Author: whatcathyreadnext

Throwback Thursday: The Visitor at Anningley Hall by Chris Thorndycroft

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ThrowbackThursday

Throwback Thursday is a weekly meme hosted by Renee at It’s Book Talk.  It’s designed as an opportunity to share old favourites as well as books that we’ve finally got around to reading that were published over a year ago.  If you decide to take part, please link back to It’s Book Talk.

Today I’m reviewing a short story published in 2015 – The Visitor at Anningley Hall by Chris Thorndycroft. I came across it because I took part in the blog tour for one of Chris’s other books, Lords of the Greenwood.  You can read all about that book and a fascinating guest post from Chris here.

This is also my book for this month’s The BookBum Club theme – ‘Short and Sweet’ (books under 200 pages).

The Visitor at Anningley HallAbout the Book

In 1904, M. R. James published ‘The Mezzotint’, a macabre short story about a picture that has a chilling tale of its own. This novella explores the horrifying events told within that picture.

Anningley Hall – a large country house in Essex – is home to Arthur Francis and his wife Elisa. Arthur is obsessed with his new printing press and so consumed by his desire to make a name for himself as a mezzotint artist that he is oblivious to his wife’s increasing desperation and loneliness. Elisa is convinced that something sinister is coming for their infant son and will stop at nothing to protect him. When she discovers a disturbing secret pertaining to her husband’s past, she begins to question the safety of their home as a refuge from evil. And their three-year-old son is in contact with a dark presence that seems intent on entering Anningley Hall…

Format: ebook (46 pp.)         Publisher:
Published: 2015                     Genre: Short Story, Ghost Story, Horror

Purchase Links*
Amazon.co.uk  ǀ  Amazon.com
*links provided for convenience, not as part of any affiliate programme

Find The Visitor at Anningley Hall on Goodreads

My Review

I am a big fan of M. R. James’ ghost stories and, in my household, Christmas is not complete without a repeat viewing of one of the stories adapted for television by the BBC in the 1970s (available on DVD from The British Film Institute). So naturally I was excited when I came across this short story which describes itself as a prequel to one of those stories, ‘The Mezzotint’.

In ‘The Mezzotint’, one of the most well-known of M. R. James’ ghost stories, Mr Williams, the curator of a University art museum, is sent what appears at first to be a rather undistinguished engraving of an unidentified country house.  However, the picture proves to have quite remarkable properties, revealing bit by bit the chilling story of a tragedy.    The Visitor of Anningley Hall goes behind the scenes of the picture to recount and enlarge upon the events eventually discovered by Williams and his colleagues in The Mezzotint.

The author has fun recreating the style and language of M. R. James, complete with some of James’ trademark deprecating asides about golf and what he regards as ‘lowbrow’ culture (“Tess of the D’Urbevilles?…it’s not a book I could ever read myself.”)  For instance, this from The Mezzotint:

‘…tea was taken to the accompaniment of a discussion which golfing persons can imagine for themselves, but which the conscientious writer has no right to inflict upon any non-golfing persons.’ 

And this from The Visitor at Anningley Hall:

‘Some discussed the vicar’s sermon, others the weather, and some rather dull gentleman shared anecdotes from the links which the golfing reader will have to imagine.’

There were just a couple phrases – ‘six months in the loony ward’ and ‘off her rocker’ – that, although they might have been around in M. R. James’ day, I wasn’t sure would have been common usage in 1805 when the story is set.

If ruined cottages, shadowy figures glimpsed through a window and what appear to be bundles of rags crawling slowly across a lawn get your spine tingling, then you will not be disappointed by The Visitor at Anningley Hall.  It is an accomplished homage to M. R. James by an author who clearly admires the work of that doyen of the ghost story.   However, since by the end, the reader knows everything about the events depicted in M. R. James’ original story, this prequel does make ‘The Mezzotint’ itself largely redundant.  On the other hand, it is not necessary to be familiar with ‘The Mezzotint’ to enjoy this short story.  And, if it does whet your appetite, there are lots of other fantastic ghost stories by M. R. James to be discovered.  Some of my favourites are ‘The Ash-Tree’, ‘Oh, Whistle, and I’ll Come To You, My Lad’ and ‘Number 13’.

