Status
Call number
Collection
Publication
Description
When Ambrose Tree is summoned by his ancient uncle to the brooding mansion Drogo Hall, he suspects it's to hear the old man's dying words and then collect a sizable inheritance. He has no idea he is about to learn the bizarre story of Harry Peake, Cornish smuggler turned poet who became a monster capable of the most horrifying acts. Or that he's about to become psychologically enmeshed in the riveting life of Harry's daughter, Martha, who flees her father for colonial America where she becomes a heroic figure in the revolution against England. Or that he himself has a crucial role to play in this mesmerizing tale as it rushes headlong and hauntingly toward its powerful climax. Martha Peake is a spellbinding alloy of Gothic mystery and historical romance.… (more)
User reviews
I do not recommend this book. But I like the author well enough to give him another try if he sticks to neogothic horror in a contemporary setting
Spoilers ahoy-
Harry is a brash Cornish smuggler and is horrifically injured in a fire that kills his wife and most of his children. His broken back is set badly and he is disfigured for life and unable to work. In his depression and underlying need to punish himself for the tragedy he displays himself as a poetry reading freak to the locals. This catches the attention of a renowned anatomist Lord Drogo. They meet and the anatomist has evil designs on Harry’s twisted skeleton. With the help of his slimy assistant Clyte, Drogo ensnares Harry’s imagination and plots his downfall. He will do anything to acquire Harry as specimen.
At least that’s what we’re led to believe by our unreliable narrator, Ambrose Hill, the nephew of the former apprentice to said famous anatomist. At first we believe that the tale is largely true, but hearsay times two makes for a muddy tale. By the end, the line between what the nephew wishes to be true in his romantic heart and what might actually be true is completely shattered.
The basic facts hold however; Harry succumbs to drink and his binges bring out the worst in him. He literally goes out of his mind and attacks Martha, despite his intense love and devotion to her. She runs to the only place she can think of, Drogo Hall, and throws herself on the mercy of the apprentice, William Hill. Hill hides her in the house and turns Harry away when he comes looking. As a permanent solution, Hill arranges for Martha to sail to America to live with her aunt Maddy. Before she can flee, she goes to her father in the grounds, moved by his vigil outside Drogo Hall. He is drunk as usual and this time his attack is completed and Martha knows she is pregnant.
Once in America, she falls into the manipulative hands of her aunt’s husband Silas who immediately begins a plot to set her up. He totally plays her and once she’s married to his son, Adam, begins to put her in the line of fire, literally. It’s clever and totally heartless what he does to her. A martyr to the cause of the American Revolution. What a perfect symbol to keep morale high.
By now our nephew is completely in love with Martha Peake. He draws her story out of his elderly uncle and fills in the blanks himself. He’s so under the spell that Drogo still haunts his pile of a mansion and hears footsteps outside his locked door and keeps his pistol ready. Of course it isn’t Drogo who haunts the mansion, but Peake. Harry Peake. When he finally realizes the fact of this, his breakdown is nearly complete.
Overall this is a very good story; a tragedy through and through despite its flaws.