Review: The House of Dead Maids

By Clare B. Dunkle
Available now from Henry Holt
Review copy
Read Clare's guest post and enter to win a prize pack



THE HOUSE OF DEAD MAIDS acts as a prelude to WUTHERING HEIGHTS. Though THE HOUSE OF DEAD MAIDS may draw new readers to WUTHERING HEIGHTS, the audiences are somewhat different. The storyline is less complex and the language simpler. (I am truly thankful that Clare B. Dunkle used no dialect, even though the book is set in Yorkshire.)

Tabby Aykroyd has been brought to Seldom House as a maid and a young boy she calls Himself has been brought as the new master. They live there with the old maid, Mrs. Winter, and old master, Jack Ketch. Tabby is haunted by the former maid, a girl she new, and Himself is haunted by a former master, an old man with eyes like windows. As the ghosts close in, the devout Tabby knows that she must save herself and the boy.

Emily Brontë employed a clever framing device to tell the stories of WUTHERING HEIGHTS.  While Dunkle does not imitate that feat, she does tie fantasy and reality together.  Tabby Aykroyd was, after all, the maid who told the Brontë siblings stories.  Though the reportage is mostly implied, it's still fun.  (By the way, please read about the Brontës.  They're terribly odd and fascinating.  If you've ever seen the little books they wrote stories in . . . some are archived at the Harry Ransom Center.)

There are other connections in THE HOUSE OF DEAD MAIDS that will excite fans of WUTHERING HEIGHTS.  I loved the scene wherein Himself destroys a book, since my high school project on WUTHERING HEIGHTS was all about the importance of literacy in the novel.  But considering the book also draws from renewal myths and such, readers unfamiliar with the classic novel will still enjoy the ghost story.

Of course, the ghosts aren't the creepiest thing in the novel.  Heathcliff, as Himself, is still utterly insane and not healthy to be around.  Dunkle encompasses his character quite well in this line: "There was a savage innocence in his gaze, an indifference to the vey notion of suffering."

I enjoyed THE HOUSE OF DEAD MAIDS, although I feel like I was a little too old for the story.  (Although I think young children who aren't given to nightmares will enjoy the novel, 'slut' and other sexually charged terms are, briefly, used as perjoratives spoken by one child to another.)  I must give kudos to Henry Holt's design team.  The cover and interior illustrations will haunt me as surely as the images Dunkle conjures with her prose.

Clare B. Dunkle: Prelude to a Haunting

Welcome to the first day of Clare B. Dunkle's tour for THE HOUSE OF DEAD MAIDS.  Her next stop is The Compulsive Reader.

THE HOUSE OF DEAD MAIDS was pitched to me thusly:

THE HOUSE OF DEAD MAIDS by Clare Dunkle (Holt/Sept) is a scary blending of Yorkshire lore and Bronte family history. A child, who will later come to be known as Heathcliff, is already a savage little creature when Tabby Aykroyd arrives at Seldom House as his nursemaid. The ghost of the last maid will not leave Tabby in peace, and her spirit is only one of many. As she struggles against the evil forces that surround the house, Tabby tries to befriend her uncouth young charge, but her kindness can't alter his fate.

It's a quick, chilling read and makes for a perfect companion to Wuthering Heights. It really whets the appetite for the classic novel.

Considering I am an English major and I've done quite a bit of work with British literature, I was intrigued. Plus, while Clare clearly loves WUTHERING HEIGHTS, it appeared that she wasn't going to fall into the trap of over-romanticizing Heathcliff. (Read my review, posted later today, to see whether she suceeds.) Because Heathcliff is one of the creepiest men in literature, whether he's part of a love story or not.

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Heathcliff, the hero of Emily Brontë’s novel, WUTHERING HEIGHTS, has a complicated relationship with his sweetheart, Cathy. It’s so complicated that readers are still arguing over whether or not that book is a love story. Cathy herself can’t manage to put into words what Heathcliff means to her—especially since she wants to marry someone else.

