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A review by badseedgirl
The Children's Home by Charles Lambert
4.0
I would like to thank NetGalley.com for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
When I finished The Children’s Home by Charles Lambert published by Gallic Books, I had a moment where my head started spinning and then I was left with so many question I just sat down and wondered “What the hell did I just read?” There was no way I was going to be able to write a review of this book as confused as I was. The author leaves several unanswered questions in this novel. My first dilemma was where the heck was this novel set. At first I thought it was set in England. But there were several references to some kind of civil uprising. This lead me to feel it was set in some English colony, possibly South America or India, but I eliminated this by the descriptions of the land which was definitely northern hemisphere, and the description of the people in the city, which was of a fair complexed people. Of course by the time I had gotten to the part of the book where the people in the village were described, the main character Morgan has gotten to his family’s factory and all other questions about the book dropped away. I decided to go to bed and sleep on this book for a while. While I was sleeping, I developed a theory. Just as I originally thought, this book is set in England, but is set in an alternate reality. The last two pages convinced me this was the case.
The first two-thirds of the novel are of a gothic nature, with a strong supernatural bent. Morgan Fletcher is the protagonist of the novel. He lives alone with his housekeeper, until the children start showing up. Morgan was severely burned in the face and hand in some sort of incident in the past. Although never described in any specific way, from the brief descriptions and the reaction of the other characters, it is obvious the burns were severe and left Morgan devastated both physically and mentally. What the author, Mr. Lambert, does so successfully is in laying down the backstory and past of Morgan in such a natural, organic way. There is never a point where the reader would say, this chapter, this paragraph, was dropped into the story to give the character’s history.
When the children start appearing at Morgan’s home, he takes them in and they bring if not joy, at least meaning into Morgan’s life. But right from the beginning, there is something unnerving about these children. They seem to appear and disappear at will. They are unnaturally well behaved. While reading this story I kept picturing the children from More Than Human by Theodore Sturgeon or The Midwich Cuckoos by John Wyndham. What the children in all these books have in common, is that we as the reader know there is something wrong with these kids, this sense of “wrongness” is woven throughout the novel, and the reader is left with a sense of unrest as the weather the children are evil, or just different.
This was a beautifully written story, and draws the reader in almost immediately, especially the first two-thirds. Once Morgan and the kids leave the home, the novel takes a sharp left turn away from “Gothic” and falls directly into an odd combination of “Weird ” or “slipstream” science fiction. This change does not change in anyway the beauty of the writing style, but let’s be fair, Weird fiction is much harder and less direct than Gothic fiction to understand and appreciate.
My favorite character in the entire book was Doctor Crane. He is introduced to the story when one of the children gets sick. He becomes friends with Morgan. Doctor Crane holds a unique position in the story. He is Morgan’s conduit to the world outside the manor house, but he is also the reader’s conduit into the manors home. That is not to say he is nothing but a window. Doctor Crane is a fully developed character in this own right.
Now This next section is filled with my theories of the ending of this novel. For that reason, there are spoilers in it. Not big spoilers, but you have been warned.
I have already stated that I feel strongly that this novel takes place in an alternate England. In this England, there was no World War II, but there was instead a civil uprising. Morgan’s house was the children’s home David mentioned when he was reading the story to Morgan and Doctor Crane about the children killed by gassing. To Morgan and Doctor Crane this story is from a science fiction book David found and read to them, but is in fact reality in our version of England, the England David and the other children come from. The children who show up at Morgan’s house were the children from our England, the War orphans, or disposed children sent to the Children’s home and ultimately gassed by the Nazis. I don’ think these statements are that much of a spoiler. The author practically drops this info in the reader’s lap. I have decided to take this theory one step further though. I think Doctor Crane is who David would have become if he had not been killed by the Nazis in our version of England. Doctor Crane’s first name is never provided, and David does show he has the power to heal wounds and injuries. Doctor Crane even calls him, David the healer. In the very last paragraph of the novel, Morgan says he sees in Doctor Crane “David before him, the man David might have become.”
