My Darling Dreadful Thing
A Novel
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4.4 • 5 Ratings
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
Goodreads Most Anticipated Horror of 2024 | Goodreads Most Anticipated books in May | She Reads Most Anticipated Horror | Polygon Must-Read books of 2024 | Novel Suspects Most anticipated novels 2024
"Dark and decadent, with the haunting allure of a true gothic tale, My Darling Dreadful Thing is a sensation that horrifies as acutely as it delights. Johanna Van Veen is a force to be reckoned with and will stain your thoughts a brilliant shade of crimson."
— Rachel Gillig, New York Times bestselling author of One Dark Window
Spirits are drawn to salt, be it blood or tears.
Roos Beckman has a spirit companion only she can see. Ruth—strange, corpse-like, and dead for centuries—is the light of Roos’ life. That is, until the wealthy young widow Agnes Knoop visits one of Roos’ backroom seances, and the two strike up a connection.
Soon, Roos is whisked away to the crumbling estate Agnes inherited upon the death of her husband, where an ill woman haunts the halls, strange smells drift through the air at night, and mysterious stone statues reside in the family chapel. Something dreadful festers in the manor, but still, the attraction between Roos and Agnes is undeniable.
Then, someone is murdered.
Poor, alone, and with a history of ‘hysterics’, Roos is the obvious culprit. With her sanity and innocence in question, she’ll have to prove who—or what—is at fault or lose everything she holds dear.
"A Sapphic séance of preternatural proportions, My Darling Dreadful Thing summons a stunning new literary voice to be reckoned with. Johanna van Veen reaches beyond the veil to conjure up a gothic shocker like no other." — Clay McLeod Chapman, author of What Kind of Mother and Ghost Eaters
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A young woman's apparent rapport with the spirit world is construed by others as evidence of her madness and murderous motivation in this creaky queer gothic, Van Veen's debut. Since childhood, Roos Beckman has shared a symbiotic relationship with Ruth, an ancient earthbound spirit. Her conniving mother has long exploited Roos's weird talents, forcing her to serve as a sham psychic medium. In 1954, 21-year-old Roos is finally liberated by widow Agnes Knoop, a seance client with a spirit companion of her own. She takes Roos away with her to Rozentuin, a family estate in genteel decay in the Netherlands that Agnes shares with her deceased husband's terminally ill sister, Willemijn. Removed from the outside world, Roos and Agnes discover their shared affinities and develop an intimate romantic relationship—until the scheming Willemijn persuades Roos to resurrect the spirit of Agnes's dead husband, setting in motion a series of tragic events with a criminal outcome. Van Veen skillfully evokes the hermetic atmosphere of the traditional gothic romance but then relies on plot contrivances to rush events to an unsatisfying conclusion. The result is diverting but far from dazzling.