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In three words: Creepy, chilling, suspenseful

Try something similar…Collected Ghost Stories by M. R. James

Chris ThorndycroftAbout the Author

Chris Thorndycroft is a British writer of historical fiction, horror and fantasy. His early short stories appeared in magazines and anthologies such as Dark Moon Digest and American Nightmare. His first novel under his own name was A Brother’s Oath. He also writes under the pseudonym P. J. Thorndyke.

Connect with Chris

Website ǀ  Twitter  ǀ  Goodreads

 

 

WWW Wednesdays – 25th April ‘18

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WWWWednesdays

Hosted by Taking on a World of Words, this meme is all about the three Ws:

  • What are you currently reading?
  • What did you recently finish reading?
  • What do you think you’ll read next?

Why not join in too?  Leave a comment with your link at Taking on a World of Words and then go blog hopping!

Currently reading

WaltScott_Prussian BluePrussian Blue (Bernie Gunther#12) by Philip Kerr (hardcover)

It’s 1956 and Bernie Gunther is on the run. Ordered by Erich Mielke, deputy head of the East German Stasi, to murder Bernie’s former lover by thallium poisoning, he finds his conscience is stronger than his desire not to be murdered in turn. Now he must stay one step ahead of Mielke’s retribution.

The man Mielke has sent to hunt him is an ex-Kripo colleague, and as Bernie pushes towards Germany he recalls their last case together. In 1939, Bernie was summoned by Reinhard Heydrich to the Berghof: Hitler’s mountain home in Obersalzberg. A low-level German bureaucrat had been murdered, and the Reichstag deputy Martin Bormann, in charge of overseeing renovations to the Berghof, wants the case solved quickly. If the Fuhrer were ever to find out that his own house had been the scene of a recent murder – the consequences wouldn’t bear thinking about.

And so begins perhaps the strangest of Bernie Gunther’s adventures, for although several countries and seventeen years separate the murder at the Berghof from his current predicament, Bernie will find there is some unfinished business awaiting him in Germany.

The Million Dollar DuchessesThe Million Dollar Duchesses: How America’s Heiresses Seduced the Aristocracy by Julie Ferry (ebook, review copy courtesy of the author)

On 6th November 1895, the beautiful and brilliant heiress Consuelo Vanderbilt was wedded to the near-insolvent Charles Spencer-Churchill, 9th Duke of Marlborough in a dazzling yet miserable match – it glittered above all others for high society’s marriage brokers who, in this single year, forged a series of spectacular, and lucrative, transatlantic unions.

The bankrupt and ailing British aristocracy was suddenly injected with all the wealth and glamour of America’s newest dynasties. Millions of dollars changed hands as fame, money, power and privilege were all at play.

Brimful of scandal, illicit affairs, spurned loves and unexpected tragedy, The Million Dollar Duchesses reveals the closed-door bargaining which led to these most influential matches and how America’s heiresses shook-up British high society for ever.

Recently finished (click on title for review)

Staying OnStaying On by Paul Scott (paperback)

In this sequel to The Raj Quartet, Colonel Tusker and Lucy Smalley cling to their bungalow in the hills of Pankot after Indian independence deprives them of their colonial status. Lucy, fed up with accommodating her husband, tries to assert her own independence.

In scenes both poignant and hilarious, she and Tusker act out class tensions among the British of the Raj and eloquently give voice to the loneliness, rage, and stubborn affection in their marriage.

Suitors and SabotageSuitors and Sabotage by Cindy Anstey (ebook, review copy courtesy of Swoon Reads and Xpresso Tours)

Shy aspiring artist Imogene Chively has just had a successful Season in London, complete with a suitor of her father’s approval. Imogene is ambivalent about the young gentleman until he comes to visit her at the Chively estate with his younger brother in tow. When her interest is piqued, however, it is for the wrong brother.

Charming Ben Steeple has a secret: despite being an architectural apprentice, he has no drawing aptitude. When Imogene offers to teach him, Ben is soon smitten by the young lady he considers his brother’s intended.

