On the road with Ines… and some Gothic Horror
- aksmith304
- May 21, 2023
- 2 min read
The event last week at the Plymouth Proprietary Library, at which Ines Gregori Labarta interviewed Arun Sood and I about our books and our writing was great fun, and very successful. Next weekend, Ines and I will be taking to the road again, this time to Galway in the West of Ireland, to run some Creative Writing workshops on speculative historical fiction, a genre close to both our hearts.
Ines’ latest novel, The Three Lives of St Ciarán, is due to be published by Blackwater Press later this year. This is also an alternative history in three parts set in different time periods. But more of that later. For now, let’s return to an earlier work by Ines, her 2016 novella, McTavish Manor. This is also a work of historical fiction, but it perhaps fits better into the genre of gothic horror as the events that take place at the eponymous isolated manor house in 1803-4 are not for the faint hearted. A young doctor joins the remote household in the Scottish Highlands to care for their welfare during the bleak winter months. But things are not what they seem at the sinister and unwelcoming manor house. Among the occupants are a pregnant amateur scientist, a very peculiar set of twins and a black servant girl. The doctor, who is carrying a few secrets of his own, is quickly embroiled in the macabre goings on as they all struggle to make the meagre resources of the household last the winter.
One of the things that makes this novella so compelling is the way that Ines employs a range of narrative voices to present the different perspectives in the story. The doctor writes letters to his estranged cousin and to his former mentor. The mother appears to keep a journal. The black servant offers a chilling first person narrative. All are intersected with snatches of poetry and song in various languages. The result is a constant change of pacing that pulls the reader into the story, as the inhabitants of McTavish Manor hurtle towards spring.
The result is dark and compelling, by turns erotic and terrifying. It’s also a novella, so it can easily be read in one sitting for those who will not be able to put it down! It was certainly a striking debut and offers much promise for Ines’ writing to come. Do take a look.
Comments