A massive, shambolic Victorian house made up of old junk is about to spew forth its terrible secrets. The scene is set in a borough of London called Forlichingham. It's 1875. Young Clodius (Clod) Iremonger lives in the sprawling Heap House. The house has belonged to the Iremonger family for generations and is made up of trash collected from the “heaps” surrounding it. The heaps heave and groan with discarded Victorian objects and are a menacing presence. Clod is about to be “trousered”, made to wear trousers, a sign of adulthood. He is also the subject of an arranged marriage, to which he understandably has a great aversion. A sense of dread looms. To add to his disturbed state of mind, Clod can hear objects speak to him. They call out their names. When the orphan Lucy Pennant is pressed into service at Heap House, she makes an unlikely friendship with Clod. Soon they discover that the objects Clod can hear have strange lives of their own. They up and move about, shift shape and morph into something else, revealing a secret history that the Iremonger family have kept hidden. The first in a trilogy of Iremonger novels for children, Heap House is gloriously weird and atmospheric. There is a strong Dickensian touch, with the large cast of eccentric characters and their wonderfully inventive names. The plot is perhaps slow to start, Carey taking care and leisure to build up the bizarre and creepy atmosphere, but once the novel gathers stream it moves quickly to a rollicking finish. Sophisticated young readers will soak up this immersive novel full of unusual sights, smells and textures. A Gothic adventure, rich and strange, with a teasing cliff hanger that will leave the reader gasping for the next book in the series. 9+ Heap House, by Edward Carey. Published by Hotkey. $16.99 Review by Chris Saliba Comments are closed.
|
AuthorNorth Melbourne Books Categories
All
Archives
April 2024
|