Strange Evil

by Jane Gaskell

On the banks of the magical mountain... was a land of flying Satyrs and human-like fairies—a battleground, where the two tribes of the Mountain fought for power. Brought here by her cousin, the Earthling Judith lived in the tranquillity of the fantasy world.

But, as an Other-worldly being caught between warring peoples, Judith was destined to die... until she discovered the Evil driving her cousin's enemies to fight to regain their power, now and forever!

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Science Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy, Weird Fiction, Horror, Fae

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1957

About the author

Gaskell was born Jane Gaskell Denvil on 7 July 1941, in Grange-over-Sands, Cumbria, England (previously in the county of Lancashire). She is the great grandniece of the Victorian novelist Elizabeth Gaskell. Her first novel, Strange Evil, was written when she was 14-years-old (published two years later, in 1957). In 1963 Gaskell married truck driver Gerald Lynch; and in 1965 their daughter, Lucy Emma, was born. (Their marriage ended in divorce in 1968.)

In 1970 she received the Somerset Maugham Award for her novel A Sweet, Sweet Summer.

China Miéville lists Strange Evil as one of the top 10 examples of weird fiction.

Wikipedia®

Reviews

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a strange and imaginative book about an Earth woman from London who is sort-of abducted by cousins from another world. She is taken to a fairyland full of satyrs and giants and faerie-like humans, and finds herself caught in the middle of a war between those who live inside the magical mountain that is the source of the faerie beings' immortality, and those who have been exiled to the outside.

This book was written by the author when she was fourteen. They decided to publish it on the strength of her storytelling and her imagination; it wasn't on the strength of her writing, which is quite immature and often just plain ungrammatical. It takes a while for the story to go anywhere and there is a lot of irrelevant description, but there is an imaginative story and some sparkle of brilliance buried beneath the adolescent purple prose.

I want to give it a higher rating, taking into account the fact that it was written by a fourteen-year-old, but objectively, it's not a great fantasy novel and not really that original, and it's marred by the poor writing. If I were judging it relative to, say, NaNoWriMo novels and other output from teenagers and amateurs, I'd give it a higher rating, but compared with professional published fiction, it just doesn't have that much to commend it aside from the novelty of having been written by a kid.

[Heather ~*dread mushrooms*~ · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was full of awesome ideas, but also rambling descriptions that added nothing to the story. The MC had no importance to the plot whatsoever and wasn't that interesting anyway. The rest of the characters left much to be desired. The ending was bizarre and the whole thing just felt unfinished.

Obviously this book didn't impress me. Yet I am really impressed this was written when the author was only fourteen. I really loved The Shiny Narrow Grin, so I'm looking forward to reading more of Gaskell's work.

[Jay Kay · Rating 3 out of 5]

A queer & strange little book with some fascinating ideas, beautiful descriptive prose but clunky story telling(she wrote this at 14).

Jane Gaskell is an author China Miéville often name drops and I can't wait to work my through her oeuvre.

[William Oarlock · Rating 4 out of 5]

Somewhere between George MacDonald's Lilith and Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time...

Artist's model Judith Henderson finds herself unwilling host to long-lost eccentric cousin Dorinda and her fiance Zameis with whom Judith becomes infatuated.

It isn't long before she learns they are indeed 'fair-folk' who graciously invite her into their parallel dimension by leaping from the top of Notre Dame cathedral!

Arriving at the Mountain and its beautiful pasture lands Judith becomes swiftly embroiled in the battle between the outcast 'Externals', with their satyr allies and the decadent 'Internals' - Zameis and Dorinda's people - with their utterly monstrous deity...

Indeed a truly amazing achievement by a 14-year-old.

[Rhea]

"The book was written when Gaskell was 14, and though it suffers from all the flaws her youth would lead you to expect, it is a staggering achievement. A fraught fairyland full of sexuality, and containing the most extraordinary baddy in fiction." - China Miéville

[Jed Mayer · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is nothing quite like this novel, a fourteen-year-old's vision of a corrupt fairyland, ruled by decadent, pleasure-addicted fairies, who deny access to the life-giving atmosphere of their mountain retreat to any other magical creatures. Adolescent speculation on sex runs throughout, as well as on the grotesque nature of religion and power: well worth seeking out, despite the unfortunate rarity of this unique, strangely magical book.

[Hesper]

The evil isn't just strange; it's cracktacular.

Worth the read for that alone, but I'm not going to rate it—the author was fourteen when she wrote it.

[Michael Sullivan · Rating 5 out of 5]

How did someone write this at 14!

