Charlotte Markham and the House of Darkling: A Novel

By Michael Boccacino

Debut novelist Michael Boccacino invites readers into the world beyond the realm of the living in Charlotte Markham and the House of Darkling, a Victorian gothic tale of the strange and supernatural. But all who enter this house must beware—for there is a price to pay for visitors who wish to save those they love. The story of a British governess and her young charges seduced by the otherworldly enticements of a mysterious mansion in the forest following the inexplicable death of the former nanny, this Tim Burton-like tale of dark fantasy is a bewitching treat for fans of horror and paranormal fiction, as well as readers who love creepy gothic tales and mysterious shadowy English manor houses. Not since Suzanna Clarke introduced Jonathan Strange to Mr. Norrell, and Neil Gaiman’s Coraline crawled through a secret door into a twisted and sinister mirror world, has there been a journey as wondrously fantastic and terrifying as Charlotte Markham’s adventures in the House of Darkling.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Jul 24, 2012
• ISBN: 9780062122629

Reviews for Charlotte Markham and the House of Darkling

[allisonmariecat · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Charlotte Markham is the widowed governess at Everton, home of the handsome widower Mr. Darrow and his two sons. When Nanny Prum is murdered, Charlotte takes on a greater role in the boys' lives. She reluctantly agrees to take the children through the fog to the mysterious House of Darkling, where their dead mother reads them strange bedtime stories and a host of mysterious creatures is revealed.Charlotte is not simply a pawn in this game; she reasons out whether it's better for the children to see their mother or not, and she considers the complex reasons for her fascination with the House of Darkling. After all, she has lost family members, too; if Mrs. Darrow can reappear, why not Charlotte's parents or husband? The more she learns about this strange place, the more wary she becomes, until she finds herself in a contest of wills with the master of the House of Darkling, and if she is not equal to the challenge, more innocent humans will die.Boccacino invokes a delightfully chilling air of Victorian Gothic creepiness throughout the novel, but what I enjoyed most was that he constantly surprised me. This is an homage to Victorian horror, but it is not constrained by those conventions; rather, Boccacino gives his boundless imagination free rein. The creatures we meet in The Ending, the land where the House of Darkling is situated, are extraordinary. For example: "It was about the same size and shape as a grapefruit, but before he could get a good look at it, he glanced up at me, clearly frightened, sensing that something was wrong. The fruit quivered, and with a wet, tearing sound it began to unroll from the inside out, the air laced with the scent of peaches as the thing in his hands untwisted its arms and legs from the pulpy interior of its body and wrenched its head free from it's shell. A baby's face blinked at us with pale blue eyes as Paul dropped it on the ground with a look of utter terror, backing away, his gaze transfixed on the thing as it fell onto its back, protected by what was formerly the leathery skin of the fruit." You don't see that every day, even in horror novels.Charlotte herself is not a meek Victorian governess. That she is a widow sets her apart from the usual virginal girls in that role. Beyond that, she is conscious of her longing for Mr. Darrow and its impact on her decisions. Her formidable nature is hinted at in her discipline of two unruly boys: "'It's nothing to me if you want to kill one another,' I told them. 'I imagine that it would be much easier to care for one child as opposed to two. But I daresay your father would be furious with whichever one of you murders the other. If violence and murder are the methods you choose to use when dealing with family, then we can only surmise the tactics you might use when dealing with your peers would be that much worse. We would be forced to lock you away in the attic for the good of the village. I don't believe that such an existence would be a very pleasant one, but then it's not up to me to make your decisions for you.'" Her humor and assertiveness translate surprisingly well to a life-or-death struggle with otherworldly beings. I would have liked to have seen more of Charlotte's inner thoughts with regard to her dead husband and to Mr. Darrow. Her inclinations aren't very clearly drawn out; one moment, she wonders if her husband could come back from the dead, and the next she is daydreaming about the next Mrs. Darrow. It's a bit of a muddle, but the creepy atmosphere, snappy dialogue, and surprising otherworldly elements more than make up for this deficiency.Highly recommended to any reader who enjoys creative horror or Victorian gothic settings.Source disclosure: I received an e-galley courtesy of the publisher.

