Fitcher's Brides

This is a masterful combination of the "Bluebeard" and "Fitcher's Bird" fairytales, set in New York state in the 1830s. Vernelia, Amy, and Kate have been uprooted from Boston by their father and stepmother and brought to Harbinger House, the apocalyptic community led by the Reverend Elias Fitcher. At Harbinger House, hundreds of men, women, and children live and work communally while they wait for the end of the world, which according to Rev. Fitcher will occur in just three short months. When Rev. Fitcher makes it clear that he has no desire to spend the next life alone, it is Vern who marries him, little realizing that she is in unimaginable danger -- as is the entire population of Harbinger House.

This book is thoroughly creepy and show more lives up to the bloody precedent set by its source material. Frost also makes excellent use of the obsessions and fads of the time, touching on Spiritualism and communication with the dead, mesmerism, and of course apocalyptic fervor. The story moves slowly, but builds to a truly terrifying and exhilarating climax. show less

This is a truly amazing re-telling of "Bluebeard." Even though each one of the three sisters exemplifies a certain 'sin,' they are all well-rounded and interesting characters. Frost's choice of setting and time period added to the book's fascination, because the turn-of-the-century apocalyptic cults were certainly interesting. Frost also does a great job of using current events and literature of the time. Reading Fitcher's Brides made me look up [b:Wieland or, the Transformation, an American Tale|762338|Wieland or, the Transformation, an American Tale|Charles Brockden Brown|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1178135099s/762338.jpg|1223465] and decide that I need to read that one too. I'm also now tremendously curious about what Rev. show more Fitcher's throwaway reference to "what happened in Canandaigua" meant.

The prose was a little purple in spots, but the story of Bluebeard is a horror tale, and such demands slightly more florid writing. I read this in one day, unable to leave it for more than very short periods. It's a compelling and horrific modern retelling of a very creepy story. show less

This book is quite radically different from the other entries in Terri Windling's 'Fairy Tale Series.' Most of the other books Windling selected stayed much closer to the classic feel of fairy tales in their retellings. I knew that, from what I'd read in other reviews, and for that reason waited quite a while to get around to reading this - the description just didn't appeal to me that much.

However, now I'm sorry I didn't give it a chance earlier! No, this book doesn't have that 'fairy-tale' feel to it - but it's a damn good book.

It retells the tale of Bluebeard - so the reader knows from the start this isn't going to be a pleasant story.
Set in 19th-century America, Frost gives us an apocalyptic cult which has set up a compound in show more upstate New York. A widower has been converted by his new wife, and he relocates, bringing his three unmarried daughters, to join the utopian community. The family falls under the spell of the charismatic preacher that leads the cult - and of, course, it's an honor one can't refuse when the leader chooses the oldest daughter to be his bride.
You know bad things are coming when one of the cult members mutters, "she's not the first, and she won't be the last..."
And, of course, things degenerate to the exact opposite of a utopia...

Frost is an excellent writer. I found the setting and the characters to be completely convincing, even when they were acting against all reason. He portrayed the cult mentality in a way that felt utterly believable.
Almost 5 stars, but I felt that the demonic denouement didn't flow smoothly from the events leading up to it. It was a bit much, in an effort to give it a Big, Dramatic ending. (Kind of like how I feel about the ending of Foucault's Pendulum - which is also an excellent book.) I'd still recommend this. show less

A dark retelling of an already dark tale. Gregory Frost has masterfully imagined this classic fairy tale (a combination of BLUEBEARD and THE FITCHER BIRD) in 1843 in upstate New York, amidst an end-of-the-world "Utopian" community under the leadership of Elias Fitcher. Three girls, Vernelia, Amy and Catherine Charter, are brought to the community when their father and step-mother fall under the preacher's influence. Fitcher is a charismatic, but ominous figure. Ghostly voices whisper through the walls of the girls' old house, seductive and mesmerizing. With the world about to end, Fitcher, determined to spend eternity with a wife, marries Vernelia, the eldest. When she is taken into the heart of the community, away from her family, show more Fitcher quickly reveals his darker instincts. Women disappear, men commit suicide, mysterious shadows roam the halls... Erotically charged, full of brutality and treachery, this novel goes places the original tales only hinted. It's a rollicking, at times uncomfortable read. An exploration of lust, masochism, messianic psychosis and the nature of evil combined with social commentary. Highly recommended. show less

This is a great book. The historical descriptions of end-of-the-world New York State, the journey the family takes, the house they buy . . . all of the minutae of their world translates into a very authentic description of a true historic time. It reminds the reader that the world was supposed to end and it didn't, either in the 1840's or 1993 or in 2012.

Once the "action" moves to the sisters and their marriage to the creepy Fitcher it becomes, well, creepy. Since the sisters are depicted as 3 distinct women with distinct personalities and strengths, each wedding and subsequent betrayal of their trust draws the reader deeper and deeper.

The Bluebeard tale reset in a 19th century cult waiting for the end of days in upstate NY. On the plus side, this is good and creepy. The author captures the atmosphere of upstate NY really well. In fact I will admit that may be that he captured it well enough to make me uncomfortable and dislike parts of the book just because I live in NY state and I don't want to be afraid to go into the woods.

The cult is well portrayed too - the evil charismatic preacher in his utter self assurance is one scary guy. His followers may be even scarier, so defeated that they are actually glad to hear that the world is ending and they don't have to keep trying to make sense of it, so eager to turn over their decisionmaking to a charismatic who looks show more like he might have some answers.


On the minus side, the story is a tale of three sisters - but a lot of time is spent with the first sister, less with the second, and even less with the third. The balance didn't work so well for me. I could have done with a little less time listening to Vern go over the same ground repeatedly, and a little more getting to know Kate.

The major difficulty for me was that somehow the balance between the natural and supernatural elements didn't quite work. Gothic horror is hard to write, it is supposed to be inchoate, you're supposed to spend a lot of the story wondering if the central character is seeing ghosts or just going insane. Its not easy to make that work, and here it doesn't always.

A lot of the book was so extremely realistic in its tone, very specific descriptions of architecture and clothing and place names, and landscape. Because of that level of realism I felt like I wanted the gothic horror elements to be more grounded too. For example, its summertime - I don't understand how the chamber of blood doesn't clot, or smell, or draw flies. I don't understand what the ghosts are doing the third floor or what their role is in the story. I don't know who the Angel of Darkness is, or even if it exists. I'm left with too many questions.

Its still a good, scary, well written story, it just feels like it came really close to being something even more interesting but in the end it didn't quite gell. show less

part of the excellent Fairy Tale Series, with an very good introduction by editor Terri Windling. combines the Bluebeard fairy tale with another collected by Grimm called "Fitcher's Bird", and then resets the whole thing in early nineteenth century New England amid tent evangelists busily manufacturing some end-of-the-world Christian fervour. that's a lot of different elements to juggle, but the whole thing works surprisingly well, and yields some vivid characters and moments of true gothic terror.