King Nyx

A marvelous, creepy, story set on an isolated island owned by a man with too much money to be bound by society. Mrs. Charles Fort is underestimated by everyone, including Theodore Drieser, a fan of her husband. Set during the global flu pandemic of 1918, everything here feels familiar, plausible, and too disturbing to be fiction. The author does a lovely job of recreating a weird time of great change and horrible possibilities and a woman's precarious security in the world. Also: a ripping yarn with echoes of Verne and Wells.

Library copy

Anna Fort and her husband Charles, he of Forteana fame, are invited to a rich man's island where Charles is to spend the summer wrting his book. Finding themselves qurantined with another married couple before being allowed to stay in the house, they try to make the best of it. Three girls have gone missing and there are lights in the woods. Anna is haunted by memories of a long-gone friend as well as her own seemingly anomalous encounter with a rain of blood, and revisited by the voice of her childhood toy crow, King Nyx. Something is very wrong on the island, and it may be connected to Anna's own past in ways that should be impossible.

A subtle, intriguing thriller about women, and the men who take advantage of them to exercise their show more own brilliance. show less

historical fiction/suspense/horror - loosely inspired by real life Anna Fort, dutifully supportive wife to writer Charles Fort who held "crackpot" theories about strange meteorological phenomena, giving her a role besides bread-earner, cook, maid, and caretaker for her somewhat useless, if beloved, husband. Set on remote frozen "Prosper Island" (in the Thousand Islands of the St. Lawrence River on the north border of New York) at the estate of reclusive millionaire Mr. Arkel in 1918 (with parts of the story taking place in 1933 Croton, Westchester, New York). Note: not really about actual crows/ravens, though there are some pet parakeets.

a fast-paced (once the action starts) story--almost finished in one sitting, very creepy show more read

characters:
Anna - former head house maid at the Fort House, has some frightening hallucination-like memories of her time there.
Charlie Fort - disinherited by his father when he married Anna and subsequently dependent on her for pretty much everything, seems to really believe in supernatural causes for the inexplicable meteorological phenomena he researches
Mary - briefly worked as a maid in Fort House before she ran off; Anna has never forgotten her friend
Mr. Arkel - not much is known for sure about the King of Canned Fruit, but none of the rumors are good
Stella Bixby - also staying as a guest on the Arkel estate at the same time as Anna and Charlie, a delightfully "modern" woman
Frank Bixby - Stella's psychologist husband, a proponent of shock therapy per the times
King Nyx - the tin wind-up toy bird Anna had as a child and also the goddess character she talked to. show less

*mystery and intrigue all wrapped up nicely from cover to cover
*storyline is fast-paced with twists and turns
*easy to read with strong character development
*highly recommend