[whitewavedarling · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Filled with the gothic and the grotesque, this is an interesting tale, if somewhat old-fashioned stylistically. Unfortunately, so much attention is placed on detail that it begins fairly slowly, the characters and the plot both taking a backseat to a rather over-embellished writing style and a slow build. While I think that space was meant to allow readers to get closer to the characters and the story, I'm afraid that both always felt somewhat surface-level. The twists of the plot, and the grotesque details, made it an enjoyable-enough read, but not one I'll remember. This should have been a much more powerful read, for me at least, and instead it ended up just being a temporary enjoyable escape that I could pick up or put down at any given moment.I'd recommend this to readers who enjoy traditionally gothic tales or the original gothic novels, and who won't mind a bit of added gruesome detail.

[athenaharmony · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I'm not a stickler for historical accuracy, so I definitely enjoyed the atmosphere of this story, even if it didn't exactly fit into any specific time period. It's dark and full of creepy characters, huge manors, forests, and thick fogs, as one would expect from the cover, and the lack of detail when it comes to the development of any characters except for Charlotte makes it mysterious, in a good way. Everyone except Charlotte felt a little surreal to me because of this lack of detail, as if Charlotte were moving through a dream world. This might be good or bad, depending on the reader's personal taste. If you're looking for an epic journey full of character development, this is not the book for you.I'm also pretty sure that, in my haste to find out what happened, I missed out on much of the deeper message of this story. I found the "politics" of The Ending a little confusing--we're meant to understand that there's some big conflict going on, but the players in this conflict, as well as the reasons for it, are left quite vague. Charlotte and Mr. Whatley seem to be playing some kind of game that Charlotte suddenly understands but does not explain to the reader, so one gets a hint of a plot being afoot but cannot grasp exactly what it is, and I think we were supposed to be able to understand. I'm sure that there were complex ideas about death, life, mortality, and so on hidden within the story, but I definitely didn't get them on the first pass. That said, the story was still interesting and the fantastical characters and objects in the House of Darkling were interesting to read about. Boccacino conjures up great images that make the reader want to "see" more of his strange inventions.A couple of things that rubbed me the wrong way about this book:1) The boys seemingly being raised and educated as if they were the same age, when there is, in fact, an important age difference between them. James is barely old enough to be in kindergarten, while his brother is a teenager, and yet, minus James' occasional bad behaviour, characteristic of someone his age, they seem to behave in much the same way. They also sleep in the same room, are educated about the same topics in the same ways, and are both often treated like little children in general. Not being a history buff, I don't know if this was common at one point, but it ends up making Paul seem immature for his age or James seem too mature for his age, depending on the reader's interpretation.2) Mr. Darrow instantly believing Charlotte when she reveals the existence of the House of Darkling to him. Yes, he has seen one fantastical thing attack Susannah, but is that really enough to make a rational man believe that an entire other dimension exists? Seems a little far-fetched.3) Mr. Darrow not being supremely angry about Charlotte possibly losing his only two children to another dimension full of creepy immortal monsters forever. He just accepts it and goes, "Okay, let's get them back." Is Mr. Darrow even human? Despite his budding romantic relationship with Charlotte, he doesn't seem to have very many human feelings, except when they might be useful to add some drama to the story.Even though I didn't love everything about it, I would still give Charlotte Markham and the House of Darkling a second read, in the interest of grasping the deeper messages I really feel are lurking in there. It's not a book that you'll deeply regret missing out on if you don't get the chance to pick it up, but it's a good read if you like this kind of thing.

