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Synopsis
This 'slim, brilliant, very scary novel' (John Sandoe Books) came out in 1953, four years after "Little Boy Lost". It is about a young married woman who lies down on a chaise-longue and wakes to find herself imprisoned in the body of her alter ego ninety years before. It impressed PD James, author of the "Preface", 'as one of the most skillfully told and terrifying short novels of its decade.'And Penelope Lively described it as 'disturbing and compulsive', commenting: 'This is time travel fiction, but with a difference...instead of making it into a form of adventure, what Marghanita Laski has done is to propose that such an experience would be the ultimate terror...so Melanie/Milly clings to the belief that she is dreaming for as long as she possibly can; the point at which she is forced to abandon this comfort and search for other explanations is her plunge into nightmare. 'In the stifling, menacing atmosphere in which Melanie finds herself there is another dark, unspoken theme. Sex. Milly has been in some way disgraced...Once again the chaise-longue is the hinge between the two planes of existence. The site of rapture, of ecstasy - that is the implication...'
From the Publisher
This ‘slim, brilliant, very scary novel’ (John Sandoe Books) came out in 1953, four years after Little Boy Lost (No. 28); it is about a young married woman who lies down on a chaise-longue and wakes to find herself imprisoned in the body of her alter ego ninety years before. It impressed PDJames, author of the Preface, ‘as one of the most skilfully told and terrifying short novels of its decade.’ And Penelope Lively described it in the PQ as ‘disturbing and compulsive’, commenting: ‘This is time-travel fiction, but with a difference. . . instead of making it into a form of adventure, what Marghanita Laski has done is to propose that such an experience would be the ultimate terror. . . so Melanie/Milly clings to the belief that she is dreaming for as long as she possibly can; the point at which she is forced to abandon this comfort and search for other explanations is her plunge into nightmare. ‘In the stifling, menacing atmosphere in which Melanie finds herself there is another dark, unspoken theme. Sex. Milly has been in some way disgraced. . . Once again the chaise-longue is the hinge between the two planes of existence. The site of rapture, of ecstasy – that is the implication.’
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
30 of 30 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Most readers of classic Victorian fiction have surely wished that they could be transported back to the slower pace and more refined lifestyle of the nineteenth century. After reading this novel, you will never wish that again. First published in 1953, this is the story of Melanie, a rather spoilt young woman recovering from TB (still a threat only fifty years ago). Melanie goes to sleep one afternoon on a Victorian chaise-longue she picked up in an antique shop, and wakes up as Milly, a young woman in the nineteenth century. The horror comes from the fact that Melanie is still Melanie, with all her twentieth-century knowledge, yet she is trapped in another woman's body, a woman who has transgressed in some unspecified way. The sights and smells of the period are vivid- the butter which has gone slightly rancid, the smell of clothes which are never thoroughly washed. When Melanie can no longer delude herself that she is dreaming, the terror of her situation becomes overwhelming. This slight novel is written in a spare, matter-of-fact style which only makes the story more believable. The Victorian atmosphere- overcrowded, stuffy, suffocating- is beautifully evoked. Another wonderful reprint from Persephone.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I had never heard of either this title or the author when this disturbing novella arrived through my letterbox as a surprise gift from a friend. That was my loss, as I think it is one of the most chilling and evocative `ghost' stories I have read.
The plot is quite simple - the protagonist, Melanie, a rather shallow convalescent, is transported via an old chaise longue back to Victorian times and into the body of a young woman named Milly. The mastery, however, lies in Laski's skill at evoking Melanie's sense of dislocation, which she does through a myriad of sensory details and emotional reactions. This contrast - between her cosseted life in `the present' and the disgrace and threatening contempt that hangs over her in her Victorian life - is well executed.
Her confusion is shared by the reader - at first, you wonder like her whether the situation she experiences is a by-product of her recent illness, a feverish dream, but you also end up sharing her increasingly claustrophobic sense of horror as both you and Melanie realise that she is trapped in what for her (as for any of us) is a nightmarish world, separated from those she knows and loves.
I am surprised that this novella isn't better known; like Charlotte Perkin Gilman's `The Yellow Wallpaper', it is an excellent example of the `Female Gothic' genre and would provide a deep source of investigation for students of literature.
