Wakenhyrst
Ratings21
Average rating3.8
‘'The reeds stood tall and dead: I had the oddest feeling they wanted me gone. The light was failing. I caught a swampy smell of decay. Behind me something rustles and I saw the reeds part for some unseen creature. I thought: No wonder Maud's mad.''
Hold this beautiful book in your hands. Let your eyes feast on the haunting magpie and the blood-red stains. Concentrate on the images that will - no doubt- start flooding your mind. Εach and every thought that visits you becomes real once you start reading this novel. It is haunting and ruthless and its cover speaks more eloquently than any blurb. Wakenhyrst by Michelle Paver might be the best book of 2019. But be aware: it is not for the faint of heart but for the readers who embrace darkness...
‘'Those who make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.'' Voltaire
Our story begins with a stranger. 1967. A young art historian visits the daughter of Edmund Stearne, a scholar and painter, who has left a strange body of work behind him. Maud takes us back in time, in 1913. Through letters, articles, pages of diaries and our heroine's own thoughts, we find ourselves wandering in the fens, ‘'the forbidden realms of magical creatures'', in the darkness. A darkness that suffocates the members of the Stearne household, so thick and muddy and twisted that no moonlight can light our way. Enigmatic and terrifying like the woman in a long, black dress that appears on Edmund's paintings, secretive like Wakenhyrst and its residents. Suffocating like the sets of rules set by Edmund, a cruel and sadistic man. Or is he?
‘'I know what you did. It is only a picture. It won't do me any harm...a high thin cry on the fen...''
The sins of the past is a recurring motif in Gothic Fiction and here it is used to absolute perfection. The fullness of time has come and the house itself has become a character, the fens have paved the way for retribution. Maud becomes the hand, the one who wants to break free. Paver creates atmosphere in such a powerful way, creating a novel that would find its proper depiction as a Bosch masterpiece. Strange findings, dark omens. Traces of witchcraft, owls, moonlit nights that hide terrible secrets. Children are playing in the cemetery, knocking off the wings of angels. Will-o'-the-wisps and dark fairies. Ghosts. Foreboding thoughts that seem to call for Death. And Death is everywhere.
‘'One for the rook, one for the crow, one to rot and one to grow.''
In Edmund's mind, the Devil seems to have taken control over his life. Paver uses a perfect combination of literary and raw language to depict the havoc in the man's life. Jesus said that there are those who think they are righteous because they say ‘'yes'' to God. Edmund embodies the hypocrisy of the ones who pretend to be devoted when in fact they are worse than the very thing they fear. Art is also used as a symbol of knowledge and a constant reminder of the pagan past that Edmund hates. A depiction of the Doom brings disarray in the community and the discovery of a Green Man haunts Edmund. The hidden messages, the symbolisms, the soul of the artists form a menacing danse macabre and taunt him mercilessly. Paver uses the magpie as a symbol of obsession and temptation along with a multitude of the customs of the countryside that make the novel such a rich read.
The winter is bitter, frosty. Arctic winds are blowing. The haunting sound of the ice, breathing through another winter. In an atmosphere of mysticism, superstition and tradition, you will feel your heart pounding and breaking. You will experience the fear of looking at yourself in the mirror, the dread of looking out of the window in a stormy night. This reminded me of Sarah Perry's masterpiece Melmoth. The house seems to have acquired a life and a will of its own, becoming a nest for troubled spirits and confused human. And at the centre of everything that takes place we find Maud.
‘'The woman at the heart of each one is a witch. The creatures swarming around her are her evil familiars. And the witch is Maud.''
Maud is a woman who isn't interested in saints but in the demons and monsters that have been defeated. Who will narrate their stories? She twists every prejudice against women and throws them back at those who deem themselves superior. She is an outstanding character. Resilient, firm, wise and realistically shady. She is not afraid to punish those who think they are entitled to diminish her and is ruthless enough to fight for what is right. Her views on religion reflect certain thoughts that have crossed my mind over the years. Maud is one of those characters that are so vivid you can even ‘'hear'' their voice in your mind. You know how they speak, how they walk and behave, what they look like. She is the heart of this superb novel.