But each time Cathy tries to talk about Heathcliff, she ends up talking about death. And more than just death—ghosts... graves... never parting.

This sounds like the manifesto of any passionate young woman, claiming that she and her lover will remain together even in death. But the crazy thing is that Cathy and Heathcliff aren’t together. Cathy has already agreed to marry Edgar Linton, who (in her words) is handsome, rich, and pleasant to be with. Even after she becomes Mrs. Linton, she isn’t sorry. She can talk happily about Edgar and her having half a dozen sons together—even when she’s talking to Heathcliff!

So why does she talk about not resting in her grave until Heathcliff is with her?

Heathcliff talks about it too. He begs Cathy to haunt him after death. He dreams about “sleeping the last sleep by that sleeper, with my heart stopped and my cheek frozen against hers.”

I first read this fascinating classic when I was in elementary school, and I’ve read it at least a dozen times since. I thought about it for decades, and I started to wonder:

Did Heathcliff and Cathy make a pact when they were children to remain together at Wuthering Heights after they die?

I think they did. Cathy mentions the two of them visiting the Gimmerton graveyard as children and daring one another to stand among its graves and call its ghosts. She talks about dreaming that the angels threw her out of heaven onto the hilltop of Wuthering Heights, “where I woke sobbing for joy.”

Heathcliff goes even further. When she dies, he tries to dig her up! He is determined that if he can just climb down into her grave and hold her icy form in his arms again, then “they may shovel in the earth over us both.” He has Cathy’s coffin modified, and his, too, so that they will join at the sides to make one coffin, “and by the time Linton gets to us, he’ll not know which is which!”

But Heathcliff takes too long to die. Cathy’s ghost comes looking for him.



Inspired by this strange story of undying love, I’ve written a prequel to WUTHERING HEIGHTS—Volume One to Emily Brontë’s Volume Two. In my book are plenty of ghosts, and a grave, and something that might have been undying love once, but now it’s closer to undying hatred.

Into my grim story comes Heathcliff as a little boy, and he just loves the place.

My book doesn’t explore what happens when Heathcliff and Cathy make their deathless pact. It ends before they meet. But it does explore what might lead Heathcliff to make such a pact—and why he knows it will work.

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Special Brontë-themed giveaway!
One Grand Prize winner will receive THE HOUSE OF DEAD MAIDS, a gorgeous Brontë sisters pocket mirror, and the HarperTeen edition of WUTHERING HEIGHTS! Two lucky runners-up will receive the two books. To enter, send an email to DeadMaidsBook@gmail.com with your name, email address, and shipping address (if you're under 13, submit a parent's name and email address). One entry per person and prizes will only be shipped to US or Canadian addresses. Entries must be received by midnight (PDT) on October 31. Winners will be selected in a random drawing on November 1 and notified via email.

Review: Losing Faith

By Denise Jaden
Available now from Simon Pulse
Review copy
Watch the book trailer at The Contemps

Intense.

Many shades of intense, in fact.

The beginning is intense due to death. Sudden, violent death. How do you deal when your sister dies? You don't, not really. And the only person reaching out to Brie is her locker neighbor, gothy Tessa Lockbaum. Not her idea of a good friend.

Then the book becomes intense due to the mystery - who is Reena M. Black? (Not to mention, who was the cute boy at Faith's grave?) Brie's sister Faith clearly spent a lot of time with her before her death, which doesn't necessarily mean anything bad. Reena just seems kind of cracked.

The plot of LOSING FAITH isn't new. Someone dies, partially revealing their secrets. Those left behind try to uncover the truth. Denise Jaden pulls it off well. Part of that is Brie's voice, which is confident and self-aware - she knows where her weaknesses lie - but she still has her uncertainties, like any teenager under stress.

