My Darling Dreadful Thing

A young woman’s apparent rapport with the spirit world is construed by others as evidence of her madness and murderous motivation in this creaky queer gothic, Van Veen’s debut. Since childhood, Roos Beckman has shared a symbiotic relationship with Ruth, an ancient earthbound spirit. Her conniving mother has long exploited Roos’s weird talents, forcing her to serve as a sham psychic medium. In 1954, 21-year-old Roos is finally liberated by widow Agnes Knoop, a seance client with a spirit companion of her own. She takes Roos away with her to Rozentuin, a family estate in genteel decay in the Netherlands that Agnes shares with her deceased husband’s terminally ill sister, Willemijn. Removed from the outside world, Roos and Agnes discover their shared affinities and develop an intimate romantic relationship—until the scheming Willemijn persuades Roos to resurrect the spirit of Agnes’s dead husband, setting in motion a series of tragic events with a criminal outcome. Van Veen skillfully evokes the hermetic atmosphere of the traditional gothic romance but then relies on plot contrivances to rush events to an unsatisfying conclusion. The result is diverting but far from dazzling. Agent: Kristina Pérez, Pérez Literary. (May)