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The Secret Skin
The Secret Skin by Wendy N. Wagner is a sawmill gothic that begins with June Vogel’s return to Storm Break, her family’s estate. Things in the great house aren’t what they used to be. Doors slam in the night. Faucets turn on, untouched. Something is always watching, whatever June does. And when her brother returns with his new bride, deceit and betrayal threaten to destroy everything she loves.
102 pages, Paperback
First published October 25, 2021
4 people are currently reading
986 people want to read
About the author
Wendy N. Wagner
52 books283 followersWendy N. Wagner grew up in a town so tiny it didn’t even have a post office. With no television reception, she became a rabid reader, waiting impatiently for the bookmobile’s fortnightly visit to her tiny hometown. Today, her family struggles to find room for her expanding book collection in their Portland, Oregon, home.
Wendy's work ranges from horror novels to poetry to environmental essays. Her books include THE SECRET SKIN (a gothic novella), THE DEER KINGS (a horror novel), AN OATH OF DOGS (science fantasy), and two tie-in novels for the Pathfinder role-playing game. A Hugo award-winning editor of short fiction, she currently serves as the editor of NIGHTMARE MAGAZINE and the managing/senior editor of LIGHTSPEED.
Wendy's work ranges from horror novels to poetry to environmental essays. Her books include THE SECRET SKIN (a gothic novella), THE DEER KINGS (a horror novel), AN OATH OF DOGS (science fantasy), and two tie-in novels for the Pathfinder role-playing game. A Hugo award-winning editor of short fiction, she currently serves as the editor of NIGHTMARE MAGAZINE and the managing/senior editor of LIGHTSPEED.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 53 reviews
March 4, 2022
The Secret Skin is a quick gothic read. It has all the spooky things you’d expect in a gothic and a few surprises too!
June returns to the family estate, a looming mansion on the coast, to care for her 9-year-old niece while her brother takes a long honeymoon with his new bride. The house appears to welcome her but the staff is cold and haughty as ever. And the kid? Well, Abigail isn’t too thrilled about any of it. “I have promised to hate you.” Haha, this kid is such a little shit. I loved her.
Anyhow, before long doors start slamming, Abigail exhibits some strange supernatural powers and June feels eyeballs following her everywhere. It’s great fun and very spooky. Abigail and June develop a sweet relationship and spend their days out of the house as much as they can for obvious reasons. When the brother Frederick and his brand-new bride Lillian return early, things start to go awry. June and Lillian become fast friends and maybe a little more (uh oh), the past haunts them all, and when you can hear a house breathe you might want to start running!
There is much going on here, almost too much for its 102-page count. While I enjoyed it for its brevity because some books are simply too long and drone on forever (yeah, yeah, how dare I? But you know it’s true), I think I could’ve read another 200+ pages of this story and been happy about it. It’s one of those books I’d like to fall into and sit for a while. With that said, it doesn’t feel incomplete, and it doesn’t leave you hanging. I’m just being greedy.
The writing is beautiful and eerie, the secrets are dark, the characters are lovely, and I think you should all give it a read if you like gothic stories.
June returns to the family estate, a looming mansion on the coast, to care for her 9-year-old niece while her brother takes a long honeymoon with his new bride. The house appears to welcome her but the staff is cold and haughty as ever. And the kid? Well, Abigail isn’t too thrilled about any of it. “I have promised to hate you.” Haha, this kid is such a little shit. I loved her.
Anyhow, before long doors start slamming, Abigail exhibits some strange supernatural powers and June feels eyeballs following her everywhere. It’s great fun and very spooky. Abigail and June develop a sweet relationship and spend their days out of the house as much as they can for obvious reasons. When the brother Frederick and his brand-new bride Lillian return early, things start to go awry. June and Lillian become fast friends and maybe a little more (uh oh), the past haunts them all, and when you can hear a house breathe you might want to start running!
There is much going on here, almost too much for its 102-page count. While I enjoyed it for its brevity because some books are simply too long and drone on forever (yeah, yeah, how dare I? But you know it’s true), I think I could’ve read another 200+ pages of this story and been happy about it. It’s one of those books I’d like to fall into and sit for a while. With that said, it doesn’t feel incomplete, and it doesn’t leave you hanging. I’m just being greedy.
