THE LOST VILLAGE (2021)

The Lost Village by Camilla Sten
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Every once in a while you read a book that creates such strong visual images that you feel you are watching a movie. Comparisons to "The Blair Witch Project" (1999) and "Midsommar" (2019) confirm the idea.

FIRST LINE: "August 19, 1959 - It was a stiflingly hot August afternoon, so much so that the breeze coming in through the open windows did almost nothing to lift the swelter inside the car."

THE STORY: Written in the first person (with flashbacks), we follow Alice Lindstedt and her four urban explorers as they set out to scout the location for a documentary they hope will discover why the residents of Silvertjärn, a small mining town, mysteriously disappeared in 1959. Growing up, Alice's grandmother had told her stories about the town where she was born and the family she lost.

Things start out well enough. The author sets up the story by laying out the project description complete with references to special benefits one would get for financially backing the documentary. Supplies are loaded into several vans and the group heads off on a preliminary exploration. There are some personality issues on the crew, but it isn't until unexplained events occur that things go from uncomfortable to nerve-wracking.

WHAT I THOUGHT: One reason the story works so well is because there is a disconnect between the decayed but once charming village and the ominous atmosphere achieved through careful choice of emphasis and description. The writing is colorful and the author creates a creepy atmosphere that keeps everything slightly off-kilter. Kudos to translator Alexandra Fleming for doing an outstanding job.

BOTTOM LINE: Keep the lights on while you're reading and beware of shadows. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

DISCLAIMER: A copy of was provided to me by Minotaur Books/Net Galley for an honest review.

Publisher: Minotaur Books; 1st edition (March 23, 2021)
Hardcover: 352 pages
ISBN-10: 1250249252
ISBN-13: 978-1250249258

THE AUTHOR: Camilla Sen has been writing stories since she was a young girl and is famously one of the most important sounding boards for her crime-writing mother, Viveca Sten. Best known for her internationally bestselling novel "The Lost Village", which has sold to 19 countries, Camilla has written books ranging from YA fantasy to contemporary thrillers. She lives in Sweden with her American boyfriend and two fluffy, evil cats.

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THE HOUSE ON VESPER SANDS (2021)

The House on Vesper Sands by Paraic O'Donnell
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A clever ghost story set in Victorian London.

FIRST LINE: "In Half Moon Street, just as she came near to the house, Esther Tull felt the first gentleness of the snow."

THE STORY: On a snowy London evening during the dreary winter of 1893, mysterious and unpleasant events are taking place. A young woman makes a dreadful decision. A wealthy gentleman disappears. An impoverished divinity scholar seeks shelter in a church and discovers an incapacitated young woman. In the morning she is gone.

The scholar, Gideon, vows to find and rescue the girl. Happening upon Inspector Cutter, he passes himself off as police officer and he and the Inspector head off to investigate a string of missing young women.

Meanwhile Octavia Hillingdon, a reporter, is trying to convince her editor to let her stray from the women's page and follow up on the story of the missing young women.

WHAT I THOUGHT: The story unfolds slowly alternately introducing characters. Connections are not immediately obvious but make sense as the plot moves forward. A complicated tale but easy enough to follow.

Sherlockian in tone, the clever writing is amusing especially between 'Sergeant' Gideon and Inspector Cutter, but somewhere in the second half, the story seemed less of a piece and more of a mosaic of incidents. Still the mood created and the descriptive writing is definitely worth reading.

BOTTOM LINE: RECOMMENDED for those who love historical fiction, ghost stories, literate mysteries.

DISCLAIMER: A copy of The House on Vesper Sands was provided to me by Tin House Books/Net Galley for an honest review.

Hardcover: 408 pages
Publisher: Tin House Books (January 12, 2021)

ISBN-10: 1951142241

ISBN-13: 978-1951142247

THE AUTHOR: Paraic O'Donnell

 

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A CHRISTMAS CAROL: A SIGNATURE PERFORMANCE BY TIM CURRY

A CHRISTMAS CAROL

by Charles Dickens

Narrated by Tim Curry

My Rating: 5 out of 5

Everyone, including me, knows CHARLES DICKENS' A CHRISTMAS CAROL, or we think we do, from all the adapted films, theater productions, and cartoons, etc. that abound at the holidays. As it turns out, I had never really READ the book. It's an amazing work and as relevant to mankind today as it was in 1843. As a ghost story, read by the inimitable Tim Curry, it's a mesmerizing tale even though the reader knows what's going to happen. I found it quite moving.