[Lewis Carnelian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Strange Evil is a mixed blessing at best. Touted as the anti-Tolkien and heralded by China Miéville as one of his top ten “Weird” fictions, it excels at a heady imagination, a tumultuous cascading of worlds, and a rich eroticism and strong sensuality, all a bravado performance for a 14-year old girl, but actually ends up being rather regressive. Take the following paragraph, wherein the main protagonist Judith stumbles into the rich, decadent world of the Internals:
“A little way away Dorinda was being girlishly welcomed by several slim elegant figures who seemed to combine feminine grace and masculine strength to make a decadence which might be misleading. Judith had seen similar groups in London. Although their manner was grating and made one contemptuous, it was likely enough more posed than natural.”
Gaskell here equates the transgressive with the fetid ways of her Faerie World’s aristocracy, and presents, as a “simpler” counterpoint, the idyllic, normative, communal, (and, ironically, satyr-infused) Externals, also obliquely condemning polyamory and homosexuality. The whole thing reaches a climax that is struck through with vivid imagery and also bloodlust, heaving into extremist zeal with the romantic lead declaring “It is *my* religion, *my* pure cult!” Yes, *purity*—Strange Evil is ultimately more a romance—a romance of a 14-year old—than a political tract, and one can admire its fecund imagery, but not it’s simplicity and tone of near-Catholic repression.

[Ralph Carlson · Rating 3 out of 5]

A strange book, but entertaining and enjoyable for a book written by a 14 year old girl. Quite imaginative and interesting although it is not all that well written.

[renee]

this reads exactly like the kind of morbid story a girl makes up while playing with her barbies which is crazy but great

[Jared Shurin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Judith is a cool kid, just finding her own way. She is settling into her life in London when an estranged cousin and her sexy, mysterious fiancé arrive as unexpected houseguests. They’re charming, but very odd, which she puts down to their hand-wavily foreign upbringing. But - surprise - they’re really foreign. He’s, well, basically some sort of fae. And before long, she’s not just pulled into faerie politics, but into their actual, literal world.

Gaskell wrote this when she was 14, which is frankly ridiculous. On one hand, that’s kind of a distraction - whether or not she’s 14 or 41 is technically irrelevant to appreciating the book. On the other,... it kind of is relevant. The book is about adolescence: the theme of dawning adulthood permeates the book. Interestingly, Strange Evil comes with an editorial note saying that they deliberately took a light touch to their edits. It is almost apologetic - they definitely could’ve done more, but didn’t want to change her voice. Clearly they thought (and I agree) that her youth adds something to the book.

However, as you might expect from a teenage author, the tone varies pretty wildly - the action takes place in fits and starts, and there's an attention to minute detail that can be frustrating. Oddly, unlike most fantasy coming of age stories, Judith is shockingly unimportant - a witness, not a protagonist; object not subject. It is about agency, but in a realistic, teenage way: the horrible realisation that there are no concrete answers.

Strange Evil is also an excellent example of mid-century British fantasy: the focus is less on the characters and more on the landscape. Not even the broad setting: Gaskell is obsessed with the land itself, be that London or the mysterious faerie world. This plays into the best part of the book - and the real reason to read it - Gaskell’s language. It is florid, but utterly sensuous, with a turn of phrase perfect for describing the otherness of the book’s atmosphere.

(For what it is worth: China Miéville is a fan, and called it a ‘staggering achievement’, as well as one of his top examples of Weird fiction.)

[Jeffzhef · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read it because of China Mieville's recommendation, of course, and I, like Hesper on here, can confirm it is recommendable, especially for its villain, who hit me by some surprise.

As Jane Gaskell was 14 when she wrote the book, there are issues of pacing. And I wondered if the repetition of words within a paragraph or two was due to the lack of an editor, or a conscious stylistic choice. I went with conscious choice about half way through the novel.

This book is rather easy to find as an inexpensive used book, so give it a try if Mieville's recommendation made you a bit curious.

I would now like to read Gaskell's other book that seemingly received some praise, "The Shiny Narrow Grin", but that one is at a rather high price in the used markets.

[Garick Cooke · Rating 2 out of 5]

If grading on a curve, of course, this would be five stars. (Gaskell wrote this at fourteen and had it published at sixteen!) But on its own merits, too much of the text is taken up with florid descriptions and Gaskell takes far too long to get to the action. There are flashes of brilliance here and there, but not enough to carry a novel. She went on to bigger and better things (the Atlan saga), and quickly learned to harness her abilities. By the time she wrote The Shiny Narrow Grin in 1964 (at the ripe age of 23), her prose was fully realized.