First published 2018
In a forgotten corner town, two children live under the care of the forbidding Doctor Grimshawe. The boy is lively and handsome, while his younger companion blooms like a perfect flower. Their home sits thick with dust and cobwebs, tended by a slovenly servant whose mixed heritage matches her crusty disposition. The doctor himself despises any attempt at cleanliness, leaving visitors to trace their names in the grime that coats every surface. Their peculiar household borders a cemetery, connected by a simple back door. The children leap across tombstones to reach their daily playground among the graves. They trace epitaphs with their fingers during quiet moments, learning the sorrowful verses by heart. But more often they chase butterflies between the headstones, gather bright dandelions, and tumble laughing over the burial mounds. Ancient Puritan monuments glower at their games with stone disapproval, while carved cherubs smile down with weathered kindness. The children thrive in this strange world between the living and the dead, finding joy where others might see only gloom.
Genres: historical-fiction, 20th-century, 19th-century, gothic
Vibes: atmospheric, dark, emotional, whimsical
Tropes: found-family, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Forgotten Corner Town
Period: 19th-Century
152 pages · Paperback · Independently Published