A Victorian Gothic Novel Binge

Outside of getting quite behind on Les Mis, I am currently having a bit of a Victorian Gothic Novel Binge, having recently finished The Pleasures of Men (Kate Williams) and The Somnambulist (Essie Fox). I’ve also recently started Hide Me Among the Graves (Tim Powers). I adore Victorian novels as well as Victorian Gothic Fiction, I think it probably has to be my favourite genre and I’d been looking forward to the two I’ve just read (I discovered Tim Powers in the library). This is the ideal time of year for snuggling up with something lurid about creepy secrets. 

Both of them ended up getting three stars. I liked them but neither of the books gripped me and I was glad I borrowed them from the library. I think Kate will probably get much better with her next novel, but at the moment her style is a little too self-consciously literary and the book ended up confusing at times. I ended up feeling like I should be studying it, not reading it for fun. I did like the way that she subverted the idea of the Victorian heroine, with the secretly wicked Catherine, but I think Michael Faber did much better with Sugar in The Crimson Petal and the White. Still, the descriptions of a London where people fear being murdered by the poor were very good. 

The Somnambulist was less self-conscious and contained less description of London, moving instead to the music halls and to Dinwood (Hampton) Court. I have to say I agree with the comments people made about the predictability of the plot at the beginning, but it didn’t really detract from the rest of the novel and I read it quite quickly. The ending was a bit rushed and strange, however. I can see that she wanted to end the book with a kind of symmetry, but it felt like she just stuck it in to finish the book quickly. I think she wanted the reader to be genuinely surprised by events, but I’m not sure I bought it.

Anyway, I shall carry on reading (or trying to read) the Tim Powers, alongside Umberto Eco’s new book which will have to go back to the library soon (it’s not thrilling me) as well as the other books I’m reading.