08-14-2008, 03:57 AM
MysteryMind Wrote:Having lived in New England and being awed by the setting there, I love reading American gothic novels set in New England. I prefer them to be historical, but if it is contemporary from the 50s-60s I enjoy them also. Although I love the New England of today, it does not have the same atmosphere as it would in the past. Much of New England is rural and the feeling of isolation lends itself to an eeriness that you can’t get in a major metropolitan area. I think too much technology destroys the suspense sustained when the characters are unsure of what is happening around them.
I couldn't agree with you more! I spent part of my childhood in rural New Hampshire and Massachusetts and have spent much of my adult life searching to recapture that haunting atmosphere of the New England countryside. There are few places so lovely and yet so eerie -- especially at twilight in late fall or early winter.
Being a relative newcomer to the gothic genre, I tend to favor books of the British type, usually set in an ancient manor house on the moors or a crumbling castle on the cliffs of Cornwall.
However, I agree that certain parts of New England rival England for atmosphere and I'd love to find some good reads set in that environment. I also think that a small New England town, perhaps in Maine or New Hampshire or Vermont, would be an ideal setting for a "cozy" type murder mystery novel. Yet it seems that few authors have taken advantage of the ready-made charm and mood of such settings.
I also agree with you about the time period / technology. For me, a true gothic shouldn't be set in contemporary times, but rather in a simpler and more romantic past. 1960 is about as close to the present as I want to get in reading a gothic.
Can you suggest any good gothics set in New England?
