Review by samohtj - My Darling Dreadful Thing

samohtj 's review for:

My Darling Dreadful Thing by Johanna van Veen

4.0

dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This was an excellent book, and a very impressive debut outing for this author. A clear homage to the masters of the gothic and the macabre, this story treads familiar ground, yet explores themes of desire and belonging in a way all its own.

All the trappings of a ghostly gothic love story are here: backroom seances; a dilapidated manor on misty, boggy ground; ancient ghost companions; interviews with a court-ordered psychologist; religious angst; tuberculosis. All feed into the beautiful, demented kinship between our two outsiders, Roos and Agnes, as they grow closer, and as we seek to unravel the mystery of how it all went so wrong.

This book is very well-crafted and was a delight to read, full of imagery that is vivid but never over-wrought. The characters and their struggles with trauma, isolation, and desire were compelling and grotesquely beautiful, and show a spark of great potential for this author. I'll be very interested to see what her new book has to offer.

Content Warnings