The Shadow Guest - a Dell Gothic

This is one of those kind of books that completely takes you by surprise.  I expected it to be your standard Gothic tale - the story of a young woman swept off to a lonely house surrounded by people who seem to be her enemies, not knowing who she can trust, and frightened by things that go bump in the night.  While some of those typical Gothic elements are in the book, the author, Hillary Waugh, definitely gave readers something they would never expect!  Before we get to that, however, let's talk about the author.  The name seems to be a woman's name; but if you think that, you'd be wrong!  Hillary Waugh is actually a man: Hillary Baldwin Waugh (1920 - 2008).  Waugh was a rather prolific American mystery writer, who, in addition to his own name, used pseudonyms such as Elissa Grandower, Harry Walker, and H. Baldwin Taylor. Waugh wrote several Gothic novels during this era.

 

The Shadow Guest was reprinted by Dell in 1972 with permission from its original American publisher, Doubleday & Company. The description on the back of the book indicates "Angela Whelan, the beautiful wife of an American businessman, was drawn to the stone cottage on the lonely English coast by a force she could not name..."  Thus, the reader would expect Angela to be the main character of the story.  Surprise!  She is not.  This is one of those rare Gothic novels from this period where a male is the main character in the story.  Waugh tells this story in first-person point-of-view through the eyes of Howard Whelan, a successful architect who moves to England for an important project, bringing his wife, Angela with him.  When Angela begins to fall into a serious bout of depression, fearing death and refusing to eat or even leave her bed, Howard seeks the help of a local psychiatrist to bring her out of this downward spiral.  A sudden heart-attack brought on by stress in Howard's life brings even more changes, and Howard's physician prescribes three months rest, with no work, in a country setting.  Angela takes charges and finds the perfect place - Heather Cottage.

 

The male first-person point-of-view caught me off-guard, and I will admit, it took me a bit to get into the story.  I am so used to reading these stories from the female lead's perspective, that it threw me off reading a male perspective.  But, after a few chapters, I found myself immersed in the story, intrigued by the male point of view - his love for his wife, his willingness to do anything to help her; yet, at the same time, failing to notice the warning signs of her depression and refusing to acknowledge his own physical frailty following the heart attack - all things one would associate with an alpha male.  And, as the story progresses, and Howard and Angela end up at Heather Cottage, it is unique to see the Gothic elements from a man's point-of-view.  The fantastical things that frighten woman, creating suspenseful and terrifying moments in the story are seen as more shocking in this story, and Howard's curiosity and determination to uncover the truth about them - even if they ultimately reveal supernatural forces at work - creates a completely different atmosphere for the reader.   

 

As to those supernatural elements, Waugh gives them a nice, slow build.  What starts as a story of an only child's tragic death evolves into strange noises at night, laughter heard throughout the house, a shadowy figure seen on the grounds, a light turning on by itself in a locked attic, and the explosive sounds of a car crashing off the side of the cliffside road - a crash that occurred three years prior!  Add to that legends of a ghost haunting the cottage and an elderly woman on a bicycle who, simply put, does not exist, and throw in nightmares that lead to the discovery of a decades-old letter threatening to hunt down and kill Angela's mother, and you've got the perfect mix for a truly suspenseful story.  Waugh skillfully leads the reader down a path of non-belief to not just resigned acceptance, but unquestioning conviction in the reality of evil forces that threaten the life of the woman he loves!  It actually makes the reader question what is real and what is not, and Howard's gradual realization of what is happening keeps the reader in suspense, leading to a completely unexpected and shocking conclusion that left me ... well, for lack of a better word - flabbergasted!  Definitely not at all what I was expecting, but most certainly a dramatic ending (and proof that a Gothic does not have to have an "all's well that ends well" ending to make it a great read).

 

There is no identification of the cover artist for this particular edition published by Dell.  Oddly, this cover depicts the young woman (intended to be Angela, one would suppose) coming down a rather grand, wooden staircase, with stone walls and an arched window such as you would find in a castle, with a candle sconce affixed to the wall.  Nothing in this image fits with the description of the cottage within the story, once again showing how the publishers often smacked covers on their Gothic books that were wholly unrelated to the story within.  At least this provides a nice departure from the standard woman in a flowing dress running away from a darkened castle/house/mansion in the background.

 

This is a Gothic that I would highly recommend, not just to fans of this genre, but to anyone who enjoys a good mystery or thriller.  Waugh offers an extremely well-written, superbly plotted story in ever sense of the word.

 

RATING:  10 antique secretary desks out of 10 for surprising the daylights out of me with a male-led Gothic novel filled with suspense, mystery, and supernatural shocks!