But that is merely an aside, for the work is a beautifully written work of `supernatural fiction'; I use the latter term in inverted commas, because although the text defies easy categorisation and despite the `time travel' element, it does seem written within that tradition. It certainly makes for a compelling read and it is a book I think you will be drawn back to for its skilfully evoked sense of horror. Although not really like the work of M R James, Laski does have a similar ability to invest ordinary words and events with an extraordinary degree of terror.
This printing - by the Persephone Press - has an admiring and fascinating introduction by P D James. It is also one of the most handsomely produced paperbacks I have come across, with a dust-jacket and beautifully illustrated endpapers; incidental to the quality of the text itself, perhaps, but a nice touch and a reminder of a time when, physically, books were things of higher value and craftsmanship than they often are now.
Definitely recommended.
The plot is quite simple - the protagonist, Melanie, a rather shallow convalescent, is transported via an old chaise longue back to Victorian times and into the body of a young woman named Milly. The mastery, however, lies in Laski's skill at evoking Melanie's sense of dislocation, which she does through a myriad of sensory details and emotional reactions. This contrast - between her cosseted life in `the present' and the disgrace and threatening contempt that hangs over her in her Victorian life - is well executed.
Her confusion is shared by the reader - at first, you wonder like her whether the situation she experiences is a by-product of her recent illness, a feverish dream, but you also end up sharing her increasingly claustrophobic sense of horror as both you and Melanie realise that she is trapped in what for her (as for any of us) is a nightmarish world, separated from those she knows and loves.
I am surprised that this novella isn't better known; like Charlotte Perkin Gilman's `The Yellow Wallpaper', it is an excellent example of the `Female Gothic' genre and would provide a deep source of investigation for students of literature.
But that is merely an aside, for the work is a beautifully written work of `supernatural fiction'; I use the latter term in inverted commas, because although the text defies easy categorisation and despite the `time travel' element, it does seem written within that tradition. It certainly makes for a compelling read and it is a book I think you will be drawn back to for its skilfully evoked sense of horror. Although not really like the work of M R James, Laski does have a similar ability to invest ordinary words and events with an extraordinary degree of terror.
This printing - by the Persephone Press - has an admiring and fascinating introduction by P D James. It is also one of the most handsomely produced paperbacks I have come across, with a dust-jacket and beautifully illustrated endpapers; incidental to the quality of the text itself, perhaps, but a nice touch and a reminder of a time when, physically, books were things of higher value and craftsmanship than they often are now.
Definitely recommended.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I tracked this book down a few weeks ago after reading a review recently and being curious due to several points: 1) it is partly set in Victorian times 2) someone mentioned a feeling of similarity to Rosemary's Baby which is a book I read about 20 years ago and loved!
So, on to the book. Short at 124 pages this only took me a few hours to read. The story starts with Melanie who has been bed-bound for over a year due to having T.B. She gave birth to her son months before but hasn't been able to see him because of her illness and she is bored and longing to live a normal life again. Melanie has clearly been spoilt and doted on and this is really apparant in the way those around her deal with her. The books beginning is with the Doctor finally allowing her to have a change of secenry and lie on the huge Victorian chaise-longue in the drawing room. Melanie recounts how she found the seat in a antique shop and was immediately drawn to it although she was unable to expalin why. One happily settled in her new surroundings and lying on the chaise-longue she settles down for a sleep......
Melanie wakes up to unfamiliar smells and surroundings (save for the chaise-longue) and finds herself being looked after by a lady in long skirts and who insists on calling her Milly. We watch Melanie struggle as it dawns on her that she is not dreaming and is, in fact, alive and (not so) well in the year 1864. Again, bed ridden with T.B. she can do nothing other than to try and persuade the small cast of characters that she isn't Milly and doesn't belong there. Laski uses the supporting cast to hint at trouble, secrets and shame in Milly's life and we watch her try to piece together what has happened to her. The fact that Milly is unable to move and therefore unable to defend herself adds to the tension and the question of whether she will ever get back to her own life.
This book was written in 1953 and was classed as a horror book. The sparse narrative certainly helps to make it that way, although today's more sophisticated readers (in terms of there is little that hasn't been written about these days) would find this a much tamer read. It wasn't scary so much as eery for me but the ending certianly woke me up.