[agarcia85257 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Charlotte Markham and the House of Darkling by Michael Boccacino is a strange and wonderful gothic tale of other worlds blending with our own and the consequences that fall from it. It is a fable told in the old way, not the sanitized Disney versions we feed our children, but the dark and bloody tales we keep to ourselves and only recall when it is late and dark at night...."No one ever comes back," I said. James pulled his face away from the skirts of the mystery woman, and looked her over carefully before returning my pleading gaze with a confused expression. In his eyes I could see that there was no doubt the woman he clung to was his mother. Paul didn't bother to remove his head from the other woman's shoulder. He had awoken from his nightmare and it had all been some terrible misunderstanding. Everything he hoped for had come true. "But she has. She's alive again."... Charlotte Markham, the Governess to James and Paul Darrow is awoken from a dream by the screams of a woman. She goes downstairs and is related the tale of a murder and the victim being the boy's own Nanny. Charlotte, a widow herself, must take into her care the boys and their father Henry, who themselves had recently buried the Lady of the house, Lily Darrow. So soon after the loss of their mother, the boys are subjected to another terrible loss. The murder of their Nanny. One day after lessons, they wonder into the woods surrounding their estate and come upon a path not seen before. A path that leads them to a new place. The House of Darkling. Where they find the living Lily Darrow. But is she still alive? Or something else. Charlotte knows she must unravel this and yet is grieved to tear their children away from the mother they have found again...."What do you make of spirits?" He looked disappointed. "I wouldn't know. I don't touch the stuff. Man of the cloth, you know." "Not spirits, spirits. As in apparitions of the formerly living." He paused and rubbed his chin. "Well, I can't say that I've ever seen one." He looked at me strangely, as if I'd suddenly grown a pair of horns. I quickly elaborated. "Neither have I, of course. But I've been reading the children ghost stories, and James asked me if all spirits were evil..." Charlotte watches the boys as they visit their mother at the House of Darkling and comes to find that it's inhabitants are not just spirits or human at all. But are the creatures of fable and legend. Creatures much darker and deadlier than the stories that are told of them. It is here in the House of Darkling that Charlotte must battle against these creatures and the master of the house as she tries to save the souls of the boys; James and Paul. And in doing so, perhaps even save herself. Michael Boccacino has crafted a well written fable of loss and pain and the inevitability of death. For human and inhuman alike. A good read.

[jen6e6moore · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I didn't *mean* to finish this book in two days. It just kind of happened. I don't quite know how to describe it - not horror, because it wasn't especially scary, but something more than fantasy. It reminds me most strongly of the film The Orphanage.

[noranydrop2read · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Charlotte Markham is the widowed governess at Everton, home of the handsome widower Mr. Darrow and his two sons. When Nanny Prum is murdered, Charlotte takes on a greater role in the boys' lives. She reluctantly agrees to take the children through the fog to the mysterious House of Darkling, where their dead mother reads them strange bedtime stories and a host of mysterious creatures is revealed.Charlotte is not simply a pawn in this game; she reasons out whether it's better for the children to see their mother or not, and she considers the complex reasons for her fascination with the House of Darkling. After all, she has lost family members, too; if Mrs. Darrow can reappear, why not Charlotte's parents or husband? The more she learns about this strange place, the more wary she becomes, until she finds herself in a contest of wills with the master of the House of Darkling, and if she is not equal to the challenge, more innocent humans will die.Boccacino invokes a delightfully chilling air of Victorian Gothic creepiness throughout the novel, but what I enjoyed most was that he constantly surprised me. This is an homage to Victorian horror, but it is not constrained by those conventions; rather, Boccacino gives his boundless imagination free rein. The creatures we meet in The Ending, the land where the House of Darkling is situated, are extraordinary. For example: "It was about the same size and shape as a grapefruit, but before he could get a good look at it, he glanced up at me, clearly frightened, sensing that something was wrong. The fruit quivered, and with a wet, tearing sound it began to unroll from the inside out, the air laced with the scent of peaches as the thing in his hands untwisted its arms and legs from the pulpy interior of its body and wrenched its head free from it's shell. A baby's face blinked at us with pale blue eyes as Paul dropped it on the ground with a look of utter terror, backing away, his gaze transfixed on the thing as it fell onto its back, protected by what was formerly the leathery skin of the fruit." You don't see that every day, even in horror novels.Charlotte herself is not a meek Victorian governess. That she is a widow sets her apart from the usual virginal girls in that role. Beyond that, she is conscious of her longing for Mr. Darrow and its impact on her decisions. Her formidable nature is hinted at in her discipline of two unruly boys: "'It's nothing to me if you want to kill one another,' I told them. 'I imagine that it would be much easier to care for one child as opposed to two. But I daresay your father would be furious with whichever one of you murders the other. If violence and murder are the methods you choose to use when dealing with family, then we can only surmise the tactics you might use when dealing with your peers would be that much worse. We would be forced to lock you away in the attic for the good of the village. I don't believe that such an existence would be a very pleasant one, but then it's not up to me to make your decisions for you.'" Her humor and assertiveness translate surprisingly well to a life-or-death struggle with otherworldly beings. I would have liked to have seen more of Charlotte's inner thoughts with regard to her dead husband and to Mr. Darrow. Her inclinations aren't very clearly drawn out; one moment, she wonders if her husband could come back from the dead, and the next she is daydreaming about the next Mrs. Darrow. It's a bit of a muddle, but the creepy atmosphere, snappy dialogue, and surprising otherworldly elements more than make up for this deficiency.Highly recommended to any reader who enjoys creative horror or Victorian gothic settings.Source disclosure: I received an e-galley courtesy of the publisher.