I’m giving this novel 4 of 5 stars. Although not an easy read, it is well worth the effort.
When I finished The Children’s Home by Charles Lambert published by Gallic Books, I had a moment where my head started spinning and then I was left with so many question I just sat down and wondered “What the hell did I just read?” There was no way I was going to be able to write a review of this book as confused as I was. The author leaves several unanswered questions in this novel. My first dilemma was where the heck was this novel set. At first I thought it was set in England. But there were several references to some kind of civil uprising. This lead me to feel it was set in some English colony, possibly South America or India, but I eliminated this by the descriptions of the land which was definitely northern hemisphere, and the description of the people in the city, which was of a fair complexed people. Of course by the time I had gotten to the part of the book where the people in the village were described, the main character Morgan has gotten to his family’s factory and all other questions about the book dropped away. I decided to go to bed and sleep on this book for a while. While I was sleeping, I developed a theory. Just as I originally thought, this book is set in England, but is set in an alternate reality. The last two pages convinced me this was the case.
The first two-thirds of the novel are of a gothic nature, with a strong supernatural bent. Morgan Fletcher is the protagonist of the novel. He lives alone with his housekeeper, until the children start showing up. Morgan was severely burned in the face and hand in some sort of incident in the past. Although never described in any specific way, from the brief descriptions and the reaction of the other characters, it is obvious the burns were severe and left Morgan devastated both physically and mentally. What the author, Mr. Lambert, does so successfully is in laying down the backstory and past of Morgan in such a natural, organic way. There is never a point where the reader would say, this chapter, this paragraph, was dropped into the story to give the character’s history.
When the children start appearing at Morgan’s home, he takes them in and they bring if not joy, at least meaning into Morgan’s life. But right from the beginning, there is something unnerving about these children. They seem to appear and disappear at will. They are unnaturally well behaved. While reading this story I kept picturing the children from More Than Human by Theodore Sturgeon or The Midwich Cuckoos by John Wyndham. What the children in all these books have in common, is that we as the reader know there is something wrong with these kids, this sense of “wrongness” is woven throughout the novel, and the reader is left with a sense of unrest as the weather the children are evil, or just different.
This was a beautifully written story, and draws the reader in almost immediately, especially the first two-thirds. Once Morgan and the kids leave the home, the novel takes a sharp left turn away from “Gothic” and falls directly into an odd combination of “Weird ” or “slipstream” science fiction. This change does not change in anyway the beauty of the writing style, but let’s be fair, Weird fiction is much harder and less direct than Gothic fiction to understand and appreciate.
My favorite character in the entire book was Doctor Crane. He is introduced to the story when one of the children gets sick. He becomes friends with Morgan. Doctor Crane holds a unique position in the story. He is Morgan’s conduit to the world outside the manor house, but he is also the reader’s conduit into the manors home. That is not to say he is nothing but a window. Doctor Crane is a fully developed character in this own right.
Now This next section is filled with my theories of the ending of this novel. For that reason, there are spoilers in it. Not big spoilers, but you have been warned.
I have already stated that I feel strongly that this novel takes place in an alternate England. In this England, there was no World War II, but there was instead a civil uprising. Morgan’s house was the children’s home David mentioned when he was reading the story to Morgan and Doctor Crane about the children killed by gassing. To Morgan and Doctor Crane this story is from a science fiction book David found and read to them, but is in fact reality in our version of England, the England David and the other children come from. The children who show up at Morgan’s house were the children from our England, the War orphans, or disposed children sent to the Children’s home and ultimately gassed by the Nazis. I don’ think these statements are that much of a spoiler. The author practically drops this info in the reader’s lap. I have decided to take this theory one step further though. I think Doctor Crane is who David would have become if he had not been killed by the Nazis in our version of England. Doctor Crane’s first name is never provided, and David does show he has the power to heal wounds and injuries. Doctor Crane even calls him, David the healer. In the very last paragraph of the novel, Morgan says he sees in Doctor Crane “David before him, the man David might have become.”
I’m giving this novel 4 of 5 stars. Although not an easy read, it is well worth the effort.