The Unburied by Charles Palliser

                                          


The Unburied  by Charles Palliser, first published in 1999 by Phoenix House (Orion Publishing Group)

Although The Unburied is shorter and does not have the same edge as The Quincunx, it is well worth reading if you enjoy traditional Gothic with mystery and complexity.

There are three stories running though the book, all set in Thurchester, a cathedral town. The main story is set around Christmas, 1881. Dr Edward Courtine, a university academic, arrives in the town at the request of an old friend, a teacher in Thurchester, whom he hasn't seen for over twenty years. He is naturally suspicious of an invitation after so long, but he has his own reason for travelling to Thurchester.

Christmas is usually a time of good cheer, but almost immediately Courtine hears of a murder in the cathedral in the seventeenth century, so far unexplained. This may be about to change, as the cathedral is being disrupted by work being carried out on the organ, which involves moving pipes and fitting steam power to blow it. Old secrets are about to come to light.

The third story involves a missing manuscript about the life of Alfred the Great, which Courtine believes he will find in Thurchester and thus be able to prove an academic point regarding his extensive research into Alfred.

The Victorian story involves a doomed love affair and a well-planned murder, which Courtine unwittingly becomes involved in. The two lesser stories are not quite seamlessly woven into the work, but they add to the Gothic atmosphere, with rumours of a ghost from the seventeenth century still haunting the cathedral closes. The ending also takes (unnecessary?) time to stitch certain aspects of the plot together.

There is as much rivalry between the cathedral and academic staff in the Victorian story as in the older ones, and there are no reliable witnesses, not even Dr Courtine and certainly not his friend Austin Fickling. As in every good Gothic novel, there are shades of grey for the reader to decide what is right and what is wrong.

     Gothic rating:

     isolated setting:                                             🕱

     brooding atmosphere:                                   🕱

     mental illness:

     religious reference:                                       🕱

    supernatural element:                                    🕱

    murder:                                                         🕱

    family secret:                                                🕱

    genius/madness:

    doomed love:                                                🕱


The Unburied has a Gothic rating:                     🕱🕱🕱🕱🕱🕱🕱  

   

                           

    



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