I would recommend this book, not as a brilliant read, but as an enjoyable (and amusing) look at what would have been considered horror back in the day. You don't need mass murderers and polterghiests to make a scary book; just a sparse plot that hints at what may have happened rather than lay it out in all its gory detail. Will it scare you? No. Will you enjoy it? I would say so.
So, on to the book. Short at 124 pages this only took me a few hours to read. The story starts with Melanie who has been bed-bound for over a year due to having T.B. She gave birth to her son months before but hasn't been able to see him because of her illness and she is bored and longing to live a normal life again. Melanie has clearly been spoilt and doted on and this is really apparant in the way those around her deal with her. The books beginning is with the Doctor finally allowing her to have a change of secenry and lie on the huge Victorian chaise-longue in the drawing room. Melanie recounts how she found the seat in a antique shop and was immediately drawn to it although she was unable to expalin why. One happily settled in her new surroundings and lying on the chaise-longue she settles down for a sleep......
Melanie wakes up to unfamiliar smells and surroundings (save for the chaise-longue) and finds herself being looked after by a lady in long skirts and who insists on calling her Milly. We watch Melanie struggle as it dawns on her that she is not dreaming and is, in fact, alive and (not so) well in the year 1864. Again, bed ridden with T.B. she can do nothing other than to try and persuade the small cast of characters that she isn't Milly and doesn't belong there. Laski uses the supporting cast to hint at trouble, secrets and shame in Milly's life and we watch her try to piece together what has happened to her. The fact that Milly is unable to move and therefore unable to defend herself adds to the tension and the question of whether she will ever get back to her own life.
This book was written in 1953 and was classed as a horror book. The sparse narrative certainly helps to make it that way, although today's more sophisticated readers (in terms of there is little that hasn't been written about these days) would find this a much tamer read. It wasn't scary so much as eery for me but the ending certianly woke me up.
I would recommend this book, not as a brilliant read, but as an enjoyable (and amusing) look at what would have been considered horror back in the day. You don't need mass murderers and polterghiests to make a scary book; just a sparse plot that hints at what may have happened rather than lay it out in all its gory detail. Will it scare you? No. Will you enjoy it? I would say so.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
A little disappointed
Perhaps if it had been longer and the characters more fleshed out and more subplots inserted for interest, this might have been more compelling for me. Read more
Published 3 months ago by G. Cseh
A little slice of nightmare
As this book begins, the reader is introduced to Melanie, a 1950s wife and mother who has been confined to her bed since the birth of her child as she was taken ill with... Read more
Published 13 months ago by Katie Stevens
Short, chilling, and brilliant
At just 99 pages, this is a little gem that leaves you with so much to think about. Melanie, spoilt and indulged, is not a character you particularly warm to but you'll soon be... Read more
Published 14 months ago by Suzie
A Victorian nightmare
Of all the books in the Persephone catalogue this is the one I've been looking forward to reading the most. Read more
Published 19 months ago by H. Skinner
Imagine a Victorian version of 'Life on Mars' ...
Whilst, browsing one day I thought I'd buy a 'Persephone' book to add to my collection - I couldn't choose, and a friend suggested this superb novella - imagine a Victorian horror... Read more
Published on 10 April 2010 by Annabel Gaskell
A Little Jewel of Horror
`The Victorian Chaise-Longue' was once described as a `little jewel of horror' and that in itself was enough for me to know I might like it a great deal. Read more
Published on 1 Mar 2010 by Simon Savidge Reads
A compelling read
A well written novel. I became totally absorbed in the story right from the start but was very sad when reading the last part of the book. A compelling read. Read more
Published on 17 Feb 2010 by Judi Lyn
Disappointing.
I bought this having read all the good reviews, and found it disappointing.
The story is weak and unexciting, I'm afraid. Didn't grab me at all. Read more
The story is weak and unexciting, I'm afraid. Didn't grab me at all. Read more
Published on 4 July 2008 by Aunt Sally
Very thought provoking
This was brilliant, and it's thanks to a friend I read it. I'm so pleased she recommended this novella (I think that's what it'll be classed as) otherwise I may not have stumbled... Read more
Published on 11 April 2008 by SJSmith
Gothic read
This has got to be one of the most chilling short stories I've ever read. It's about a young married woman who is suffering from tuberculosis. Read more
Published on 1 Nov 2007 by kehs
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