Gentle from the Night

Gentle from the Night isn't a blast from the past, it is an homage to the gothic style. Like most traditional gothics, the story is set in Victorian England, and tells the tale of a young woman. After her father's death, Alexandra is forced to work in a lonely, haunted castle far removed from the hustle and bustle of her life in London. The castle is haunted by the ghost of Ursula Pole, the former governess of the ominous and mysterious master of Cairncross Castle, Lord Newell. Miss Pole, an evil and abusive woman, disappeared one night almost 20 years prior to Alexandra's arrival, and no one knows what became of her. Meagan McKinney introduces several modern elements to this traditional tale of a young woman adrift in a haunted castle, including the heroine's own unusual identity as a young Jew; Alexandra faces estrangement whether she is in an old castle or in 19th-century London. Haunting, evocative, and beautifully written, Gentle from the Night is a tribute to the genre.