Read it, friends. That's all I can tell you...
‘'It is God who made me order the Doom to be torn down, thereby setting the demon loose. And now it is God who commands me to go into battle.''
Many thanks to Head of Zeus and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
My reviews can also be found on https://theopinionatedreaderblog.wordpress.com/
I read this book as part of a halloween readathon challenge on bookly. In keeping with classic gothic style, it's set in a manor house and the weather is awful the entire time. I felt Paver really did her best here to personally antagonise me with the absolutely despicable man she wrote to be Maud's father, and I am sure that getting lobotomised is comeuppance enough for this man, but I do wish something happened to him to make him regret his actions more desperately...
I liked how Ivy was written in as a multifaceted person who had motivations in line with her very unfortunate circumstances, not just as a bitch whole and pure.
Poor Maman, poor Clem, poor Jubal, poor Chatterpie
Superstition, folklore, religion, nature spirits, dreams, mania, guilt, demons, possession, Jesus, Satan, and depictions of the End Times - all of these elements swirl together in the murky backstory of a decades-old murder. It appears that Edmund Algernon Montague Stearne committed a murder by a notably odd method, witnessed only by his daughter Maud. What led to this killing? Mere madness? Religious mania? Or was he trying to destroy a witch? Is it possible that his actions were rational responses to true supernatural influences? This is Maud's tale, revealing her father's character and history as she tells the story of her coming of age, and her evolving relationship with her father during those years. But this isn't simply a bildungsroman - it's a thriller and a horror story, deliciously gothic and creepy, and with plenty of homages to classic tales of terror.Surely Edmund's name gives a nod to the wilderness horror of [b:Algernon Blackwood 17675395 Algernon Blackwood Algernon Blackwood https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1364864833l/17675395.SY75.jpg 24679132] (for here we have the ever-present fen, dangerous, untamable and full of pre-Christian magical energy), and [a:M.R. James 2995925 M.R. James https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1254798756p2/2995925.jpg]'s tales of medieval clerical treasures that bring more curse than fortune (an unexpected find in an old church - initially a great academic opportunity, but eventually a source of relentless haunting).I was also strongly reminded of [b:The Turn of the Screw 12948 The Turn of the Screw Henry James https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1567172392l/12948.SY75.jpg 990886] and sections of [b:Fingersmith 8913370 Fingersmith Sarah Waters https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1545241494l/8913370.SY75.jpg 1014113], which both present a girl trapped in an ancient pile of a house, with an undercurrent of sexuality that is repressed to the point of perversion. The former also lends its “supernatural events or unreliable narrator” elements, and the latter its juxtaposition of academic master and confined assistant.Finally, this certainly echoes [b:The Thirteenth Tale 40440 The Thirteenth Tale Diane Setterfield https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1346267826l/40440.SX50.jpg 849453], with its aged dame finally divulging unguessed family secrets to an inquiring outsider, against the backdrop of a creepy manse that may or may not have some supernatural inhabitants.Over and above the wonderfully gothic feel and the compelling mystery, this was un-put-down-able because Maud is so engaging and sympathetic. When she starts waking up to the adult world around her and trying to navigate using the paltry freedoms she's allowed, we can't help rooting for her.
This tale of an Edwardian antiqiuarian falling foul of ancient malevolence cannot help but be reminiscent of of MR James, and for the most part it's worthy of a place in that lineage. But one of James' strengths was his economy and his ability to craft a spinetingler in just a few pages, something Paver herself has managed in her previous short ghost novels, but not here. It's just a little bit too long, and feels a tad flabby in parts.
On the plus side, Paver nails the sense of place, both the overgrown lushness of the fen, and the oppressive and claustrophobic family house. She's also very good on the everyday horror of simply being a woman in a repressive and patriarchal environment. There's an atmosphere of creeping unrest thoughout, and an interesting ambiguity - are we witnessing something supernatural, or merely a descent into fatal madness? All in all, not quite Paver at her best, but still a worthwhile read.