Ghosts of Evils Past
House of Glass by Susan Fletcher - A review
A house is meant to be a place of safety and
intimacy. The haunted house is a
powerful symbol of horror precisely because it shows us a haven of domesticity
upturned by an intruder, and a supernatural one at that. It is hardly surprising that from being just
one of many Gothic tropes, the haunted house eventually became the basis of a
rich supernatural sub-genre.
House of Glass is a historical novel within this tradition. It is set just before the outbreak of the
First World War and features a sprawling mansion – Shadowbrook – marked by
dark, old rumours about its previous owners, the evil and hated Pettigrew
family. The last Pettigrew to inhabit
Shadowbrook was the sensual, decadent and possibly mad Veronique - her ghost
still walks its corridors and the pages of this book. So far, so familiar. Indeed, this novel shares many elements with
other books within the (sub-)genre. It has been compared to Du Maurier’s Rebecca
but I would say that its mixture of Gothic thrills, historical novel and social
commentary is closer in spirit to Sarah Water’s The Little Stranger. What makes House of Glass particularly
original is its protagonist and narrator, Clara Waterfield. Conceived out of wedlock in India, and born
in England where her mother Charlotte is dispatched to avoid a scandal, Clara
suffers from osteogenesis imperfecta or “brittle bones disease”, a condition
which causes fractures at the least pressure or impact. As a result, Clara
lives a secluded London childhood, fiercely protected by her parents. The premature death of her mother thrusts
Clara into adulthood. Notwithstanding
her syndrome, her walking cane and ungainly gait, Clara ventures out into the
world. The gardens at Kew become her
refuge and she finds herself turning into an amateur botanist – “amateur” in
the best sense of the word, that of a lover of knowledge. This earns her the respect, friendship and
support of Forbes, the foreman of the glasshouses. It also leads to an unexpected
invitation. One day, Clara is summoned
to Gloucestershire by the new owner of Shadowbrook, to oversee the
installation of exotic plants from Kew in a new greenhouse in the mansion’s
gardens.
It is here that the ghost
story proper begins. Clara finds
herself surrounded by mystery and secrets, by things that go bump in the night
and malevolent attacks by an unseen visitor.
The housekeeper and maids cower in fear of the ghost of Veronique
Pettigrew, a woman seemingly so evil that a mere mention of her name is enough
to unleash poltergeist activity. Clara
is sceptical but her rationalist approach is put under severe test. That summer will mark her coming to age, as
she questions long-held certainties and beliefs whilst going through a sexual awakening.
At one level, House of Glass is enjoyable as a good old piece of
storytelling. But there is so much more
to it. What struck me at first is the
blend of realism and the supernatural. Shadowbrook and its gardens are inspired by
the real-life Hidcote Manor Garden (a National Trust property in
Gloucestershire) and this setting is lovingly and minutely described. At the same time, Fletcher uses small details
(closed, dust-filled rooms; peeling paint; a blood-stained billiard table) to evoke
an atmosphere of fear and dread. The
scene has already been set for the nocturnal visitations which considerably ratchet
up the tension.
 |
| The Old Garden at Hidcote (image taken from National Trust webpage) |
The novel also manages to take an established form and inject it with a
strong dose of feminism. Clara’s
condition becomes a symbol of female rebellion
and resistance, her physical imperfections as transgressive as her assertiveness
and inquisitiveness. There is a parallel
between the “cripple” Clara and the uniquely beautiful Veronique, both of them
strong women trying to hold their own in a patriarchal society. Clara ruefully notes that despite the fact
that the male Pettigrews were violent and criminal, it was Veronique and her ‘sex
orgies’ which gripped the attention of the sleepy village where she lived and
which marked her forever as an epitome of immorality. This leads to another theme which is central
to the novel, namely that of truth and falsehood, and how accounts can be
manipulated to propagate the world-view favoured by their narrator.
My only reservation as I was reading the novel was that there were a number of
narrative gear-changes late in the book.
Engrossing as it is, the plot moves forward at a leisurely pace until
about three-quarters in, when a raft of unexpected revelations propel the tale
forward and lead us closer to the “sensation novel”. In the final chapters then, there is yet
another shift, as the work ends with a meditation on war. The more I think about it, however, the more I
tend to feel that my initial doubts were unfounded – the different facets of House
of Glass ultimately add up to a convincing whole, held together by Fletcher’s
lyrical and elegiac writing style. For
this is also a story about the passing of an era, and what are ghosts if not
remnants, in one way or another, of a half-remembered past?
Hardcover, 368 pages
Published November 1st 2018 by Virago
***
The English musical scene at the start of the twentieth century was going
through a veritable Renaissance. I was
therefore spoilt for choice when selecting some tracks to accompany my reading
of House of Glass.
Despite the novel being set entirely in England, India remains very much in
the background, a place which Clara associates with her mother and her unkown,
distant past. In this respect, the novel
reflects the concerns of Imperial Gothic, particularly that underlying sense of
guilt associated with Empire which has tended to become more accentuated in a
post-colonial era. Yet, in the years of
the British Raj, there were artists who had a genuine interest in Indian and
more generally Eastern traditions, one which went beyond the mere lure of the
Exotic. For instance, Gustav Holst (1874-1934), best
known as the composer of “The Planets”, retained a lifelong curiosity about
Eastern philosophy, beliefs and musical traditions, engaging with them in
several works including Choral Hymns from the Rig Veda.
Clara never gets to visit India (at least within the pages of the novel). Ironically, however, even her childhood
experiences of London are vicarious. Her
condition keeps her bedridden for long periods of time such that even the city
where she lives appears to her like a distant land. Of course, as L.P. Hartley reminds us, the past
is itself a foreign country – Ralph Vaughan Williams’s second symphony – “London”
– is inspired by the sights and sounds of the city. First composed in 1912, it gives us a taste of
the capital at the time of the novel’s events – this particular presentation is
enhanced by photos from the era.
Shadowbrook – and its inspiration, Hidcote – are situated in
Gloucestershire. Gloucestershire
Rhapsody (1919-1921) is an orchestral work by the poet and composer Ivor Gurney
(1890-1937). Gurney suffered from
bipolar disorder, a condition exacerbated by his harrowing experiences in the
First World War (he was a victim of a gas attack).
Many other artists, writers and composers did not survive the war. Amongst these was one of the most promising
musicians of the early 20th century – George Butterworth (1885-1916), who was
shot through the head by a sniper during the Battle of the Somme. Butterworth –
hailed on his death as “a brilliant musician in times of peace, and an
equally brilliant soldier in times of stress” - is known for his settings of
poetry from Housman’s “A Shropshire Lad”.
These poems were in turn inspired
by the Second Boer War - the song "The lads in their hundreds" tells of
young men who leave their homeland to 'die in their glory and never be old' and, with the benefit of hindsight, seems uncannily prescient of Butterworth’s
own destiny. This performance seems to
me to capture not only the thoughts of Housman and Butterworth, but also the
nostalgic mood of the final chapter of House of Glass.
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