Cornelia Tree: Child of the Night

I found this novel, Child of the Night, published in 1983, in a thrift store. I liked the author's name and picked it up. After searching to see if it's a pen name, I'm not sure. I found a bio about the author living in NYC and another couple books under her name, but no other gothic romances.

This one is a doozy, really unlike any I've read. Let's see if I can break it down.

Plot 2/5: Where to begin? Well, the heroine, Nora Harcourt, goes to Stonecroft, a school on the Hudson for disturbed children. The novel is set around 1900 from what I can tell since Panama and Teddy Roosevelt play a role in it. The interesting thing is that Nora is obviously dealing with autistic children and maybe children with some form of retardation. The novel has pages and pages of ramblings about Panama from one of the male love interests (Jean Jacques Fleury) and pages of ramblings about psychology. I like psychology-- a lot-- and this would have been good, but the pages and pages of backstory were way too much. The novel jumped through all kinds of points of view as well, using minor characters' voices. I was often flipping through trying to remember who the speakers were (some were servants, some workers at Stonecroft and so on and even the backstory of a love affair Norah's deceased mother had goes on for pages).

Then, the villain. Wow! He's a coke using madman who worked in Panama, but it was better than my assumption early in the novel that he was a pedophile. The way he was introduced, watching a child, it wasn't a far leap.

Atmosphere/spooky elements 2/5: The novel is low on these, too. The cover is lovely, but there's not much going on. A woman has disappeared, and there's a mystery surrounding it, but there is little menace or Gothic feel to it. Someone dies in an interesting way, so I give the author points for that. :)

Literary elements 3/5: The novel had potential. It is chock full of history and abnormal psychology, but in the end, it is all too much and impedes the flow of the story.

Romantic elements 3/5: I like the hero of the novel, but he and the heroine had very little real interaction for much of the book. I felt that I knew his and her motivations, though, and that was nice.

Rating: 2.5 stars

If you want something totally different, pick it up. Otherwise, skip it.

Anya Seton: Dragonwyck

Seton's novel, Dragonwyck, is another Gothic romance I found out about last year. I enjoyed it immensely. It is a lengthy novel-- the type one luxuriates in as well chosen words fly off the pages. It was also made into a movie; I still have not had the pleasure of seeing the film yet, but it's in my Netflix queue.

In the novel, the heroine, Miranda Wells (Ranny as her father calls her), feels she is meant for more than being a country bumpkin doing farm work and listening to nightly Bible readings. When her family receives a letter from a distant cousin, Nicholas Van Ryn, requesting one of the daughters to spend time at his estate primarily as a visitor but occasionally as a tutor for his daughter Katrine, Miranda is overjoyed.

Upon arriving in Hudson, she falls head over heels for Van Ryn's ancestral estate on the Hudson River, Dragonwyck, with its dark halls, opulent furnishings, wild gardens, and murmuring ghosts:
 
"His home was part of him, an externalized expression of his will, for upon his inherited Dutch Manor house he had superimposed the Gothic magnificence which he desired... it was not in Nicholas to accept another's ideas..." (Seton 38-39.  
She also falls for the dazzling, yet ego-maniacal and psychopathic, Van Ryn who is married; the marriage is not a big problem for him, and his wife Johanna is dead soon enough. Naturally, Miranda marries him with some trepidation, and then her troubles truly begin. The Hudson River area is brought to life as are the Dutch who rule much of it: James Fenimore Cooper, Washington Irving, Edgar Allen Poe and Virginia as well as a cast of many others. The life of the haves and the have nots is contrasted in stark relief with Van Ryn being one of the landowners trying to keep rebellious, poorly treated tenant farmers in check as times are changing in America. This novel has a true social conscience, and Seton has an eye for what strikes at the heart of people. I have a feeling that Barbara Michaels (Mertz) has attempted to model some of her Gothics after Dragonwyck in this socially conscious vein.

Characterization: 5/5 [Brilliant. Van Ryn rivals Heathcliff. In fact, he might even win the match with his wit, charm, good looks, overt Machiavellian machinations, Atheism, and intelligence. Although he is dangerous, Seton still manages to make him likable and even sympathetic at times. Miranda is refreshing and spunky as is her friend (and Van Ryn's rival) the doctor, Jeff. Every character in this novel is brought to life by Seton.]

Plot: 5/5 [Suspenseful and delicious. I loved every page.]

Atmosphere/spooky elements: 5/5 [This novel embodies what Gothic romance novels should be with an atmosphere of menace, and at times, downright terror as well as ghostly laughter and an old crone, Zelie, with "the sight" or at least a good memory.

Literary: 5/5 [Certainly so.]

Romance: Yes, yes, yes.

Rating: 5 stars *****

**If you have not read this one, grab a copy from your library or order it on Amazon. It is in my top ten Gothic novels of all time-- easily. Ironically, I just found a copy of this novel in the thrift store this week-- a newer edition in good shape. :)

*The quote is taken from Seton, Anya. Dragonwyck. Chicago: Independent Publishers Group, 2005.)