Explore Victorian fears of hidden spaces in true crime and Gothic fiction, from murders beneath flagstones to haunted corridors, secret tunnels, and eerie mansions.
“Castle of Otranto” is great, but I’ve always found the ending to be so over-the-top that it’s hard to read it with a straight face. Giant helmets crashing into courtyards, etc. Speaking of kitchens in gas-lamp literature, the P.D. James mystery novel “Devices and Desires” does an excellent job capturing the cosiness and breathtaking beauty of such kitchens. It takes place near a fictitious nuclear power plant and involves activists and such. But one of the main characters is a woman who writes cookbooks and she has one of these kitchens. It’s a great read. I really enjoyed all of her novels, but I think the Dagliesh ones were my favorite.
The over-the-top thing can be common with books of that time. Van Helsing is one that comes to mind when the topic of melodrama comes up. I think I've got some P.D. James novels on my list and that might be one of them. But when I'll get to it is anyones guess - I've had your story Without a Shadow of a Doubt open on a tab for a few days but haven't got around to it yet. Looking forward to the end of Transference too
“Castle of Otranto” is great, but I’ve always found the ending to be so over-the-top that it’s hard to read it with a straight face. Giant helmets crashing into courtyards, etc. Speaking of kitchens in gas-lamp literature, the P.D. James mystery novel “Devices and Desires” does an excellent job capturing the cosiness and breathtaking beauty of such kitchens. It takes place near a fictitious nuclear power plant and involves activists and such. But one of the main characters is a woman who writes cookbooks and she has one of these kitchens. It’s a great read. I really enjoyed all of her novels, but I think the Dagliesh ones were my favorite.
The over-the-top thing can be common with books of that time. Van Helsing is one that comes to mind when the topic of melodrama comes up. I think I've got some P.D. James novels on my list and that might be one of them. But when I'll get to it is anyones guess - I've had your story Without a Shadow of a Doubt open on a tab for a few days but haven't got around to it yet. Looking forward to the end of Transference too
The Victoria-era stories always fascinate and intimate me. I'm sure it has to do with how I imagine the gaslighted streets and the Ripper stories.
Walking around a Victorian City in the dark was probably a scary experience. Particularly after the Ripper murders!