Friday 27 May 2022

The Black Dreams - 'Original Features' by Jo Baker

See my previous post for more details on this anthology of the weird, surreal, and dream-like. 'Original Features' has the feel of a haunted house story, following the life of a married couple and their children from the time they move into a new home. An old lady lived in the house before, alone. The mother begins to dream of a  mysterious room, and then her daughter suffers night terrors and begins to walk in her sleep. The cool, present-tense narration is extremely effective, and the characters are developed more fully than in many novels. 

Eventually, the family moves and, later, the daughter grows up and leaves home. But the mother is still haunted, and when she becomes a grandmother the power of the mysterious room grows more intense. A chance revelation leads to a denouement that recalls, inevitably, 'The Door in the Wall', but shifts the emphasis from the masculine sphere of public life and friendship into the more intimate and ultimately stranger world of the domestic. 

So, an excellent story. I hope to review - albeit briefly - the third tale in the anthology tomorrow.


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