Bibliography:
Noyes, Deborah. August, 2008. The Ghosts of Kerfol. Somerville, Massachusetts: Candlewick Press. ISBN: 9780763630003.
Plot Summary:
In Kerfol, Edith Wharton tells the story of Anne de Barrigan, a French woman who was accused of murdering her overbearing older husband. She claims to have heard a pack of dogs near his body in the dark, although there were no dogs at Kerfol–no live dogs, anyway. Noyes takes this story as her inspiration and builds on its details, going so far as to incorporate some of Wharton’s wording in her first two tales. In the first story, Noyes retells the events of Anne and her husband, their relationship and his murder through the eyes of her ladies’ maid. This personalizes the story that Wharton told mostly as Anne’s evidence and testimony given at her trial. In the rest of the stories, Noyes explores what happens to a house, to a place where such horrifying events occurred.
Critical Analysis:
It is interesting to me that this was published as young adult. Most of the characters in the stories are teens or young adults, but this is a very mature set of stories with some grown up themes–sensuality, infidelity, revenge. Noyes takes Wharton’s story and extends it, imagining what the results of such events would be, on the house and the land, the air itself is charged with the supernatural. In addition to retelling Wharton’s story, Noyes also expands on the underlying sensuality hinted at by Wharton. There are interesting echoes, one girl pregnant with her lover’s child, another who cheated on her boyfriend, an artist so obsessed with capturing and keeping the woman in his mind’s eye that he tries to destory his masterful picture of her. The necklace that played such a key role in Wharton’s story–Anne took it off her dog and gave it to her lover and when her husband realized it was missing, he somehow knew she had not lost it in the park. All of these details add to the spookiness, the atmosphere that culminates in the final story, where a deaf teen hears dogs barking, sees holes being dug by something he cannot see and runs into ghosts in the garden. The title of the collection is The Ghosts of Kerfol, but what Noyes has done is more than just created a sense of place, she has made Kerfol, the house and the land like another character in the story. It feels like the house, the garden, the land are reaching out to grab anyone who comes too close, pulling them into the dizzying horror that happened so many years ago.
Review Excerpts:
Kirkus Reviews: “Told from a variety of perspectives, each story builds on the last, drawing the reader deeper into the passion and misery that wind their way through the estate. Beautiful and genuinely frightening.”
Publisher’s Weekly: “Readers will be eager to know how next this house and its ghosts wreak havoc-and even death-on those unlucky enough to darken its doorstep.”
Connections:
- To Edith Wharton and the original short story, Kerfol. There are multiple opportunities for discussion and comparision between the original and these newer tales.
- Especially interesting would be an exploration of the symbols, motifs, colors, and themes running through all of the stories.
