Godless Cosmologies by Christy Theodoulou


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 five patients die. Mystery blames Terence, a hated Langolian, but the real culprit is acting from more sinister motives. 
The complexity of relationships - between Pear and his father; between his father and his mother; between Mystery and her father; and between Mystery and Pear - is explained by the revelation of buried secrets towards the end of the novel, which lead to the story's murderous conclusion.
Pear is a likable hero, who grows from a boy lost in his fantasy world into a man taking responsibility for himself and others. Mystery is a deeply disturbed young woman, who lives in her own delusional world. Disregarding the true nature of her father's death, she has sworn vengeance on the Langolians, whom she imagines were to blame. She also sees herself as a philosopher.  I want to teach the world what it has failed to teach. About the large, the metagreat, the existential.' (p104).


Gothic Rating:

isolated setting:                                                        🕱

brooding atmosphere:                                              🕱

mental illness:                                                          ðŸ•±

religious reference:                                                  🕱

supernatural elements:                                             🕱

murder:                                                                    🕱

family secret:                                                           ðŸ•±

genius/madness:

doomed love:                                                          🕱


Godless Cosmologies has a Gothic rating of:          🕱🕱🕱🕱🕱🕱🕱🕱




 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Putnams of Salem by Greg Houle

Image
The Putnams of Salem by Greg Houle, published by Blydyn Square Books, Kenilworth, NJ 2024. This is a historical novel with serious Gothic overtones, set as it is during the Salem witch trials. The author himself is descended from the Putnams in the novel. The story follows the first person narratives of Thomas Putnam, an upstanding and influential member of the Salem community, and a staunch accuser of many of those tried for witchcraft, and also of his twelve-year-old daughter Anna, one of the afflicted girls. Thomas is almost fanatical in his need to keep Salem pure and free from evil, yet there are also personal grievances at issue, particularly with association to his younger half-brother, Joseph, who inherited their father's estate. The author uses historical information to keep the story accurate, but it is a work of fiction. Houle examines the psychology behind the accusations, and given that one of his ancestors was the chief accuser, responsible for numerous hangings, one...
Read more

Come Closer by Sara Gran

Image
Come Closer by Sara Gran, first published 2003 in the USA by Soho Press, Inc. First published 2005 in the UK by Atlantic Books. This is not your traditional Gothic novel, however it includes several Gothic tropes and is akin to Charlotte Gilman's The Yellow Wallpaper (1892). Amanda is a thirty-four year old architect, seemingly happy with her career, her home and her husband, Ed. But is she?  The story begins with a report Amanda has submitted at work being mysteriously substituted for vicious insults about her boss. She begins to hear strange tap-taps in her home, a loft apartment a little out of the main part of the city. She bickers with her husband when he returns home late. She also has strange dreams about a beautiful woman with tangled hair and pointy teeth. As Amanda's behaviour deteriorates - renewing a smoking habit, shop-lifting and burning her husband with a cigarette - she begins to think she is being possessed by a Biblical demon, but that would be ridiculous, wo...
Read more

Near The Bone by Christina Henry

Image
  Near the Bone by Christina Henry first paperwork edition published in 2022. At first glance this horror story may not seem particularly Gothic, but it ticks many of the boxes. The isolated location is not a castle or monastery, but in the American Gothic tradition of using the wilderness, this novel is set on a snowy mountain. Imagine Frankenstein's creation escaping in the Arctic and you have something of the picture. An unnatural, possibly supernatural beast is living on the mountain, one which hangs its victims by their entrails before eviscerating them and separating out organs and bones. Readers should be warned there are some truly gruesome scenes. For Mattie, who lives in a cabin on the mountain, there is another beast much nearer home - her husband William. William is a cruel man who keeps Mattie under his thumb by physical brutality and psychological manipulation. He is a religious fanatic, or gives the impression of being such, but his beliefs verge on madness. He belie...
Read more