by Mick Jackson
First published 2007
The Duke has finished his grand project: a labyrinth of tunnels snaking beneath his ancestral estate. He records his thoughts in a diary as his body weakens and his mind wanders through increasingly strange territory. The tunnels offer escape from the world above, but they also draw him deeper into isolation. His mansion grows darker as he spends more time in the passages below ground. The Duke's retreat from society becomes complete, yet certain memories refuse to stay buried. Past events surface unbidden, demanding his attention even as he tries to hide from them. His imagination runs wild in the underground chambers, but some ghosts follow him even there. The diary reveals a man caught between his elaborate physical creation and the psychological spaces he cannot control. As his health deteriorates, the boundary between his underground refuge and his internal landscape begins to dissolve.
Genres: 20th-century, adult-fiction, psychological-thriller, gothic
Vibes: dark, emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: unreliable-narrator
Setting: Duke's Ancestral Estate
Period: 20th-Century
264 pages · Paperback · Faber and Faber
Content warnings: mental-illness