Plus, the plot is common for a reason. Those who love us are easy to lie to because they don't expect the lies. You just assume you know a lot about someone you live with. It was a nice change of pace to discover that while Faith had secrets, they weren't bad secrets. Brie thought her sister was a good person and she was.

Tessa is also a treat. I was friends with a lot of the 'scary Goth' kids and high school and thus know that most of them are perfectly nice people. Tessa has her edges, but she's smart, strong, and compassionate (aka the kind of friend everybody could use, going through a crisis or not).

I expected to cry during LOSING FAITH, what with the whole dead sister thing, but I didn't. Jaden didn't go after my heartstrings. Brie's relationship with her sister was difficult, and she's really stuck on trying to figure out what she should feel. She's also trying to figure out how to pull her life back together, especially with her parents mourning in their own ways. While they should be allowed their grief, Brie needs her parents and doesn't know how to tell them so without sounding like an evil brat.

Therefore, intense. LOSING FAITH is emotional, but the emotions aren't simple. There's also a lot of plot going around. The cast is fairly large, to the point that a core character doesn't show up in the first hundred pages. But the story never lags. At the same time, LOSING FAITH isn't fast paced. It's smooth and flowing, though there are bursts of excitement.

It's not a navel-gazing novel, but Brie is the focus, not her actions. And despite my frequent assertions of intense, I found LOSING FAITH to be soothing.

The Library

The library is a dangerous place.  I'm sure all of you know this, but I thought I'd warn you anyway.  Still, it's worth it when you pass a book to a friend who came along (because you had a car) and he or she says, "This is perfect.  Time travel and highlanders!"  (Though your friend may not say that second part.)

I'm also glad I've overcome some of my natural timidness and thus request all sorts of things from my library.   Requesting is not one of the dangerous parts of the library.  (The most dangerous?  The shelves full of books saying, "I know you have a 1000-1200 word paper due tomorrow and you still need to edit it, but you've been wanting to read me, haven't you?")

Review: Rise of the Fire Tamer

By Kailin Gow
Available now from Sparklesoup
Review copy
Read my review of BITTER FROST and Kailin's guest blog



This review is part of a Traveling to Teens tour. Kailin Gow's previous stop was Yan's Books By Their Cover and her next stop is Wdebo's Electrical Book Cafe on Tuesday.

I liked RISE OF THE FIRE TAMER more than BITTER FROST, though they shared similar weaknesses.  Again, there are some editing issues.  Gemma "Gem" James is an intelligent and clever heroine, which is admirable, but she's shallowly drawn.  While most of the book follows her exploits, I know the least about her bad qualities.  She's just beautiful and a good prospective ruler.

As a contrast, the secondary girl, Kat has far more elaboration to her character.  She's the definition of trying too hard at the beginning of RISE OF THE FIRE TAMER.  She wants attention on her own terms, which is almost impossible to demand.  This quickly gets her in trouble and she decides to work on her character flaws.  Jack is too nervous, which works as a flaw, though he doesn't really get any development.  Sparks and Rio mostly just snap at each other or flirt with Gem unless it is a battle scene. 

None of the romances really worked for me.  The end of each chapter gives a snippet of each character's thoughts, which tended to feature Sparks and Rio thinking incredibly jerky things.  The easily forgiven Goolrick should not have been let off so easily for what he did to Gem, even if there was no permanent damage.

As for the adventure plot itself, it works better than BITTER FROST because the speed is slightly slower.  Anachronia, the tenth level of the Wordwick Games, works based on words.  This is good for younger readers, though the vocabularly lessons might slow down older readers who are done with their SAT vocabulary.  Also, the warring tribes of Anachronia are Spurious and Perfidous, and the five gamers choose to side with a tribe.  Personally, I wouldn't side with either if those are the words they choose to represent themselves.

Fantasy readers will probably enjoy RISE OF THE FIRE TAMER, which is reminiscent of Vivian Vande Velde's USER UNFRIENDLY.  Those who like character driven novels probably won't find it satisfying, however.