The writing is beautiful and eerie, the secrets are dark, the characters are lovely, and I think you should all give it a read if you like gothic stories.
Read
December 29, 2021(I don't rate books with stars-Please read the review)
Review originally published at Cemetery Dance Online:
https://www.cemeterydance.com/extras/...
“Last night I dreamed of Storm Break, dear Lillian, for the first time since we escaped that salt place.”
June Vogel returns to her family’s estate on the Oregon Coast after being away for six years. In the tradition of all atmospheric, Gothic storytelling, Wendy Wagner sets the stage perfectly in the prologue, hinting at family tragedy and secrets that will be revealed in time. But with only one hundred pages used to tell the tale, readers don’t have to wait long.
In fact, June’s first night back in the house is quite eventful, complete with a creepy child that says things like, “You must really be my Aunt if the house is trying to kill you too.”
Wagner gives her audience a sweeping tour of the grounds, including the Vogel family sawmill and surrounding forest as June’s new relationship with her niece, Abigail (the creepy child) deepens. It’s clear that Abigail and June would much rather be outside Storm Break instead of inside. Which, to be fair, is indicative of living in the Pacific Northwest and needing to spend as much time as possible outdoors if it’s not raining.
Eventually, June’s brother Frederick and his new wife come to Storm Break and the dynamic between all the characters changes once again — more secrets, new feelings surfacing, and the possibility for danger. It is positively delicious. This is sometimes the downside of novellas; they are exactly the number of pages they need to be — nothing more, nothing less. But, they could be novels. The Secret Skin could be a four hundred page doorstopper of a book and readers would be happy to spend countless hours wandering the haunted halls of Storm Break.
Alas, the journey does end and with it comes a feeling of longing and desire that lingers well after the last page. I loved all the supernatural elements, the magic and the unpredictability of The Secret Skin.
I will show up for anything Wendy Wagner writes. Her prose is lush and decadent. There is so much to hold on to and it’s so easy to invest in the fictional lives of her characters. Definitely a new favorite author.
Review originally published at Cemetery Dance Online:
https://www.cemeterydance.com/extras/...
“Last night I dreamed of Storm Break, dear Lillian, for the first time since we escaped that salt place.”
June Vogel returns to her family’s estate on the Oregon Coast after being away for six years. In the tradition of all atmospheric, Gothic storytelling, Wendy Wagner sets the stage perfectly in the prologue, hinting at family tragedy and secrets that will be revealed in time. But with only one hundred pages used to tell the tale, readers don’t have to wait long.
In fact, June’s first night back in the house is quite eventful, complete with a creepy child that says things like, “You must really be my Aunt if the house is trying to kill you too.”
Wagner gives her audience a sweeping tour of the grounds, including the Vogel family sawmill and surrounding forest as June’s new relationship with her niece, Abigail (the creepy child) deepens. It’s clear that Abigail and June would much rather be outside Storm Break instead of inside. Which, to be fair, is indicative of living in the Pacific Northwest and needing to spend as much time as possible outdoors if it’s not raining.
Eventually, June’s brother Frederick and his new wife come to Storm Break and the dynamic between all the characters changes once again — more secrets, new feelings surfacing, and the possibility for danger. It is positively delicious. This is sometimes the downside of novellas; they are exactly the number of pages they need to be — nothing more, nothing less. But, they could be novels. The Secret Skin could be a four hundred page doorstopper of a book and readers would be happy to spend countless hours wandering the haunted halls of Storm Break.
Alas, the journey does end and with it comes a feeling of longing and desire that lingers well after the last page. I loved all the supernatural elements, the magic and the unpredictability of The Secret Skin.
I will show up for anything Wendy Wagner writes. Her prose is lush and decadent. There is so much to hold on to and it’s so easy to invest in the fictional lives of her characters. Definitely a new favorite author.
Read
September 9, 2021A beautifully written piece of gothic horror, suffused with all the peculiarities of the 1920s in coastal Oregon. Pitch perfect language combines with the brilliant decision to make our narrator both the governess and the inheritor of the manor, a masterful twist on genre tropes.
