The House of Dead Maids

(Reviewing the advance readers copy.)

I have consistently mixed feelings about this author's work, but WOW, what a fantastically creepy read. So many scenes, so much of the imagery, had my heart racing.

I wonder, though, who is the intended audience? The main character is eleven years old, which would make this a tough sell for teens, but the (lovely) writing is fairly complex, which would make it a tough sell for intermediate readers. I think I'd be most likely to give it to a teen or adult fan of classic horror/gothic... if it weren't for the silly ending.

Definitely my favorite Dunkle.

Young maid Tabby Aykroyd is recruited by the imposing elder maid Miss Winter to come serve at Seldom House as nursemaid to a young, wild self-proclaimed "heathen git" who is nameless, unchristened. She finds herself in a household of taciturn servants and in charge of a rebellious child who proclaims himself master of all he surveys. Very quickly, she realizes that the house is haunted by the ghosts of ghoulish dead maids, gray, horrid things with dark holes where their eyes and mouths should be. Why are these terrifying specters appearing before her? What are they trying to communicate? And what are the ghosts that her nameless charge-- whom she has named Himself-- claims to see?

The atmosphere of Dunkle's novel is brooding and show more atmospheric throughout. A darkness prevades every page, and rich description is abundant. It is eerily provacative in the way of a good ghost story, shot through with descriptions of the creepy old house, wild moors, and the mysterious village. There are no spots of light, no safe places of retreat for Tabby or for the reader: all is darkness, and the reader feels Tabby's claustrophobia and isolation acutely. Psychologically, Dunkle has created quite the ideal setting for a ghost/suspense story.

In terms of readership, Dunkle does not "dumb down" the text for her juvenile readers. The vocabulary is advanced but not overwhelmingly challenging, and there is a suitable amount of period colloquialism. Indeed, Tabby's frequent references to her faith (which she uses to justify why the ghosts should not hurt her, to counteract superstition) recall an earlier era and lend to the novel's historicity. All of this makes the novel more engaging for the interested adult reader as well. The connections to Wuthering Heights will also endear this to an adult reader, particularly a Bronte fan (though purists will no doubt devote themselves to fault-finding; I, however, say that this is spoiling a perfectly good text).

Overall, a very fast-paced ghost story that is appropriately chilly and atmospheric, with a memorable cast of brooding characters in the servants and a very memorable young "heathen git" Heathcliff. Tabby, our narrator, is a very sympathetic character who is reasonable and sensible without losing her youthfulness (seen in the simplicity of her belief and her unquestioning acceptance of the social caste system). The novel is sure to keep young readers flipping the pages under the covers with a flashlight, and will keep adult readers turning pages too, for it is hard not to be engaged in this "prequel" to Wuthering Heights. show less

I read this last night in one sitting. It's a young adult ghost story and I couldn't put it down. It is the story of Tabby (the Bronte's housekeeper) when she was a young girl and how she met Heathcliff prior to the story of Wuthering Heights. It's a pretty outrageous tale but I love ghost stories and I got drawn into it. It's fiction, of course, and likely to have never happened but it made for a good story. Not sure that I would have thought of this story if I wanted to explain Heathcliff's origin, but it is an interesting, imaginative take on what might have happened.

In brief, Tabby, an orphan, and a young boy, also an orphan, are brought to a haunted mansion somewhere in England where creepy things happen in the house and in the show more local village. I was surprised to find out just how creepy things really were.

And this story is probably a lot better if you don't relate it to Wuthering Heights at all and just accept it as a creepy 19th century ghost story. show less

This book is supposed to be a prequel to Wuthering Heights. I didn't see it that way at all! I really liked the Gothic style of writing and the way the author captured the atmosphere of the writing style of Wuthering Heights but I felt the story was weak. It seemed in the last page and the epilogue the author attempted to tie it all together but pretty much failed.

I love Clare B. Dunkle's books, but I was a little leery of The House of Dead Maids. I don't usually like reading books where a different author continues a story. However, in this case I did not feel that way. This story could have stood alone from Wuthering Heights, but she made it connect wonderfully. She wrote The House of Dead Maids as a prequel to Wuthering Heights. I started it thinking "whatever", but she reeled me in. It was a very spooky book even without the ghosts, the house itself and the village felt evil. Tabby (the main character) was scared but level headed, a strong heroine. I kept turning pages to see what would happen and before I knew it, it was over. This book made me want to read Wuthering Heights again!

As a horror fan, it's thrilling to find a YA horror book that doesn't pull punches. "House" starts off bleak (an orphan is adopted by an unpleasant woman and taken to a foreboding new home) and gets bleaker--dead people roam the halls, and hiding under the bedsheets won't help. I appreciated the dark, original tone, and the creepy woodcuts, reminiscent of those in the similar "Revenge of the Witch" series by Delaney. Upon closer examination, the cover reveals that the book is "a chilling prelude to Wuthering Heights," and Dunkle really does make good on this. The language and atmosphere is very true to the moor-tromping original, and the narrative brings the reader up to the beginning of Wuthering Heights. An excellent book for show more literature lovers and horrorhounds alike. show less

Recently I read Clare B. Dunkle‘s, THE HOUSE OF DEAD MAIDS, a prequel to Emily Brontë’s classic, WUTHERING HEIGHTS. I was skeptical, because I’m not always into the concept of prequels and sequels to classic literature. But the concept was so spooky that I just had to check it out. And it was riveting. I couldn’t put it down — partially because I was reading it at night in the dark and I had to get to the end or else all the creepy ghosts in the illustrations were going to jump off the page and get me. But also because Clare‘s writing is so elegantly economical, and because the story had so much momentum.