The Golden Key by Marian Womack
I would like to thank Lydia from Titan for an advance copy of this novel in exchange for a fair and honest review
Publisher – Titan
Published - Out Now
Price - £8.99 paperback £6.64 Kindle eBook
1901. After the death of Queen Victoria, England heaves with the uncanny. Seances are held and the dead are called upon from darker realms.
Helena Walton-Cisneros, known for her ability to find the lost and the displaced, is hiored by the elusive Lady Matthews to solve a twenty-years-old mystery: the disappearance of her three stepdaughters who vanished without a trace on the Norfolk Fens.
But the Fens are an age-old land, where folk tales and dark magic still linger. The locals speak of devilmen and catatonic children are found on the Broads. Here, Helena finds what she was sent for, as the Fenland always gives up its secrets in the end…
Possibly because I love fantasy and horror, I have gotten some puzzled looks when I mention that professional psychics are a pet hate of mine. It seems if you the weird, the unknown and strange then you should embrace the mystical and I think it’s because when you look very closely at their abilities they use so many tricks on the bereaved to cold read them. I’ve seen that used on my family members and yet…I’d love to be proved wrong. Deep down perhaps I really would love to truly believe. That uneasy boundary between rational and the strange really came to life to me reading Marian Womack’s sumptuously atmospheric gothic mystery The Golden Key which plunges the reader into a weird where everything isn’t quite what you think it is.
In 1901 Samuel Moncrieff is an angry young man grieving the loss of his lover in a mysterious boating accident. His guardian Charles invites him to see a séance (one of many that are springing up in London now Queen Victoria has died; and people feel worried about the end of such a huge era for the country). There the mysterious famous medium Madame Florence performs a strange eerie display of clairvoyance. Into Samuel’s life also crosses Helena Walton an alleged palmist who also met Samuel in an earlier explosive scene at the theatre - where he discovered her breaking and entering. She has been hired to investigate the mystery of three children who vanished on the fens twenty years ago – the same time Samuel Moncrieff was born. Back in Norfolk we meet Eliza, a scientifically minded explorer of the fens finds a young woman nearly drowned in the fens who seems catatonic. These lives are all about to reveal a very old mystery where darker forces secrets finally will get revealed.
This is a very immersive read but strange weird where a bit like the mysterious mists on the fens that we meet each chapter gives you a piece of a puzzle and the next chapter then changes the shape of the picture again. Nothing and no one is quite what it seems - which makes telling you about it in a review tricky! What I loved was the way the story weaved between the magical and the rational as Helena investigates exactly what is going on. Ambitiously this really echoes the period the story is set in where rationalism tries to investigate the psychics to expose frauds. The story’s plotting makes you think one way then moves you into another direction very skilfully only coming together in the final chapters. My only niggle is you feel this is part of a likely larger tale and some plot points and characters that early on appear really important fade in the background. But I won’t be arguing that more novels in this world would be a bad thing! But I felt there were just a few points where some more space for those sections to breathe would have been helpful to tie threads up later
A key feature in achieving this to talk about is Womack’s use of language. It’s an absolutely gorgeous painting picture pictures of a murky inhospitable London, asylums and most of all the weird and ever-changing Norfolk fens. A deserted doll in a park can make you feel very unsettled; London driving through the fog can be haunting and you can definitely feel that the Fens are not quite in our world. It’s a dense read that rewards readers who enjoy atmosphere and this really captures that gothic feel of shadows and secrets where the land really suits the story.
A final element which I thought was very important was the use of women in the tale. With Helena and Eliza; we have two young women going against the grain of their society in so many ways. Helena investigating mysteries and crimes while Eliza wants to understand science. In 1901 these things were only just about possible for women and Womack uses actual history to show the figures that the society tried to prevent or indeed did erase from the narrative. One idea I really was intrigued by was how it seemed at the time only women would be exposed at psychics – was this just chance or did the men see this as just another way to stop women getting powerful and more prestige.
The Golden Key is a wonderful gothic thriller perfect (I can confirm) for reading on dark stormy days and nights. It reminded me in its use of setting of Under A Pendulum Sun in its use of language to create a strange atmosphere although here applied to a thriller. Its smart, wonderfully written and a novel that shines an interesting light on a time we don’t focus too much of – especially the role of women in it. It also seems to point the way to more adventures for Helena and I will be intrigued to see what Womack has in store for future stories in this world or another.
