House of Ash and Bone
House of Ash and Bone
Without streetlights or steady traffic or apartment buildings, the darkness seemed nearly sentient in the woods, a giant mass that consumed everything in its path—trees, animals, people—and hid them in its belly until morning. The moon tried to combat the darkness, but the clouds had other plans and blotted out its pale blue light.
Josephine sat in a cozy reading chair by her bedroom window, her legs draped over one armrest, reading Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There. A standing floor lamp cast a circular pool of soft light around her, making her feel warm, cozy, and safe.
But the darkness hadn’t only consumed the woods; it had also consumed the house. And the light of her lamp could only fend off so much. For things hid in the shadows—a shadow hid in the shadows. A shadow with teeth. Watching. And waiting. (p. 42)
Josephine, 17, has always known she’s not like other people. She hears other voices and thoughts, and she has had to develop ways to keep her abilities under control. But when a surprise inheritance from a mysterious great-aunt draws Josephine, her parents and her four sisters to an old house in Vermont, the voices get louder.
The house casts a strange spell on the whole family, and soon they are lulled into a forgetful trance. But Josephine begins to doubt what is real and what’s imaginary when she hears whispers in her sleep, sees shadows in the house and the dark forest, and can’t shake the inescapable sense of being watched at every turn. Her family is content and passive. Only Josephine sees the shadow of a pale woman with hollow pits for eyes and an impossibly wide smile, but soon she, too, is drawn into the spell of Dorcas, the ghost of a witch who died 300 years ago. Dorcas has lured Josephine’s family to Vermont to capture and consume them in order to rise from the dead and live again.
In the depths of a dark Vermont winter, Josephine fights the spell with the help of Dorothy, a mysterious neighbour, and ancient library accounts of witchcraft and hauntings. But the seductive voice of Dorcas pulls her towards destruction, and the horror of the man trapped in the basement wall shocks her into seeing that she is the only one able to save her family.
Author Joel A. Sutherland has captured many dark fears in the gothic story of Josie and her family. What child has not imagined that strange forces have taken over the souls of familiar people? The encroaching darkness feels like a powerful force of evil on its own, but, when combined with terrifying images of creatures trapped in spider-webbed walls, pentagrams on trees and doorways to contain terrifying dark forces, and the sudden appearances of a shape-shifting witch in shocking moments, the story drives at a breathless pace.
Drawing on the Salem Witchcraft trials of the 1700s, Sutherland notes in an Afterword that “it goes without saying that all those accused of witchcraft were innocent”, but his imagination creates a real witch of the youngest person accused and gives her a hunger for revenge and a thirst for eternity. As she tries to fight the battle raging within her, Josephine discovers much about herself in the process of researching the horrors of the witch history. Tempted by the promise of wishes come true, Josie must reject easy complacency and confront the darkness within her in order to save her family. She must also learn to accept her own abilities and use them for good.
The Jagger family is effectively drawn. Each of the five daughters (Mary, Elizabeth, Alison and Baby Louise) is given specific talents and personalities, and Josephine’s relationship with each of them is distinct. Josie’s parents have well-defined roles as well, and the sleepy complacency of her normally-capable parents makes Josephine take the lead in fighting the evil Dorcas. Readers see clearly the love that binds the Jagger family, and Josephine’s drive to save them makes a deep emotional sense. Occasional awkwardness in dialogue is quickly overcome with plot pace, family relationships and suspense.
One of the most effective elements of horror in the novel is the sense of unreality and uncertainty. Dreams and reality flash like mirrors in Josephine’s mind, leaving her with unanswered questions. Are the voices she hears and the shadows she sees products of her imagination? Did Mr. Jagger’s grandmother really have a sister who left them a house? The lawyer, Damon Finger, looks like a snake—or does he? Is Dorothy, the girl in the woods, a friend in need or something more sinister? Is Alison’s new hide-and-seek playmate a ghost or an innocent new friend? And how do the rooms in the house somehow contain each girl’s deepest desires?
By the conclusion of House of Ash and Bone, nothing is certain, including the “happy” ending. And like the best horror novels, the reader is left with a prickling threat.
Author of several volumes of scary stories, including Summer’s End, a Red Maple Honour book, Sutherland knows how to tighten the bands of suspense. Young readers will turn pages deep into the night to get to the chilling ending, and they may keep their lights on long after they close the cover.
Wendy Phillips, a former teacher-librarian, is the author of the Governor General's Literary Award-winning YA novel, Fishtailing and the White Pine Award nominated novel, Baggage