LIVING WITH GHOSTS
Stephanie Elmas’ debut novel (which took her seven years to write), is a work of dark Gothic suspense, influenced by the fiction of the nineteenth century author Mary Elizabeth Braddon (best known for the 1862 sensation genre novel Lady Audley’s Secret).
Set in London, The Room Beyond is the story of the wealthy, eccentric Hartreve family and the secrets that haunt them from behind the walls of their elegant Kensington mansion. The past throws a heavy shadow that’s acutely brought into focus when Arabella Hartreve hires Serena to care for her granddaughter Beth. Serena instantly falls in love with the house yet despite her best efforts to fit in it soon becomes clear that some family members dislike her. Why do they resent her presence and what’s the link between the Hartreves and Tristan and Miranda Whitestone, the couple who lived in the property during the nineteenth century?
Elmas seamlessly moves the action between the eighteen nineties and the twenty first century with an eerily unsettling narrative reminiscent of the supernatural fiction popular during the Victorian era. The house may be beautiful, but it is burdened by decades of secrets that weigh heavily on the occupants. The past has moulded the Hartreves into a weirdly fascinating group of people, none more so than four year old Beth, who is alarmingly precocious for a child of her age. How many four year olds can talk intelligently to an adult on their level? Not many I suspect, yet it’s Beth’s character that some reviewers have cited as the major flaw in an otherwise excellent book. It’s a criticism that I personally believe is unjustified as it misses a crucial point. Beth’s uniqueness is also her tragedy. She has been subverted by the house and its history, which is why she can never properly interact with other people and will probably never live outside the Hartreve fold. Her family understands this as does Serena but only after she uncovers the secrets the mansion is hiding.
Elmas has a strong eye for detail, a pithy turn of phrase and good control over an intricate plot that uses flashbacks to move along the narrative. It takes confidence to re-work the traditional Victorian ghost story without resorting to the obvious clichés of Ouija boards, wild eyed vicars screaming retribution, and ectoplasm oozing from walls. Instead, The Room Beyond is a dark, suspenseful book that’s also a graceful homage to a popular literary genre.
Reviewed by Juliette Foster
Why not buy a copy of Illusion by author Stephanie Elmas?
