Pages: 304
Published: 14th April 2021
Genre: Horror
Content warnings: Child abduction, sexual references
This was a buddy read with Noly @ The Artsy Reader. We had been planning to read it for ages, but finally we got round it in August!
Captivated by books and stories, Rose dreams of a life away from the confines of the Sunnyside Care Home she works in, until elderly resident Charlotte Favell offers an unexpected glimpse of enchantment. She keeps an aged stack of letters about the Cottingley Fairies, the photographs made famous by Arthur Conan Doyle, but later dismissed as a hoax. The letters insist there is proof that the fairies existed. Rose is eager to learn more, but Charlotte allows her to read only a piece at a time, drawing Rose into her web.
As the letters’ content grows more menacing, Rose discovers she is unexpectedly pregnant, and feels another door to the future has slammed. Her obsession with what really happened in Cottingley all those years ago spirals; as inexplicable events begin to occur inside her home, she begins to entertain dark thoughts about her baby and its origins.
This is a book which conjures countless questions but ultimately provides precious few answers. With the aid of a haunting vibe and an extremely unreliable narrator, it uses an intelligent concept inspired by bizarre historical facts to produce a story full to the brim with atmosphere and intrigue, yet succeeds only in rendering you in a state of confusion.
Written in dual narratives both present and past, it explores and makes reference to the remarkable story of the Cottingley fairies in the early twentieth century, where even Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was taken in by fanciful photographs taken by two children. It is a difficult one to categorise as it has a Gothic feel while being set in the present day, but arguably fits most aptly into the horror genre.
Rose has recently started a job at a care home called Sunnyside, and one of its elderly residents is the mysterious and ethereal Charlotte Favell, who appears to have all kinds of otherworldly powers. She seems able to read Rose’s mind and randomly materialise out of nowhere, also moving with the apparent grace of someone much younger, as though she is ageless.
Mrs Favell asks Rose to read her a series of lengthy letters that she keeps in her room. They date from the early 1920s and are written by a Lawrence Fenton, who claims to have encountered fairies in the woods near his home along with his relatives Charlotte and Harriet. The fairies are said to have inflicted a series of awful misfortunes upon the family, and he becomes increasingly desperate for answers.
Soon obsessed by the contents of the letters, Rose becomes convinced that the Charlotte in the letters is Mrs Favell, despite the fact they were written a century ago. Much to her shock, Rose then learns that she is pregnant and as her encounters with Mrs Favell become more menacing and surreal, she begins to fear that her baby could turn out to be a changeling.
The most interesting thing about the plot is discovering the extent and validity of Mrs Favell’s supposed powers and the question of whether she is a supernatural being. It is all quite difficult to follow at times as things are implied rather than clearly stated, and this lack of clarity about what was actually happening made it a frustrating read, if undeniably thought-provoking.
Another key factor is the connection between the letters and the present day storyline, as events in both gradually start to mirror each other and a twist about halfway brings it into even sharper focus. The curious behaviour of Mrs Favell and Rose’s increasing paranoia are used by the author to tease all kinds of speculative theories, but the ending is somewhat anti-climactic.
The majority of the book is told by Rose in the first person, and her point of view is rather dark as she floats between one destructive emotional state to the next. It is hard to take a lot of what she says at face value, mainly because she is not sure if she believes those things herself. She comes across occasionally as cold and impulsive, which makes her tricky to connect with, but the way she is written does contribute to the unsettling atmosphere.
Other than that, we have Mr Fenton’s letters, which are actually more like essays. These are really impressively written, full of an imagination and detail that brings to life the terror of the incidents he claims to have witnessed. You get to know Fenton well and he seems a very likeable person who eventually falls into desperation, so it was unfortunate – not to mention strange – that the letters d0 not have much of a role in how the story is resolved.
Mrs Favell is an eerie presence and every word she utters is either cryptic or profoundly sinister. It is easy to see why Rose becomes so afraid of her, especially after falling pregnant. Then again, some of things we learn about Mrs Favell towards the end do not make a great deal of sense, with a few of them taking place almost at random or feeling out of keeping the rest of the story.
Of the other characters, Rose also has an unconventional dynamic with her partner Paul. They seem to merely coexist and Paul’s reaction to some outright unfathomable events was not what you might expect, which may be partly down to Rose’s confused thoughts but still felt odd. Meanwhile, Teresa only appears in one scene but is still very significant to the plot.
The first thing to note about the writing style is that it is incredibly eloquent and at times poetic, while it always has that atmosphere akin to descending mist, shrouding us with thoughts of what is really happening and what is not. However, this is also a double-edged sword, as there are several passages which are hard to truly understand and you may need to read multiple times in order to have an idea of what it means.
What really lets the book down is its almost total ambiguity. It is fine in most cases for an ending to leave some matters unresolved, but the fact that we get barely any answers here whatsoever is just taking it a bit too far. The number of questions that arose just continued to grow as the story progressed, and it became clear that there was little prospect of being any the wiser by the time you reach the last page.
Overall, what is a very good concept totally delivers on evocativeness and atmosphere, but in terms of executing a cohesive story it does leave something to be desired. The plot goes in some strange directions and it is hard to really get a proper grip on things despite all the intrigue, while far too much is not clearly explained. Lots of ideas and promise, just does not come together in the end.
A.J. Elwood is a pseudonym for the author Alison Littlewood, who has published a number of books in the past decade. Born in South Yorkshire, quite near the village of Cottingley, her debut novel was A Cold Season back in 2012, and seven more have followed since with this one being the most recent in 2021.
Her most acclaimed novel was The Unquiet House, published in 2014. Like many of her books, this was in the horror/fantasy genre. Currently living in Doncaster, her next upcoming novel is The Other Lives Of Miss Emily White, set for release in 2023.
I was super intrigued by this one but unfortunately it fell short in a number of areas despite good writing and a strong sense of atmosphere. A bit too confusing, and it left too many unanswered questions.
My rating: ⭐⭐.5
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