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Spanish Spectres #1
Filled With Ghosts
Filled With Ghosts is set in Southern Spain, where the characters’ lives intertwine due to their close proximity in their small village. Events make it hard for them to escape each other. But what binds their lives together, is as strong as their need to escape.
Diana and Miguel live with their fifteen-year-old daughter, Heena at Pilar’s house, (Miguel’s mother). Diana’s friend, Tila, considers her psychotic episodes to be mystical experiences,
and becomes obsessed with Heena - convinced she is a magician and guru. Miguel has an affair with wealthy Catalina and, when he gets her pregnant, marries her for her money and the villa her parents gifted her. He continues his relationship with Diana, dividing his time between the two women. When the violent past catches up with Miguel and Diana, how will they live with the consequences?
Diana and Miguel live with their fifteen-year-old daughter, Heena at Pilar’s house, (Miguel’s mother). Diana’s friend, Tila, considers her psychotic episodes to be mystical experiences,
and becomes obsessed with Heena - convinced she is a magician and guru. Miguel has an affair with wealthy Catalina and, when he gets her pregnant, marries her for her money and the villa her parents gifted her. He continues his relationship with Diana, dividing his time between the two women. When the violent past catches up with Miguel and Diana, how will they live with the consequences?
146 pages, Paperback
Published May 10, 2017
About the author
Karen Little
14 books8 followersI trained as a dancer at London Contemporary Dance School, and as a Fine Artist at Camberwell School of Art, London, performing and exhibiting internationally.
My poetry has been widely published in magazines and anthologies, and Tentacles contains ten of my illustrated poems. My first novella Filled with Ghosts was published in December 2015 and shortlisted for the novella Saboteur Award in 2016.
'Karen Little writes characters with a surface oddness. Whether they are floridly psychotic or merely displaying a level of everyday delusions and compulsions of creativity; they are all unusual and unique. As the book goes on it becomes easier to absorb the deeper psychological movements that the characters have as well as these qualities. However, the opening of the book is quite impenetrable. We hear from Diana, who, in her own words, builds ‘sentences from [her] own spit’. Yet, as when reading someone like Elizabeth Smart, battling through this series of barely linked, intense images is worth it. Once the rhythm that runs through the piece is detected, it becomes easier to grasp what previously appeared to be chaos. The rewards are images such as this one: ‘I catch rainwater in a pan, pour it into my fish tank, filling it with freedom and light’. (extract from Sabotage Review, Sarah Gonnet)
The sequel Ghost Train Leaving was released in June 2017, and the final book in the trilogy (the Spanish Spectres series) Ghosts Treading Water in October 2017.
My poetry has been widely published in magazines and anthologies, and Tentacles contains ten of my illustrated poems. My first novella Filled with Ghosts was published in December 2015 and shortlisted for the novella Saboteur Award in 2016.
'Karen Little writes characters with a surface oddness. Whether they are floridly psychotic or merely displaying a level of everyday delusions and compulsions of creativity; they are all unusual and unique. As the book goes on it becomes easier to absorb the deeper psychological movements that the characters have as well as these qualities. However, the opening of the book is quite impenetrable. We hear from Diana, who, in her own words, builds ‘sentences from [her] own spit’. Yet, as when reading someone like Elizabeth Smart, battling through this series of barely linked, intense images is worth it. Once the rhythm that runs through the piece is detected, it becomes easier to grasp what previously appeared to be chaos. The rewards are images such as this one: ‘I catch rainwater in a pan, pour it into my fish tank, filling it with freedom and light’. (extract from Sabotage Review, Sarah Gonnet)
The sequel Ghost Train Leaving was released in June 2017, and the final book in the trilogy (the Spanish Spectres series) Ghosts Treading Water in October 2017.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
November 1, 2017
This is a book for readers who prefer an immersive experience. Not content with weaving a story for you, Little puts you in the mind's eye of each character. Their individual points of view are fraught with idiosyncratic paranoia and visionary flights of fancy. The plot is complex and dark, but comes second in order of priority to the feel, experience and emotional arc of the motley cast. For fans of Irvine Welsh, Roberto Bolano or Alice Walker, this book (and its 2 sequels) are a hidden gem.
January 12, 2016
In Spain, a group of people linked by relationships and events narrate a strange series of events in their lives. With violence and lies among them, who can find a way to survive, to live freely and with something approaching integrity or joy?
It's an ambitious structure, as each character narrates in turn, but Little is equal to this. Diana is lyrical, Miguel blinkered to his own selfishness; but these aren't one-dimensional people, and there is as much pleasure to be found in the unfolding of their characters as in the plot arc. Some of the sentences are achingly beautiful, peppered with vivid, original images and touches of wit, made all the more evocative by the gritty reality of the setting and circumstances. Whether the character is sculpting, stabbing, hallucinating or cooking, s/he is totally realised and fleshed out, and we are completely in their world as they speak.
About halfway through I wondered if plot was going to be sacrificed to the exquisite prose, but I needn't have worried. Oh, it's perfect, just perfect! I will come back to this and read it with pleasure, I know, probably many times. This deserves a big readership and I hope that it gets it. Publishers - can you make the print larger next time, please?
Another pleasure is the art that dances through the volume. Karen Little has many talents, it seems.
January 20, 2016
Wow! I have just finished this novella, by the supremely talented Karen Little, and I am already looking forward to re-reading it.
Ghosts starts off with a deceptively sweet beginning before hitting you with one of the darkest, hard-hitting opening chapters I have had the pleasure to witness; beautifully dark, gloriously garish and intriguingly enticing. The reader is then lead through a tapestry of individual perspectives, as the actors render their stories for consideration. The narrative arc is strengthened by this method; and never falters.
