House of Small Shadows

Last updated
House of Small Shadows
House of Small Shadows UK cover.jpg
Cover for the 2013 UK release
Author Adam Nevill
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
GenreHorror
Published2013, Pan Books (UK)
2014, St. Martin's Press (US)
Media typePrint, e-book
Pages384 pages (UK)
ISBN 0330544241 (UK)
Preceded by Last Days  
Followed by No One Gets Out Alive  

House of Small Shadows (also stylized as The House of Small Shadows for its United States release) is a 2013 supernatural horror novel by English writer Adam Nevill. The book was first published in the United Kingdom on 10 October 2013 through Pan Books and was released in the United States on 15 July 2014 through St. Martin's Press. The book follows an antique appraiser that returns home, only to be confronted with the horror of Red House and with her own personal tragedies.

Contents

Synopsis

The book follows Catherine, a young woman with a troubled past, and is set in the present day. Through flashbacks interspersed throughout the book the reader learns about her past, which is extremely complicated.

Catherine was abandoned by her birth parents in Ellyll Fields, a fictional small village near Hereford. While she did find an adoptive family, it is not a happy arrangement and they frequently questioned her mental health. Ostracized at school, Catherine only had one friend - a young mentally challenged girl named Alice that was also an outcast. They get along well until the summer of 1981, when Alice is one of several children that were kidnapped by the mysterious Pied Piper of Ellyll. Soon after her disappearance Catherine claims to have made contact with Alice's ghost, which prompts her adoptive parents to send her to therapy. As time passes a now adult Catherine forms a relationship with a man named Mike, but the relationship ends badly. Hoping to cause some change in her life, Catherine travels to London and takes a job with a prestigious TV network. However, her hoped-for change does not come to pass and she is fired from her position by a bullying co-worker named Tara.

Shattered by the experience, Catherine returns home and tries to once again rebuild her life. She takes on a job as an antique appraiser for a local handicapped man named Leonard and also manages to romantically re-connect with Mike. Things seem to be going well until Catherine suffers a miscarriage, which signals the end of her relationship with Mike, although she suspects that he really left her because he was seeing another woman. After an unspecified amount of time Catherine is persuaded to take on a job cataloging the contents of Red House, the home of the late M. H. Mason, a local eccentric known for his antique dolls, puppets, and morbid taxidermy displays. Once at the house Catherine is greatly unsettled by Mason's elderly niece Edith, her maid Maude, the house, and its contents. She is pressured to stay by both Edith and Maude, and reluctantly chooses to stay, despite her own reservations about everything. That night Catherine hears several odd noises that sounds like people walking around during the night, an occurrence that Edith later tries to explain away as Maude walking about. However these noises are only the first of a series of increasingly bizarre and strange occurrences.

Reception

Critical reception for House of Small Shadows has been mostly positive, [1] [2] and the book received praise from Rue Morgue and The Independent . [3] [4] Tor.com and The Guardian expressed some criticism over the character of Catherine, as Tor.com found her past to be overly convoluted and The Guardian noted that her passive nature and "barely believable reasons why she can't or won't leave the house" did cause a "kind of stasis [that] freezes the novel". [5] [6] The Guardian gave the book a favorable review overall, while the reviewer for Tor.com commented that the character of Catherine kept them from enjoying the book as much as they would have otherwise. [5] [6] The reviewer for the Lancashire Evening Post gave a favorable review for the work, writing "Original, unsettling and genuinely scary, this is a book to be read only in daylight hours…". [7]

Related Research Articles

<i>Geralds Game</i> book

Gerald's Game is a 1992 suspense novel by American writer Stephen King. The story is about a woman whose husband dies of a heart attack while she is handcuffed to a bed, and, following the subsequent realization that she is trapped with little hope of rescue, begins to let the voices inside her head take over.

<i>Maude</i> (TV series) American television series 1972-1978

Maude is an American sitcom television series that was originally broadcast on the CBS network from September 12, 1972, until April 22, 1978.

Rue McClanahan actress

Eddi-Rue McClanahan was an American actress and comedian best known for her roles on television as Vivian Harmon on Maude (1972–78), Aunt Fran Crowley on Mama's Family (1983–84), and Blanche Devereaux on The Golden Girls (1985–92), for which she won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series in 1987.

Edith Roosevelt Second wife of U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt

Edith Kermit Roosevelt was the second wife of President Theodore Roosevelt and served as the First Lady of the United States during his presidency from 1901 to 1909. She also served as the Second Lady of the United States in 1901. Roosevelt was the first First Lady to employ a full-time, salaried social secretary. Her tenure resulted in the creation of an official staff, and her formal dinners and ceremonial processions served to elevate the position of First Lady.

Dare Wright childrens author, model, and photographer

Dare Wright was a Canadian–American children's author, model, and photographer. She is best known for her 1957 children's book, The Lonely Doll.

<i>Rue Morgue</i> (magazine) Magazine

Rue Morgue is a multinational magazine devoted to coverage of horror fiction. Its content comprises news, reviews, commentary, interviews, and event coverage. Its journalistic span encompasses films, books, comic books, video games, and other media in the horror genre. Rue Morgue was founded in 1997 by Rodrigo Gudiño, and is headquartered in Toronto, with regional offices in various countries throughout North America, the United Kingdom, and Europe. The magazine has expanded over time to encompass a radio station, book publishing company, and horror convention. The magazine's namesake is Edgar Allan Poe's short story "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" (1841).