[mountie9_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Good StuffThe prose is so hauntingly beautiful Story so elequently puts into words the feelings I have had over the loss of my parents -- the part about dreaming of the dead brought tears to my eyes Dark and gothic story full of old english manors, governess, death and the paranormal -- dark and spooky, perfect for a cold December night The author is truly gifted at setting the mood and landscape. When you put down the story you feel disjointed about being back in reality. Unique world inhabited with truly unusual and creepy inhabitants ( the descriptions of certain scenes actually made me go ewww out loud) Some wonderful insights into death, life and sacrifice The description of the library was fantastical and highly original The Not So Good StuffExtremely confusing at times. Found myself wondering what the hell (no pun intended) was going on on many occasions Drags a wee midway through the story Favorite Quotes/Passages"Every night I dreamt of the dead. In dreams those who have been lost can be found, gliding on fragments of memory through the dark veil of sleep to ensare themselves within the remains of the day, to pretend for a moment like a lifetime that they might be alive and well, waiting by the bedside whe the dreams is done. They never were, but I could not stop myself from wishing for the possibility that everything I remembered was a mistake, a nightmare taken too literally by the imagination. But morning always came, and with it the startling realization that the dead continued to be so, and that I remained alone.""We were not so very close together, but the interlacing of our hands channeled a friction through the empty space between us that dimmed the rest of the room, changing the music into something that could only be for us. I did not want it to end, and for a long while it seemed that it never would. We danced and danced until I could no longer feel my legs, just his touch against my own and the deep, primal thumping in my chest.""The boys had lost their mother. Of course they were dreaming of her. I knew that they were dreaming of her. I had lost my mother nearly 15 years before and still dream of her. It was not something that truly went away. The three of us would perhaps always be bound by our grief, never truly finished with the long nightmare of loss."Who Should/Shouldn't ReadFor fans of gothic literature most definitely Honestly, I felt throughtout reading it that I was in a Tim Burton movie - so if you are a fan of his movies, this will be right up your alley (I can totally see Johnny Depp as Mr. Whatley) Wonderful book for a cold winters night - or if you are staying in a Victorian Mansion 4.25/5 Dewey'sI received this from William Morrow in exchange for an honest review

