Gothic Literature Book Reviews

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...

Gwendy's Button Box by Stephen King and Richard Chizmar was first published in a hardcover version by Cemetery Dance Publications in 2017. This is an odd novella of magical realism with a Gothic vibe running through it. The story begins in 1974, when Gwendy Peterson is twelve. Having been teased at school for being chubby, she has taken to running up a series of steps, known as the Suicide Steps, to the top of a hill. One day she meets a strange man in a black hat at the top, who introduces himself as Richard Farris. Farris offers Gwendy a strange button box and although she has been taught not to accept gifts from strangers, she believes the box was meant for her. The box has eight coloured buttons and two levers. The levers dispense chocolate treats and valuable silver dollars, but Gwendy is warned pressing the buttons will cause chaos. She takes the box and becomes its custodian. Gwendy's life improves dramatically. She can effortlessly achieve good grades, is good at sports...

  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...

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...