Besides some eerie music leading into the story, Curry reads without sound effects creating the environment and characters with his own voice. Since it's a relatively short listen at 3 hours and 31 minutes, it will now be on my Christmas reading/listening list every year. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Published: November 15, 2016 by Simon & Schuster Audio

Unabridged Audiobook: 3 hrs. 31 min.

Author: Charles Dickens

Narrator: Tim Curry

ASIN: B006B9Y3ES

 

GRIEF COTTAGE (2017) by Gail Godwin

Grief Cottage by Gail Godwin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Publishers Weekly chose Grief Cottage as one of its best books for 2017. I'll second that, but if you check the reviews at Good Reads, they are mixed.

FIRST SENTENCE: "Once there was a boy who lost his mother."

The first sentence makes it clear to me that this remembered coming-of-age story, dealing with grief and loss, is part fairy tale and part ghost story .

THE STORY: When his mother dies suddenly, eleven year old Marcus is sent to live with a reclusive elderly relative on an island off South Carolina. Aunt Charlotte is an artist and points out a derelict house she has painted for years. 50 years earlier a family living there was lost during a hurricane. Marcus becomes fascinated with the family and their son since he cannot find their names in any of the accounts of the storm. His other fascination is with the turtles the community is guarding as they prepare for their birth and trek to the sea. These are his memories of the people and that summer.

WHAT I THOUGHT: I think my recent problem with lack of interest in reading may have more to do with the books I chose than reading itself. Godwin's writing fulfills all my requirements. I want to learn something new and I want the story to be told with great craft and skill. Godwin is a master. It's been many years since I read Finishing School, but I still recall being entranced. One reviewer on Good Reads mentioned the slowness of the story but isn't that the point? Every story has its rhythm.

When I was eleven (or so), I walked home from school rather than take the bus so I could explore a mansion that was in the processing of being torn down. I can still remember the fascination of exploring the many rooms and wondering about the lives of the people who had lived there.

In college I wrote a paper about Henry James' The Turn of the Screw. Godwin even mentions this work in her note to the reader. For me, it's better not to be sure. When my father died, I ended up sleeping in his bed after attending the funeral. In that twilight before falling completely asleep, I felt a comforting hand adjust my blanket. I have always been sure that my father was saying a final good-bye.

There are so many ways that this book triggered memories for me. Even the characters suggested adults I knew growing up.

FAVORITE QUOTE: "I went back and tried to track the whole thing from the beginning, as you would trace on a map a route taken."

"Didn't something have to be one thing or the other, either real or imagined? Or could it be that the two things weren't mutually exclusive?"

"When we don't realize how remarkable someone is while they're still with us. Then after they're gone we wish we had told them, but when they were around we didn't know yet."

BOTTOM LINE: This was an amazingly satisfying read full of stories and interesting characters that are themselves mysteries. There's a languid pace to the book, which doesn't stop it from being totally compelling. By the end Godwin has carefully tied up all the threads of the stories, even those the reader might not have been expecting. Highly Recommended.

Hardcover: 336 pages
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA; First Edition (June 6, 2017)
ISBN-10: 1632867044
ISBN-13: 978-1632867049

Disclaimer: An electronic copy of this book was provided to me by NetGalley/Bloomsbury USA for a fair review.


Gail Godwin is a three-time National Book Award finalist and the bestselling author of twelve critically acclaimed novels, including Unfinished Desires, A Mother and Two Daughters, Violet Clay, Father Melancholy's Daughter, Evensong, The Good Husband, and Evenings at Five. She is also the author of The Making of a Writer: Journals, 1961--1963, the first of two volumes, edited by Rob Neufeld. She has received a Guggenheim Fellowship, National Endowment for the Arts grants for both fiction and libretto writing, and the Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. She has written libretti for ten musical works with the composer Robert Starer. She lives in Woodstock, New York (from Amazon).  

Need a Scary Read for Halloween?

10 Novels That Will Scare the Hell Out of You according to Huffington Post's Julie Buntin.

What will you read? What titles would you add to the list?

I am reading Shirley Jackson's We Have Always Lived in the Castle this Halloween. The only other book on this list I have read is The Little Stranger by Sara Waters.