The story is told in the eyes of Maud as she grows up and based on diary entries from her father, Edmund. They were treated as second class citizens and were abused regularly (emotionally and physically) It was also quite appalling how Christianity was used as an excuse for men’s behaviour. Wakenhyrst made me feel for women in the early 20th century. Set in the early 1900s, we follow protagonist Maud as she grows up in Wake’s End. To be honest, I was surprised at how intriguing this Edwardian Gothic novel was. A huge chunk of the storyline is based on the Bible and passages we learn might mean more in the eyes of Edmund. Wakenhyrst is a novel that is fascinating, terrifying and mesmerising due to the fact that the story itself takes place in times when things were not as easy for women and girls.
Wakenhyrst is a terrifying ghost story, an atmospheric slice of gothic, a brilliant exploration of the boundaries between the real and the supernatural, and a descent into the mind of a psychopath. And when he lies awake at night, he hears a scratching sound – like claws on the wooden floor… The stench of the Fen permeates the house, even with the windows closed. But the doom keeps returning to his mind. It’s horrifying in its depiction of hell, and Edmund wants nothing more to do with it despite his historical significance.
His terror is only briefly abated when he discovers its actually a painting, a ‘doom’, taken from the church. When Maud’s mother dies in childbirth and she’s left alone with her strict, disciplinarian father, Maud’s isolation drives her to her father’s study, where she happens upon his diary.ĭuring a walk through the local church yard, Edmund spots an eye in the undergrowth. Edmund dominates his family tyrannically, in particular daughter Maud. It is the home of Edmund Stearn and his family – a historian, scholar and land-owner, he’s an upstanding member of the local community. 1906: A large manor house, Wake’s End, sits on the edge of a bleak Fen, just outside the town of Wakenhyrst.
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