The Inkling

by Fred Chappell

Set in North Carolina, the novel revolves around five people inhabiting the same house: the boy Jan; his retarded sister, Timmy; a long-suffering mother; crude, surly Uncle Hake; and redheaded Lora Bowen, the housemaid. Conflicts among the members lead to a climax of high-pitched intensity and violence.

Genres: Novels

153 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1966

About the author

Fred Davis Chappell retired after 40 years as an English professor at University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He was the Poet Laureate of North Carolina from 1997-2002. He attended Duke University.

His 1968 novel Dagon, which was named the Best Foreign Book of the Year by the Academie Française, is a recasting of a Cthulhu Mythos horror story as a psychologically realistic Southern Gothic.

His literary awards include the Prix de Meilleur des Livres Etrangers, the Bollingen Prize, and the T. S. Eliot Prize.

Reviews

[William · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not so much a novel as a long prose poem written in a kind of third person stream of consciousness dreaming fugue state.

[Joan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is when the stars are really meaningless. Chappell's writing is brilliant and worthy of five stars. But this story is incredibly dark and bleak and not at all to my taste. I really did not enjoy reading it.

[Don Palmer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dark and creepy. Not my usual cup of tea - and, not what I’m accustomed to with most of Chappell’s fiction and poetry. However - like all his works, beautifully written.

[Tk · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful. I learned that people are constantly changing. Chappell is a character-driven writer. Cyclical novel. Fascinating. Every character is sorely, magnificently flawed.