[undermyappletree · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Charlotte Markham, the newly hired governess to young James and Paul Darrow, finds herself taking on additional responsibilities when Nanny Prum is discovered murdered in the nearby forest. The children’s mother has recently passed away and their father has little time for them.Charlotte, now both governess and nanny, spends much of her time with the boys. As a break in the monotony of their lessons Charlotte has them describe their previous night’s dreams in a drawing. Paul claims to have visited his mother’s new home and draws a map detailing its location in a nearby woods. Charlotte takes the children on a walk following the directions on the map and along the way they cross over to The Ending, a mystical place in another world where they are greeted by Lily, the boys’ mother, looking very much alive.Lily has made a sinister bargain with the owner of The House of Darkling where she now resides. The boys are not to tell anyone they have seen her, it’s part of the deal she made, and that is all she will say. She begs Charlotte to bring the children back for another visit. Charlotte suspects that some of the evil that has been plaguing the local town is connected to The Ending, but agrees to return anyway for the sake of the children. Charlotte soon becomes caught up in her own deadly game with the master of Darkling. As she begins to put her plan in place, the true horror of Darkling is revealed.Part Victorian Gothic and part dark fantasy, this is a wonderfully creepy tale told from Charlotte’s point of view. With beautiful writing and lyrical prose we are introduced to an amazing land populated by a cast of unusual and sometimes ghastly creatures in an alternate world called The Ending, a place where time doesn’t exist, and where no one can die.The story was richly detailed with well-developed characters and just enough world building to set the tone, bringing out the macabre aura of The Ending. Lily would read bedtime fairy tales to the children from a book called Laura Parker Wolfe’s Tales of The Ending, creepy stories within the story. I loved the atmosphere the author created, the descriptions of the alien residents of Darkling, noises in the night, objects that came to life, moving walls that open and close at will, strange paintings that become animated and a most unusual library.Initially the story has a Jane Eyre feel to it but soon becomes more magical as we spend time in The Ending, with the tale turning darker as it progresses. Even though it does have some moments of horror, there is enough mystery, charm and even weirdness to appeal to a wide range of readers. An enjoyable book which I heartily recommend. I am looking forward to future work from Michael Boccacino.

[reviewsfromtheheart · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is not your Disney water color fairy tale, but something much darker along the lines of the Grimm fairy tales when you open the cover of Charlotte Markham and the House of Darkling by Michael Boccacino. You are immediately taken back to the Victorian age and the writing is unremarkable and polished as the writer takes you back to a sinister event, the piercing scream of a women in the dark of night. Charlotte Markham has awakened from a bizarre dream with her dead parents and a Christmas ball, not knowing if the scream she has heard is real or not. As she begins investigating the house at night, she is called downstairs by the staff and learns that Nanny Prum has been violently murdered in the forest. When they question the Constable Brickner's findings he truly believes no man is capable of this act and resolves the answer to an animal killing her. However, Charlotte's friend Suzanna witnessed a man in black hovering over the body and believes he is the one who committed the murder.It seems that Charlotte has a bit of history with the man in black who appears whenever death has been near, first with her father, then with her late husband Jonathan and now the sighting of him near Nanny Prum's body. Hired as a governess to work for Mr. Darrow, who has also lost his wife, Lily, Charlotte now assumes the role of carrying for the young children, Paul and James since Nanny Prum's death. Charlotte is warned by the housekeeper, Mrs. Norman that she tried to warn Nanny Prum of her fate and now warns her that she must be watchful and keep her eyes open as well, but offers no explanation as to why. It seems that death is watching over the house of Everton and with it keeping those inside bound to a half life, one between the living and mourning over the loss of those who have died.One afternoon during a worrisome day of teaching, Charlotte invites to boys to take to drawing or writing prose about one of their dreams which provides her an insight she never truly imagined before. James, the youngest, draws a picture of the Spider Queen whom he tells Charlotte, lives under his bed eating goblins that would seek to torment him. When she inquires that that should be a good thing, he replies, that she gets mad at him. When she pushes even further, he tells her that he is gathering parts of her silver strands of web to save his mother.Paul, the oldest, explains that his drawing is of a map showing the forest at the edge of their property. Beyond that lies an orchard and a house with he believes his mother waits for them. Charlotte realizes that both of these boys are still dealing with the death of their mother in remarkably different ways and when challenged by James to follow the map, she doesn't see any harm in showing them that dreams don't bring back the dead. Until as they begin to follow the map beyond the forest, where a misty fog lies that blocks out the sun, an orchard and The House of Darkling await them all.I received Charlotte Markham and the House of Darkling by Michael Boccacino compliments of William Morrow, a division of Harper Collins Publishers for my honest review. This is a dark fictional book where the worlds of life and death literally lay buried in the fog and where the middle ground between the two world lies ripe for a war for human souls. I love the writing style of Michael Boccacino who has used his own experiences with the death of his mother and the way he dealt with the grief as his inspiration for the writing of this novel. I rate this one a 4 out of 5 stars and can't wait to read more books from him in the near future.