Ruth Wilson English actress

Ruth Wilson is an English actress. She is known for her performances in Suburban Shootout (2005), Jane Eyre (2006), as Alice Morgan in the BBC psychological crime drama Luther, as Alison Lockhart in the Showtime drama The Affair (2014–2018), as the titular character in Mrs Wilson (2018), and as Marisa Coulter in the BBC/HBO fantasy series His Dark Materials (2019–present). Her film credits include The Lone Ranger (2013), Saving Mr. Banks (2013), I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House (2016), and Dark River (2017).

Jessica Alice Cave Lloyd is an English actress, comedian and cartoonist, known for her role as Lavender Brown in the Harry Potter film series, and for her shows in London and at the Edinburgh Fringe. She has also published a book of her trademark cartoon doodles, called Love Sick, and some of the designs have also appeared on greeting cards.

Helaine Fendelman is a generalist antiques, fine arts and collectibles appraiser, author, instructor and co-host of a PBS affiliated television show.

Mildred Seeley was a doll collector, doll-related entrepreneur, and prolific author on the subjects of doll making and doll collecting.

Adam Nevill is an English writer of supernatural horror, known for his book The Ritual. Prior to becoming a full-time author, Nevill worked as an editor.

<i>Doll Bones</i> book by Holly Black

Doll Bones is a 2014 Young Adult novel by author Holly Black with illustrations by Eliza Wheeler. Doll Bones won the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award in Children's Literature and was a Newbery Medal Honor Book in 2014.

<i>Last Days</i> (Nevill novel) book by Adam Nevill

Last Days is a 2012 horror novel by the British author Adam Nevill. The book was first published in the United Kingdom on 24 May 2012 by Pan Macmillan and was published in the United States on 26 February 2013 through St. Martin's Griffin. It won the 2013 August Derleth Award for Best Horror Novel and film rights for Last Days were first optioned by Adam Storke in early 2014. The option has subsequently passed to another film production company.

<i>The Ritual</i> (novel) book by Adam Nevill

The Ritual is a 2011 British horror novel by Adam Nevill. The book was first released in the United Kingdom on 7 October 2011 through Pan Macmillan and was released in the United States on 14 February 2012 through Macmillan imprint St. Martin's Griffin. It is Nevill's third published novel and was followed by his 2012 work Last Days. The Ritual is the winner of the 2012 August Derleth Award for Best Horror Novel. Film rights were optioned by Stillking Films, before the option was passed to Imaginarium, who currently holds the film and TV rights. The film adaptation was released in cinemas on 13 October 2017 directed by David Bruckner and starring Rafe Spall and Robert James-Collier.

<i>Banquet for the Damned</i> book by Adam Nevill

Banquet for the Damned is a 2004 horror novel by British author Adam Nevill. His debut novel, it was first published in 2004 by PS Publishing, was re-published in 2008 through Virgin Books, and again in 2014 through Pan.

V. E. Schwab American writer

Victoria Elizabeth Schwab is an American fantasy author best known for her 2013 novel Vicious, the Shades of Magic series, and for her children's and young adult fiction published under the name Victoria Schwab.

<i>Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates</i> 2016 film by Jake Szymanski

Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates is a 2016 American comedy film directed by Jake Szymanski and written by Andrew J. Cohen and Brendan O'Brien. The film stars Zac Efron and Adam DeVine as the title characters, who put out an ad for dates to their sister's wedding, and features Anna Kendrick and Aubrey Plaza as the girls who answer the ad. The film is based on a real Craigslist ad placed by two brothers who wanted dates for their cousin's wedding that went viral in February 2013, which they then turned into a book, Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates: And a Thousand Cocktails.

<i>Lost Girl</i> (novel) book by Adam Nevill

Lost Girl is a 2015 pre-apocalyptic novel by British author Adam Nevill. The book was published in the United Kingdom on 22 October 2015 through Pan Macmillan.

<i>Innsmouth</i> (film) 2015 film by Izzy Lee

Innsmouth is a 2015 short horror film that was directed by Izzy Lee, who co-wrote and co-produced the film with Francesco Massaccesi. The film premiered on August 19, 2015 and is inspired by the works of H. P. Lovecraft, particularly The Shadow over Innsmouth.

Hunger Strike Medal Medal for suffragette prisoners who had gone on hunger strike

The Hunger Strike Medal was a silver medal awarded by the leadership of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) to suffragette prisoners who had gone on hunger strike for not being recognised as political prisoners while serving sentences in the prisons of the United Kingdom. Many women were force-fed.

References

  1. ↑ "The House of Small Shadows (review)". Booklist. Retrieved 31 August 2014.
  2. ↑ "THE HOUSE OF SMALL SHADOWS (review)". Kirkus Reviews. Retrieved 31 August 2014.
  3. ↑ Snellings, April. "HELL'S SHELVES: HOUSE OF SMALL SHADOWS AND THE RETURNED". Rue Morgue. Archived from the original on 2 July 2014. Retrieved 31 August 2014.
  4. ↑ Barnett, David. "Superheroes, deadly dolls, space pilots, and underworlds". Independent. Retrieved 31 August 2014.
  5. 1 2 VanderMeer, Jeff. "House of Small Shadows by Adam Nevill – review". The Guardian. Retrieved 31 August 2014.
  6. 1 2 Alexander, Niall. "A Dance With Dolls: House of Small Shadows by Adam Nevill". Tor.com. Retrieved 31 August 2014.
  7. ↑ Norfolk, Pam. "Book review: House of Small Shadows by Adam Nevill". Lancashire Evening Post. Retrieved 31 August 2014.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.