Gothic Literature Book Reviews

Godless Cosmologies by Christy Theodoulou, published 2026 by Hawkwood Books. This is not the easiest book to get into, due partly to the poetic nature of the writing. The story itself becomes lost in the language, but perhaps that is the point. Pear Ponsonby finds himself in a mental asylum after the deaths of his parents in an accident. He escapes reality by becoming a violet whale in a place called the Water, where he befriends an octopus and a seahorse. In the asylum he meets Mystery, a girl with almond eyes, hair buns and a thirst for revenge. Pear is captivated by her. He initially sees her as a replacement for his beloved mother, but  the relationship develops into a sexual one. As the two become involved in discovering what is causing deaths in the real world and Pear's Water world, the boundaries between reality and fantasy become thin. What, thus far, has seemed a slightly disturbing fantasy novel, takes a darker turn into Gothic realms. There is a fire in the asylum and f...

The Sundial by Shirley Jackson, first published in the USA in 1958 by Farrar, Straus and Cudady. Paperback Penguin edition of 2014 reviewed. In an odd sense, this reminded me of Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf. In The Sundial, Mrs Halloran, a woman prone to internalising events, prepares for a party in her house, but that may be where the comparison ends. Mrs Halloran is expecting the world as we know it to end, with only the inhabitants of her house being saved. Her sister-in-law, Aunt Fanny, has been given a prophetic message of doom by Fanny's dead father, and the family, friends and retainers must prepare for the apocalypse. Mrs Halloran inherited the house on the death of her son, as her husband is paralysed and confined to a wheelchair and also suffers from dementia. Her son died after falling down the stairs in the house, giving rise to rumours of foul play among her relatives, not least because Orianna Halloran is a tyrant, presiding over the lives of her sick husband, daug...