March 6, 2022
I am going to take a minute at the start of this review to make a point that I have expressed a few times. Social media is a double-edged sword. Every author knows right or wrong they have to use it to promote their work. My interest in this book is an example of social media done right. It is subtle and to me, it is mostly being yourself. For an example of doing it the wrong way, there are some overzealous young writers who send out friend requests, and the moment you accept they invite you to like their page, it used to be a problem that writers would post links to their books in other posts, hey if you like this blah blah.
Somewhere along the line, I followed Wendy Wagner on Twitter. We never really chatted before, I have retweeted her a few times, I noticed the titles of her books. I made a mental note, I have to check out her work at some point. Then one day she tweeted something about this book and I went to my library website and suggested a purchase.
A few weeks later the San Diego library had a copy and now I have read it. I am glad I did because it is a great introduction to a writer from a city of writers I love. I am surprised Wendy and I didn’t cross paths during my years in Portland, but she is coming on the podcast soon.
The Secret Skin is that perfect horror bite-size, how many times over the years have I written about the perfect length for horror being the novella. I know that is not exactly a hot take as most believe that about horror and the novella. This story is an erotic gothic haunted house tale with a cool period settting we have rarely seen – coastal Oregon. Many books in this genre are padded and get dry and boring. Not The Secret Skin which is nearly perfect in pace and tone. You may be thinking that you are familiar with the elements for tales in this type of genre. The classical settings and familiar feelings are there for sure and the execution makes or breaks a book like this.
Silvia Moreno Garcia’s Mexican Gothic worked in part last year because of the unique setting but it would have been dead in the water without powerful execution. Wagner is an excellent writer who tightens narrative screws into the foundation of this story with powerful sentences. It is rare to use a single sentence to evoke major sensations but evocative prose in this book often that way.
How about this line of dialogue?
“You must really be my aunt if the house wants to kill you.”
There is little need to unpack this, but that is the gig so I am going to. There is fear and history in this one line. June’s fear of the house, how she dreads it, and her feelings toward her Brother’s new bride. It also suggests a tension between them over the new marriage etc. So much happens in this one line of dialogue. It got my attention.
Another thing I enjoyed was Wagner’s ability to make creepy moments in single lines like this…
“That was when the house first started whispering to me, and I knew I had to leave Stormbreak as quickly as I could.”
I don’t want to give away the love story, or at least the lust story, you might be able to guess early but it doesn’t make it any less powerful. Parts of the narrative slip at times into second person and this makes for a great reveal of who June is writing to just a little past the halfway mark.
“Hush, house,” I whispered, and as if it had been listening for me it fell silent.”
It all comes together in a fantastic final paragraph. The Secret Skin is a prime example of a book that is not exactly my cup of tea but it is told so effectively that I don’t give a shit at all. The Secret Skin is a great horror novella and comes highly recommended. Wendy Wagner has my full attention now.
Somewhere along the line, I followed Wendy Wagner on Twitter. We never really chatted before, I have retweeted her a few times, I noticed the titles of her books. I made a mental note, I have to check out her work at some point. Then one day she tweeted something about this book and I went to my library website and suggested a purchase.
A few weeks later the San Diego library had a copy and now I have read it. I am glad I did because it is a great introduction to a writer from a city of writers I love. I am surprised Wendy and I didn’t cross paths during my years in Portland, but she is coming on the podcast soon.
The Secret Skin is that perfect horror bite-size, how many times over the years have I written about the perfect length for horror being the novella. I know that is not exactly a hot take as most believe that about horror and the novella. This story is an erotic gothic haunted house tale with a cool period settting we have rarely seen – coastal Oregon. Many books in this genre are padded and get dry and boring. Not The Secret Skin which is nearly perfect in pace and tone. You may be thinking that you are familiar with the elements for tales in this type of genre. The classical settings and familiar feelings are there for sure and the execution makes or breaks a book like this.
Silvia Moreno Garcia’s Mexican Gothic worked in part last year because of the unique setting but it would have been dead in the water without powerful execution. Wagner is an excellent writer who tightens narrative screws into the foundation of this story with powerful sentences. It is rare to use a single sentence to evoke major sensations but evocative prose in this book often that way.
