Following on from my previous post about YA Gothic novels, the Costa Book Awards has announced that the winner of its Costa First Novel Award 2015 is The Loney by Andrew Michael Hurley. Set in the northwest of England, it looks like a wonderfully traditional take on the Gothic genre with critics suggesting that it brings to mind Walpole, Du Maurier and Maturin. The reviews are very positive and I am looking forward to seeing how Hurley’s novel uses the British setting to consolidate the spirit of the text.
In a similar vein (pun intended), Griff Rhys Jones’ new television series sees him travelling the British Isles in order to explore how the landscape influences the nature of the British people. His show will include an episode on vampire hunting in Whitby. I have a great love for Yorkshire – not least because of its Gothic heritage – and I am pleased to see that Griff will be visiting Pandemonium one of the first Goth shops that I ever visited. I look forward to some unsettling reading and nostalgic viewing to explore how the past can both haunt and comfort us.
Whitby is the most Gothic place ever but I also found the Bronte’s parsonage at Howarth built on a graveyard incredibly gothic and atmospheric. Both in Yorkshire of course. St Albans is really quiet gothicky after dark I have to say and I live within feet of an ancient monastery and a prison in a tower plus the ghostly monk holding a candle did make an appearance one night ha!!!
I love Yorkshire – partly due to my time Sheffield Uni but also because of many happy occasions camping near Whitby. I can well imagine that St. Albans is spooky at night!