This is fresh writing; alert, unique, challenging, experienced.. words of wisdom, innocence, fragility, and strength.
I whole heartedly recommend this book, and predict that we will hear much more from Karen Little in the future.
Ghosts starts off with a deceptively sweet beginning before hitting you with one of the darkest, hard-hitting opening chapters I have had the pleasure to witness; beautifully dark, gloriously garish and intriguingly enticing. The reader is then lead through a tapestry of individual perspectives, as the actors render their stories for consideration. The narrative arc is strengthened by this method; and never falters.
This is fresh writing; alert, unique, challenging, experienced.. words of wisdom, innocence, fragility, and strength.
I whole heartedly recommend this book, and predict that we will hear much more from Karen Little in the future.
August 6, 2017
Looking forward to book2
Loved this book couldn't put it down! Filled with ghosts is poetically brilliantly written from the great mind of Karen little and takes you into the minds of some fantastic characters literary brilliance at its best💖
Loved this book couldn't put it down! Filled with ghosts is poetically brilliantly written from the great mind of Karen little and takes you into the minds of some fantastic characters literary brilliance at its best💖
March 4, 2016
‘WE ALL WANT TO TELL OUR STORY AND BE FASCINATED BY OURSELVES’
Filled with Ghosts is a great surrealist novella, set in southern Spain. It is told from several perspectives and by interweaving their lives the narrative reveals their deepest desires, fears and secrets. I wasn’t sure how to review this, there is so much to it so I decided to break it down. There are other characters but I thought I’d stick to the main and the most interesting ones in my opinion, as they take up the largest portions of the book.
Firstly we have Diana, an artist who knows all about Miguel’s depravity and feels bound to him, even helping hide the evidence. She’s an artist and uses anything and everything for her work.
Miguel drinks too much, does drugs and is angry at the world. He needs to have control over all the women in his life, believing he’s irresistible. While he’s with Diana, he has an affair with Catalina, a wealthy woman who was friends with Diana. Catalina becomes pregnant and Miguel marries her for her money. When Catalina dies (or is she killed?) things start to shift and change.
Next up we have Pilar, Miguel’s kleptomaniac, drug smuggling, hoarding mother. She’s my personal favourite because she exhibits this twisted sense of common sense and motherly duty. For example, how bluntly she considers that police won’t check a child’s teddy for forbidden drugs.
Tila is a character I’m conflicted on. I love her descriptions, the detailed yet blurry way she sees the world, but it can also make for a confusing read at times. She slips between reality and visions, as she has psychotic episodes. She becomes obsessed with Helena after buying snake oil from her, believing it to have cured some of her problems.
These multiple narratives each have a strong distinctive voice, however when they slip into dreaming or deep thoughts it becomes clear they are all seeking a way to escape. There is a vivid beauty in the novel, the way in which Karen Little writes is very poetic. I can smell the moss in the woods where Miguel came across those two men and almost taste the plaster dust as Diana’s studio falls down around her. The exploration of human faults and vices alongside lyrical and beautiful settings create a compelling read. However at times it’s hard to stay untangled in the web of these people’s lives and at a few points I was a little distracted or confused as to where I was in the book and had to go back and check just to be sure.
I don’t want to give away too much, and I hope I haven’t, as this is a novel you need to read for yourselves to become fully immersed in the lives of these Spanish residents.
Filled with Ghosts is a great surrealist novella, set in southern Spain. It is told from several perspectives and by interweaving their lives the narrative reveals their deepest desires, fears and secrets. I wasn’t sure how to review this, there is so much to it so I decided to break it down. There are other characters but I thought I’d stick to the main and the most interesting ones in my opinion, as they take up the largest portions of the book.
Firstly we have Diana, an artist who knows all about Miguel’s depravity and feels bound to him, even helping hide the evidence. She’s an artist and uses anything and everything for her work.
Miguel drinks too much, does drugs and is angry at the world. He needs to have control over all the women in his life, believing he’s irresistible. While he’s with Diana, he has an affair with Catalina, a wealthy woman who was friends with Diana. Catalina becomes pregnant and Miguel marries her for her money. When Catalina dies (or is she killed?) things start to shift and change.
Next up we have Pilar, Miguel’s kleptomaniac, drug smuggling, hoarding mother. She’s my personal favourite because she exhibits this twisted sense of common sense and motherly duty. For example, how bluntly she considers that police won’t check a child’s teddy for forbidden drugs.
Tila is a character I’m conflicted on. I love her descriptions, the detailed yet blurry way she sees the world, but it can also make for a confusing read at times. She slips between reality and visions, as she has psychotic episodes. She becomes obsessed with Helena after buying snake oil from her, believing it to have cured some of her problems.
These multiple narratives each have a strong distinctive voice, however when they slip into dreaming or deep thoughts it becomes clear they are all seeking a way to escape. There is a vivid beauty in the novel, the way in which Karen Little writes is very poetic. I can smell the moss in the woods where Miguel came across those two men and almost taste the plaster dust as Diana’s studio falls down around her. The exploration of human faults and vices alongside lyrical and beautiful settings create a compelling read. However at times it’s hard to stay untangled in the web of these people’s lives and at a few points I was a little distracted or confused as to where I was in the book and had to go back and check just to be sure.
I don’t want to give away too much, and I hope I haven’t, as this is a novel you need to read for yourselves to become fully immersed in the lives of these Spanish residents.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews