Mexican Gothic: The extraordinary international bestseller, 'a new classic of the genre'

Mexican Gothic is an atmospheric, gothic horror which at times turned my stomach (especially scenes with Uncle Howard) but which I couldn't pull away from at the same time.Noemi has been sent by her father to check on her cousin Catalina at her marital home, High Place. Catalina wrote a disturbing letter to Noemis father about the house and her husband, Virgil and Noemi is sent on the next train to ensure she is OK.Noemi isn't made to feel welcome at High Place - Uncle Howard (Virgils father) runs the home in an overly-proper way and the house itself is in a state of much care and attention - mold on the creepy wallpaper and books, dampness, lack of electricity powering the home. Noemi doesn't get to see or spend much time with Catalina who is confined to her room with a supposed illness - Tuberculosis, but her behaviour when Noemi does spend time with her is very odd and unsettling and goes against anything she knows of the illness she's been diagnosed with. When Noemi starts having nightmares so vivid and unnatural - she begins to suspect that something sinister is going on at the house but won't leave without her cousin.This book was a perfect blend of creepiness, horror and mystery and I thought the build up was well paced and gripping. I love books about haunted houses and paranormal presences and really enjoyed this creepy, stomach turning house setting.

Mexican Gothic has been everywhere this year, and as a long-time fan of Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s work I’ve loved seeing so many more readers discover just how good she is. Weirdly, though, it took me a while to get to this novel despite it being one of my most anticipated releases of the year, because I saw so much hype for it that I worried I might hype it up too much in my head.I needn’t have worried. One of the things I love about Moreno-Garcia’s work is that I’m never entirely sure where it’s going, and that’s definitely true of this Gothic horror novel.It’s Mexico in 1950, and socialite Noemí Taboada is asked to visit High Place, an old manor in the Mexican countryside, after her father receives a worrying letter from Noemí’s recently married cousin, Catalina. It sounds as though Catalina is unwell, perhaps she requires treatment for her mental health, and Noemí’s family want not only to make sure Catalina is safe and well, but also to make sure there’s no scandal for their family.When Noemí arrives at High Place, however, it’s clear that something isn’t quite right. The English family who live there, once the proud owners of a wealthy mining empire, are peculiar and secretive, the townspeople claim the family are cursed, and Noemí often feels like something in the very walls is watching her.As always, I fell in love with Moreno-Garcia’s heroine. Each of her novels has had a very different woman at its centre and I’ve loved all of them, and Noemí is no different. She loves parties and boys and drinking and smoking, but she also wants to attend university and she’s not someone who can be easily pushed around. If this were a Gothic novel written back in the 18th or 19th centuries, Catalina would probably be our innocent heroine – and I was very fond of Catalina, too – but I loved how Moreno-Garcia gave us a Gothic heroine of a different kind.In this way Mexican Gothic is more Northanger Abbey than The Mysteries of Udolpho. Just as Northanger Abbey‘s Catherine views her world through a Gothic lens and therefore gets to the heart of the villain’s true nature, Noemí also feels like the heroine of a Gothic tale that has already been told. She’s both in a Gothic story, and yet also in a Gothic aftermath story. Much of the terrible things that have happened to women throughout the history of the Gothic genre have already happened by the time Noemí arrives at High Place, and instead we’re seeing the Gothic novel from the perspective of the rescuer rather than the innocent, vulnerable girl. If you’re a fan of Angela Carter’s fairy tales, this is a novel for you.This is a Gothic novel in which women are allowed to be angry for all the crap they’ve been put through throughout the history of the horror genre, without ever pointing a finger at the horror genre as being the problem. Women have been writing horror for as long as the genre has been around, with Mary Shelley and Ann Radcliffe being some of the better known early examples, and this novel doesn’t criticise the genre itself, but instead really focuses our attention on the kinds of violence women are subjected to within the genre, which played out beautifully against the backdrop of Mexico in 1950, when women didn’t yet have the vote.Mexican Gothic is so easy to read, and genuinely quite creepy at times–there were a couple of moments when I knew that, had this story been a film, I’d’ve jumped out my skin–and if you’re a fan of Gothic tales with creepy houses, like Rebecca, this is one novel you need to try. I didn’t know I needed a Gothic novel with a Mexican twist until I picked up this book, and now I’ll definitely be on the lookout for more Mexican horror.

Over the last few months I have read quite a few positive reviews for the novel, set in 1950s Mexico, at an estate linked to an erstwhile British-run silver mining company, high in the mountains. The building is text book spooky Victorian and the family members are an eclectic mix of curious individuals, who are each leading a strange life, incarcerated in their spookily atmospheric surrounds, a long way away from civilisation. Part Hammer Horror, part Addams family – or as the Guardian newspaper puts it – Lovecraft meets the Brontës in Latin America. The setting is perfect for the storyline and evoking this ghostly and atmospheric backdrop is something the author does superbly well. And. There are plenty of comparisons to Jane Eyre.I confess that this took me out of my comfort zone, I am not naturally drawn to the gothic/horror genre but I have to say it was the cover that swung me in the book’s favour; that, and also because it was set in Mexico. Just see, the power of the book cover ad location!Catalina is living with her husband Virgil Doyle, in the misty mountains near El Triunfo in the family mansion, where patriarch Howard Doyle is still wheezing away his days on his looming death bed. The family have mined the silver in the area for several generations. Catalina has sent a letter to her cousin Noemí’s family in Mexico City and Noemí is despatched to check on the health and well-being of Catalina. It seems that she might be experiencing psychological disturbance.Noemí arrives and almost immediately a shiver runs down her spine. It is a dank and dreary building, and the household is ruled with an iron fist (absolutely no speaking over dinner), with sharp-tongued Florence as at the helm.As Noemí delves deeper, she discovers all kinds of horrors and mysteries – and death.It is a reflective storyline, leaving the reader to ponder whether the house is sick or whether the sins of the ancestors – colonisers plundering the land for its resources – are being visited upon this generation.I was enthralled by the first third of the book, the writing and storytelling fully drew me in. Thereafter it levelled out for me. The longer she stays, the more Noemí sinks into the bowels of the sinister clutch of the house and its occupants. She starts to sleep walk, apparently, and the blur between reality and ghostly adventures starts to add confusion to her days. Soon thereafter it goes into more otherworldly realms. This is not my genre of choice and sometimes one just needs to step out of one’s comfort zone and expand one’s horizons. In many ways I am very glad I have read it. The New Yorker says its addictive prose “..is as easy to slurp down as a poisoned cordial…” It is indeed!