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'An empty house, a lonely shore, an enigmatic, brooding man-child waiting for her return ... a trip to the dark lands of Australian Gothic, for readers of Kate Morton and Hannah Richell.
'Last night I dreamt I went to Sargasso again ...
'As a child, Hannah lived at Sargasso, the isolated beachside home designed by her father, a brilliant architect. A lonely, introverted child, she wanted no company but that of Flint, the enigmatic boy who no one else ever saw ... and who promised he would always look after her.
'Hannah's idyllic childhood at Sargasso ended in tragedy, but now as an adult she is back to renovate the house, which she has inherited from her grandmother. Her boyfriend Tristan visits regularly but then, amid a series of uncanny incidents, Flint reappears ... and as his possessiveness grows, Hannah's hold on the world begins to lapse. What is real and what is imaginary, or from beyond the grave?
'A mesmerising Australian novel that echoes the great Gothic stories of love and hate: Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre, and especially Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca.' (Publication summary)
Notes
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Dedication : For Tim, always
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Epigraph : "There is something at work in my soul, which I do not understand." - Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Other Formats
- Large print.
Works about this Work
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[Review] Sargasso
2021
single work
review
— Appears in: Underground Writers , August no. 35 2021;
— Review of Sargasso 2021 single work novel -
Houses of Unreason : A Triptych of Gothic Novels
2021
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , June no. 432 2021; (p. 40-41)
— Review of The Serpent's Skin 2021 single work novel ; Other People's Houses 2021 single work novel ; Sargasso 2021 single work novel'Is it tautological to describe a work of fiction as ‘family Gothic’? After all, there’s nothing more inherently Gothic than the family politic: a hierarchical structure ruled by a patriarch, as intolerant of transgression as it is fascinated by it, sustaining itself through a clear us/them divide, all the while proclaiming, ‘The blood is the life.’ Yet three new Australian novels Gothicise the family politic by exaggerating, each to the point of melodrama, just how dangerous a family can become when its constituents turn against one another.' (Introduction)
-
Houses of Unreason : A Triptych of Gothic Novels
2021
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , June no. 432 2021; (p. 40-41)
— Review of The Serpent's Skin 2021 single work novel ; Other People's Houses 2021 single work novel ; Sargasso 2021 single work novel'Is it tautological to describe a work of fiction as ‘family Gothic’? After all, there’s nothing more inherently Gothic than the family politic: a hierarchical structure ruled by a patriarch, as intolerant of transgression as it is fascinated by it, sustaining itself through a clear us/them divide, all the while proclaiming, ‘The blood is the life.’ Yet three new Australian novels Gothicise the family politic by exaggerating, each to the point of melodrama, just how dangerous a family can become when its constituents turn against one another.' (Introduction)
-
[Review] Sargasso
2021
single work
review
— Appears in: Underground Writers , August no. 35 2021;
— Review of Sargasso 2021 single work novel
- Coast,
