troubled relationships with her peers and herself emerge through her intriguingly unreliable diary, which leaves the reader to be the judge. (12+)


Wuthering Heights


Emily Brontë, Pocket Penguin Classics, 978 0 14 102354 0, £6.99 pbk


The grandmother of Cold Comfort Farm, Wuthering Heights itself is the archetypal lower-class gothic dwelling and the weather on the gothically bleak moors with their tortured thorn trees is usually gothically tempest- uous. The stranger who unleashes turbulence into the family fold is also a gothic figure (Mr Lockwood reason- ably compares the adult Heathcliff to a ghoul or a vampire) and the passion and thirst for revenge that drives the story are key gothic themes. No hint of parody, though: this story is intended to pierce the heart and it does. (12+)


Jane Eyre


Charlotte Brontë, Pocket Penguin Classics, 978 0 14 102816 3, £6.99 pbk


From the moment she is locked in the Red Room, Jane’s journey is through gothic terrain of mystery and melodrama, complete with feverish dreams, deathbed scenes, a tormented hero and a mansion harbouring grotes- que inhabitants. Although this book’s significance stems from its observation of the Victorians’ dismissive treat- ment of the genteel poor female from childhood, and the obstacles in the way of true love, the images that stay in the mind are from the gothic tradition. (12+)


Salem Brownstone: All Along the Watchtowers


John Harris Dunning and Nikhil Singh, Walker, 978 1 4063 2052 7, £15.00 hbk


This lovingly produced graphic novel has a flavour of 1970s underground comic book art with Art Nouveau leanings and sharp contem- porary humour. An impover- ished young launderette owner is saved from a life in


10


service washes by a legacy from his estranged father, goes to view his inherited mansion and discovers that he has also been bequeathed the task of defending the earth from other- worldly threats. This could lead readers to H P Lovecraft and Edward Gorey. (12+)


Beautiful Creatures


Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl, Puffin, 978 0 14 132608 5, £6.99 pbk


There is no padding in this doorstopper novel which works wonders with the well- worn theme of forbidden love between a mortal and a supernatural being. Crucially, Ethan and Lena, drawn together by a family curse, are characters we care about and the Southern Gothic setting is well realised. Gatlin, South Carolina, under the


twin influences of the Daughters of the American Revolution and voodoo, is a stifling environment for teenagers but rich territory for the war between good and evil. (14+)


The Radleys


Matt Haig, Walker Canongate, 978 1 4063 3028 1, £10.00 pbk


This account of the lives of reformed vampires (also known as ‘abstainers’ and ‘vegetarians’ in a contem- porary English village is witty as well as deep. Mr and Mrs Radley are beset by guilt, that intensely gothic emotion. As well as remorse for their past dark deeds, there’s parental guilt at denying the young


Radleys their true nature. The ‘some adult content’ coverline gives due warning that teen readers might be bored rigid by references to adults holding dinner parties and contemplating affairs, but the story should carry them through such longueurs. (14+) n


Geraldine Brennan is the former Books Editor of The Times Educational Supplement and a freelance journalist.


Books for Keeps No.184 September 2010 7


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32