But hiding their true feelings becomes the least of their problems when, after a series of “accidents,” it becomes apparent that someone means Ben harm. And as their affection for each other grows—despite their efforts to remain just friends—so does the danger…

TheGoodFatherThe Good Father by S. R. Wilsher (ebook, review copy courtesy of the author)

In 1994, nine year old Effie and her twelve year old brother Ajan, endure the horrors of life in the besieged city of Sarajevo after the loss of their parents. Desperate to help preserve their city, Ajan becomes involved with a criminal gang among the makeshift defenders. When Effie is forced to flee alone, she must survive long enough to reach those outside of the city who have come to help. But the influence of those pursuing her is such that not even the soldiers of the UN might be able to save her. Any hope of a future for Effie eventually lies with only one man, Captain Nathan Lane.

It is 2017, and an attempt is made on the life of Foreign Secretary, Caroline Hardy. As the Security Services hunt for her attacker, the reality she is only a bit part player in the affair doesn’t occur to anyone. Not until her daughter, Mia goes missing and is implicated in the disappearance of a well-connected lawyer. As the focus switches to Mia, a secret that Caroline has kept hidden for a long time threatens them both, until there becomes only one place she can turn, to the man who shares her secret. (Review to follow 27th April)

The Great DarknessThe Great Darkness by Jim Kelly (hardcover, review copy courtesy of Allison and Busby)

1939, Cambridge: The opening weeks of the Second World War, and the first blackout – The Great Darkness – covers southern England, enveloping the city. Detective Inspector Eden Brooke, a wounded hero of the Great War, takes his nightly dip in the cool waters of the Cam. Daylight reveals a corpse on the riverside, the body torn apart by some unspeakable force. Brooke investigates, calling on the expertise and inspiration of a faithful group of fellow ‘nighthawks’ across the city, all condemned, like the detective, to a life lived away from the light. Within hours The Great Darkness has claimed a second victim. War, it seems, has many victims, but what links these crimes of the night? (Review to follow 26th April)

The Visitor at Anningley HallThe Visitor at Anningley Hall by Chris Thorndycroft (ebook)

In 1904, M. R. James published The Mezzotint; a macabre short story about a picture that has a chilling tale of its own. This novella explores the horrifying events told within that picture.

Anningley Hall – a large country house in Essex – is home to Arthur Francis and his wife Elisa. Arthur is obsessed with his new printing press and so consumed by his desire to make a name for himself as a mezzotint artist that he is oblivious to his wife’s increasing desperation and loneliness. Elisa is convinced that something sinister is coming for their infant son and will stop at nothing to protect him. When she discovers a disturbing secret pertaining to her husband’s past, she begins to question the safety of their home as a refuge from evil. And their three-year-old son is in contact with a dark presence that seems intent on entering Anningley Hall…  (Review to follow 26th April)

What Cathy (will) Read Next

Jane Semour The Haunted QueenJane Seymour: The Haunted Queen (Six Tudor Queens #3) by Alison Weir (eARC, NetGalley)

Ever since she was a child, Jane has longed for a cloistered life as a nun. But her large noble family has other plans, and, as an adult, Jane is invited to the King’s court to serve as lady-in-waiting for Queen Katherine of Aragon. The devout Katherine shows kindness to all her ladies, almost like a second mother, which makes rumours of Henry’s lustful pursuit of Anne Boleyn—who is also lady-in-waiting to the queen—all the more shocking. For Jane, the betrayal triggers memories of a painful incident that shaped her beliefs about marriage.

But once Henry disavows Katherine and secures his new queen – altering the religious landscape of England – he turns his eye to another: Jane herself. Urged to return the King’s affection and earn favour for her family, Jane is drawn into a dangerous political game that pits her conscience against her desires. Can Jane be the one to give the King his long-sought-after son or will she meet a fate similar to the women who came before her?

Our Kind of CrueltyOur Kind of Cruelty by Araminta Hall (proof copy, courtesy of Century)

Mike knows that most of us travel through the world as one half of a whole, desperately searching for that missing person to make us complete.

But he and Verity are different. They have found each other and nothing and no one will tear them apart.

It doesn’t matter that Verity is marrying another man.

You see, Verity and Mike play a game together, a secret game they call ‘the crave’, the aim being to demonstrate what they both know: that Verity needs Mike, and only Mike.

Verity’s upcoming marriage is the biggest game she and Mike have ever played. And it’s for the highest stakes.

Except this time in order for Mike and Verity to be together someone has to die…