The Temple House Vanishing is a contemporary gothic novel with touches of debauchery and psychological horror.
Louisa, one of the narrators who was a student at The Temple House, is so well-written as a teenager that I felt like a decade had washed off me and I was back in secondary school. The idealistic musings, the pretentiousness of trying to be interesting, the actual changing of the way she spoke in front of those she wanted to impress. It’s a very specific point of adolescence, better than the hormones and the awkwardness, sure, but this metamorphosis- moulding yourself to someone’s else’s image? That has its own type of pain.
The Temple House is a catholic private school, in a grand yet dilapidated building, flanked by sea, cliff and woodland. So far, so gothic. Throw in silent nuns roaming the corridors, a court of prefects, a smoking girl, and a disappearance and you have a darkly atmospheric novel.
The scenes that really stuck with me when reading where those where the friends were reclining languid on the grass, cigarettes in hand, in the sun and breeze talking about everything and nothing all at once. If you ever had an intense friendship in school, you’ll know how easy time would pass together and how it would stretch unbearably when you were apart. Louisa is completely enthralled with Victoria, and together they spend a lot of time with their enigmatic art teacher, Mr Lavelle. Things begin to cross a dangerous line into obsession, and the book switches narration and moves into the modern day, as we follow a reporter writing an article on the 25th anniversary of Louisa’s disappearance.
The epilogue was written differently to the rest of the book, but it really cemented the gothic nature for me, and affected the way I viewed what I had just read.
Thank you @atlanticbooks and @readersfirst for this finished copy in exchange for a review. Out 20th Feb!
Louisa, one of the narrators who was a student at The Temple House, is so well-written as a teenager that I felt like a decade had washed off me and I was back in secondary school. The idealistic musings, the pretentiousness of trying to be interesting, the actual changing of the way she spoke in front of those she wanted to impress. It’s a very specific point of adolescence, better than the hormones and the awkwardness, sure, but this metamorphosis- moulding yourself to someone’s else’s image? That has its own type of pain.
The Temple House is a catholic private school, in a grand yet dilapidated building, flanked by sea, cliff and woodland. So far, so gothic. Throw in silent nuns roaming the corridors, a court of prefects, a smoking girl, and a disappearance and you have a darkly atmospheric novel.
The scenes that really stuck with me when reading where those where the friends were reclining languid on the grass, cigarettes in hand, in the sun and breeze talking about everything and nothing all at once. If you ever had an intense friendship in school, you’ll know how easy time would pass together and how it would stretch unbearably when you were apart. Louisa is completely enthralled with Victoria, and together they spend a lot of time with their enigmatic art teacher, Mr Lavelle. Things begin to cross a dangerous line into obsession, and the book switches narration and moves into the modern day, as we follow a reporter writing an article on the 25th anniversary of Louisa’s disappearance.
The epilogue was written differently to the rest of the book, but it really cemented the gothic nature for me, and affected the way I viewed what I had just read.
Thank you @atlanticbooks and @readersfirst for this finished copy in exchange for a review. Out 20th Feb!