The Uninvited

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They know that something happened in that house. They suspect that it involves Stella, the granddaughter of the man who reluctantly sold them the house, because she is drawn to them and to that room. I had an idea of how the mystery would pay out at an early stage, but that didn't spoil the story. It was an utterly believable human tragedy, and I could understood how and why it had happened. And I was caught up with Roddy and Pamela as they struggled to work out what had happened and what they could, what they should, do. I've had this older hardcopy edition of The Uninvited for several years. I remember finding it at a used bookstore in Maryland and bought it solely because I remembered enjoying the 1944 movie version starring Ray Milland and Gail Russell. It was obvious there was going to be a ghost story. Roddy was telling the story and the substance of the book was a manuscript, introduced by a letter explaining that it was an account of what had happened in Devon.

The plot was was well thought out, it drew in a lovely range of people and incidents, and it had things to say. This story of ordinary people in extraordinary circumstance speaks of the importance of home, of the roles that mothers can play, and of the consequences of their absence. A brother and sister, in an attempt to escape their pasts and the chaos of the city, buy a house in remote Devonshire. It turns out, however, that the house is already occupied by something beyond the human... Roddy and Pamela are full of ideas for refurbishing the house and making it into a home; and they dismiss local gossip that says that the house is haunted, and that terrified tenants had fled. They saw nothing amiss. They invite an old family retainer, Lizzie, to become their housekeeper; they enjoy the simple pleasures of life in the country; and they make plans to invite friends to stay.

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I gently redirected Steff, assuring her she had not been fully awake and maybe was having a waking dream. But then several months later, we were sitting in the front parlor and, from up the same stairs, we both clearly heard a little girl call out, "Mommy?" Thirdly, this episode changed my approach to books like "The Uninvited." Yes, I still like my scary stories as much as any horror fan, and I'm not necessarily any more convinced in the reality of supernatural entities. I'd like to think I'm a rational person, and certainly I can understand how a number of explainable elements came together perfectly for us to experience our own genuine haunting. "The Uninvited" does not quite delve into those areas, preferring to embrace the idea of an afterlife as a foregone conclusion. But I've come to respect the idea of some form of our consciousness or emotion being tied to a place, reliving past traumas. So I tend to enjoy fiction that treats the theme with sensitivity. This novel certainly does that. That meant that a degree of suspense was lost - I knew from the start that something had happened and I knew, from the tone, that the Fitzgerald's had been able to put whatever had happened behind them.

While working as a journalist with the League of Nations in the 1930s she acquired a considerable affinity with the plight of pre-war Czechoslovakia. Consequently she differed with official Irish government policy on the threat of Nazism, Irish neutrality during World War II, compulsory Irish language teaching in schools, and deplored what she saw as the reduced status of women in the 1937 Constitution of Ireland. They find the house of their dreams. It stood alone not far from the edge of a cliff, it was uninhabited and it appeared to have been neglected for quite some time, but they saw its potential. And they saw a “for sale” sign. Steff was pregnant with our daughter, but we didn't have any kids in the house. Needless to say, this freaked us both out, and we did some research on the house. The original tenant was a single mother and a kept woman of a wealthy pioneer explorer. Her daughter died in the house at 11-years-old of tuberculosis. We told our story to the lady who sold us the place, who admitted that she and her guests had also seen the little girl when living in that house, assuring us that she was sweet and harmless.

But once the hauntings start going into full swing, then the novel becomes hard to put down. Pamela, like Steff, is the first to experience strange phenomena, and Roddy, like me, placates her at first, until things start getting out of hand that no one can ignore. They had thought things through; they knew that their circumstances were likely to change, that they wouldn't always want to share a home, and they had made provision for that. Macardle recounted her Civil War experiences in Earthbound: Nine Stories of Ireland (1924). Macardle became a playwright in the next two decades. In her dramatic writing she used the pseudonym Margaret Callan. During this time she worked as a journalist at the League of Nations.

The essential mystery of the reason for the haunting is easily solved but the ending still does not disappoint. I liked Roddy and Pamela; I found it easy to understand who they were, where they were in life. The sibling relationship was particularly well drawn; they were a team. Overall, folks, I think "The Uninvited" is not a perfect book, but it is a bonafide classic, full of chilling atmosphere, moans in the night, and sighs at the foot of the bed. It surprises me that the book had been out of print for so long. Fortunately, Tramp Press reissued the novel in 2015 as part of the Recovered Voices series to shine a spotlight on less known women authors. Macardle wrote a follow-up called "The Unforseen" which also was released in the Recovered Voices series. I think her work and life is worth investigating, as she was quite the badass during and after the Irish Civil War, and her writing is accessible yet beautiful.I was so into this book that the least little disruption gave me fits. I really enjoyed this one and can't recommend it highly enough. If like me, you're into older supernatural works (this one is from 1942), then do not miss the novel. While it may seem tame in today's world, there is a LOT going on here and quite frankly, it's downright spooky.