fairytale; it is also an evocative rendering of the bonds of sisterhood: the almost instinctive telepathy that can sometimes occur between sisters, and the lengths they will go to protect and keep one another safe. Sutherland’s first novel, Our Chemical Hearts, was shortlisted for the Readings YA Prize and has now been made into a Netflix movie. House of Hollow is even more exceptional storytelling by Sutherland that is bound to receive critical praise as well as commercial success.
Continue reading this review on the Readings website.