Review: Muckross Abbey and Other Stories

Filipina American novelist Sabina Murray (The Human Zoo) offers 10 gothic-inspired literary gems in the collection Muckross Abbey and Other Stories. In "The Long Story," a stranded traveler spends the night in a cottage haunted by an artist who sacrificed himself to be a conduit for his art. But the ghosts of the past in Murray's stories aren't always so far from home: in "Harm," a young man who recently learned the truth of his parentage is drawn to a mysterious woman in the woods behind his house. Meanwhile, the new resident in "Apartment 4D" can't escape the eerie mother and daughter who live next door, nor can she shake the feeling that something isn't quite right about their relationship. In the titular "Muckross Abbey," a young woman reluctantly becomes involved in the investigation into the mysterious disappearance of her college friend Simone, only to discover that only she can see the truth of what really happened.

All of Murray's stories succeed in capturing the skin-prickling, shiver-inducing atmosphere of the best gothic tales. Never beholden to gore or cheap thrills, each story is a puzzle box of gradual dread, keeping readers paralyzed with evocative, clear-eyed prose. In "The Long Story," the simplicity of the host's oral recounting of her son's tale keeps both readers and the protagonist enthralled. In "Muckross Abbey," the almost noir-esque sense of mystery holds readers' rapt attention. A far cry from the hard-boiled detective, the story's narrator nevertheless finds herself putting together the pieces of a larger picture she wasn't even aware she knew. And, ultimately, her and Simone's troubled past provides contrasting insight into Simone's assumed role as a femme fatale.

Murray consistently conjures genre tropes, only to subvert them in the service of more emotionally chilling revelations. While the supernatural is often involved--at least implicitly, if not explicitly--in each story's conclusion, it is the devastating interpersonal truths these stories deliver that are truly disturbing. In the collection's final story, "The Flowers, the Birds, the Trees," the tight-knit bonds of childhood female friendships are revealed to be not the romantic ideals of youth but toxic binds that prove impossible to slip. Often unearthing the terror of the relationships that we cannot escape, the stories in Muckross Abbey will leave readers wondering what it is they, too, cannot bear to face. --Alice Martin, freelance writer and editor

Shelf Talker: In 10 atmospherically rich and haunting stories, Muckross Abbey offers satisfying chills and unsettling emotional revelations.

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