After reading the first story in this collection, I had to rethink gothic fiction. I'm not a fan of horror in general, but I have read The Picture of Dorian Gray. I don't remember a lot of the story itself, but the emotions associated with it remain. I was thinking I would get that same feeling from early gothic fiction, including this collection by a Canadian author.
The story I read dealt with the man in charge of a fictional town called Pontiac. Louis marries a beautiful young singer, Madelinette, and she returns home one day to find that her husband has a hunchback. From that moment forward, he turns bitter and violent, but never toward his wife. Louis almost kills a man who dares to question his place as leader of the town. One day, Madelinette finds a will that proves her husband has no right to his position. By this time, it's all Louis has, and she fears what will happen to his mind if he lost it. She doesn't want to be dishonest, but she isn't sure what to do. A disgruntled former employee steals the will and eventually Louis discovers the truth. He murders the employee and then himself. Madelinette returns to her life of singing and that's the end.
It was a pretty straightforward story, and I wasn't interested in the characters. When Madelinette chased after the employee for the will was the only time I was interested. And even then, I was disappointed, because she got what she wanted. I didn't mourn Louis. He wasn't a sympathetic character, and I didn't like him at all.
More than one story is included in this book, but I didn't want to keep going. It wasn't what I was looking for, and my disappointment stemmed from expectations I shouldn't have placed on the story. I went back and thought about The Picture of Dorian Gray and how I felt after finishing that story. Then I downloaded Edgar Allen Poe's stories and read The Tell-Tale Heart. Those are more in the vein of what I was looking for, and that's not what I got from this story. Pass.
