Although I've got five Chunksters under my belt for the Chunkster Challenge and am reading a sixth--The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer (scroll down)--I'm faring far worse with The Gothic Challenge. I've read only one Gothic, Arcadia Falls by Carol Goodman.
I considered withdrawing from The Gothic Challenge, mostly because I've been thinking that I'm wasting my time with these novels, especially because I don't enjoy them nearly as much as I did in my youth. Even so, they have an indescribable allure.
I chanced upon a blogger discussing Dragonwyck by the incomparable mid-twentieth-century American author Anya Seton. As a high-school student, my mother the librarian got me hooked on Katherine, a historical novel about Katherine Swynford, the wife of John of Gaunt, of the House of Lancaster (an English royal of the 14th century--actually I believe their children were Lancastrian, though I'm not at all sure John of Gaunt was considered so during his lifetime).
I believe I also read Seton's Green Darkness , though I have only the vaguest memories of it.
Dragonwyck beckons, and it's a true Gothic published in 1941, at the height of Daphne DuMaurier's "Gothic" fame.
The Bookseller of Inverness by S.G. MacLean
10 hours ago
Anya Seton! That takes me right back to when I was working in the local library, I hadn't realised she was American. I only have vague memories too, it's so long ago.
ReplyDeleteIt will be interesting to hear what you think of Dragonwyck if you read it.
I don't see a post for the Goodman--Did you like it? I'm listening to her The Sonnet Lover--I've tried to read it several times, but I think listening will be a better option--I've read her other earlier novels, though, and got on well with nearly all of them. I've never read Anya Seton, but I do have Katherine--I should really read it as it sounds right up my alley. This sounds like a fun challenge.
ReplyDelete