How about this line of dialogue?
“You must really be my aunt if the house wants to kill you.”
There is little need to unpack this, but that is the gig so I am going to. There is fear and history in this one line. June’s fear of the house, how she dreads it, and her feelings toward her Brother’s new bride. It also suggests a tension between them over the new marriage etc. So much happens in this one line of dialogue. It got my attention.
Another thing I enjoyed was Wagner’s ability to make creepy moments in single lines like this…
“That was when the house first started whispering to me, and I knew I had to leave Stormbreak as quickly as I could.”
I don’t want to give away the love story, or at least the lust story, you might be able to guess early but it doesn’t make it any less powerful. Parts of the narrative slip at times into second person and this makes for a great reveal of who June is writing to just a little past the halfway mark.
“Hush, house,” I whispered, and as if it had been listening for me it fell silent.”
It all comes together in a fantastic final paragraph. The Secret Skin is a prime example of a book that is not exactly my cup of tea but it is told so effectively that I don’t give a shit at all. The Secret Skin is a great horror novella and comes highly recommended. Wendy Wagner has my full attention now.
February 20, 2022
Coastal gothic horror? Sign me up! There are some unique twists of common tropes in THE SECRET SKIN, and Storm Break has potential to be Oregon's Hill House. I really want to visit a residence like this at some point - no, I have no not learned a single thing from reading books like this or all the countless movies and TV shows. Oops! I do think this could have been quite a bit longer, drawing out and ending I felt a little rushed. I think some of the characters could have had a little more to them, and I would have loved the main character, Storm Break, to be explored even more. This is a solid novella and I can think of so many friends who I know will absolutely devour this rich, gothic story.
February 18, 2022
There’s plenty to enjoy in this classic Gothic tale, if somewhat squandered in a rush to an ending. Great themes, good writing, solid use (and twisting) of familiar tropes, but it’s one of those novellas that leaves me thinking it dreamed of being longer.
Full review
Full review
December 30, 2021
This is under 100 pages of lush gothic writing. I devoured this in one day and with good reason.
As you read it quickly becomes obvious that there are family secrets and much more to the Vogel family than is initially realised. Bit by bit the family skeletons are laid out bare for the reader to find. Considering this is a tiny novella, the character development is impeccable. The prose is also beautiful.
I didn’t want to leave the haunted estate of Storm Break and would have happily lingered longer there.
As you read it quickly becomes obvious that there are family secrets and much more to the Vogel family than is initially realised. Bit by bit the family skeletons are laid out bare for the reader to find. Considering this is a tiny novella, the character development is impeccable. The prose is also beautiful.
I didn’t want to leave the haunted estate of Storm Break and would have happily lingered longer there.
October 3, 2022
2,5*
I wish the story was longer, with more occassions to build the suspense, pepper in small warning sings, and develop the characters and their motivations more. I know it's a novella, but it still felt rushed, more like a draft than a full story.
I wish the story was longer, with more occassions to build the suspense, pepper in small warning sings, and develop the characters and their motivations more. I know it's a novella, but it still felt rushed, more like a draft than a full story.
October 1, 2023
I loved this, I was not expecting it to be that scary kind of gothic, I had the read the second half in the morning in daylight cause it was too creepy to read before bed.
I just loved all the atmosphere and the narrator going "oh if only I'd had left then etc etc". It worked really well. It also felt like a perfectly proportioned novella.
I just loved all the atmosphere and the narrator going "oh if only I'd had left then etc etc". It worked really well. It also felt like a perfectly proportioned novella.
June 27, 2022
It got everything one should want in a gothic story. I just wished it to have been an actual novel instead because some things were rushed over so fast. The story had so many different layers and Wagner just scraped on the surface of most of them… and I wanted to know more. More details. More backstory to the characters. Just more. The story was solid but I wanted way more bone.
But still. I guess it was enough for its length. It was chilly. It was intriguing. It was sad. It was mysterious. I kept guessing what was truly going on inside that house. In the end, what got to me the the most was the eerie atmosphere. I truly thrived during my read-through because of it.
Furthermore I absolutely adored the writing. It was a lush and intricately written prose. The whole thing also read like a letter from one character to another. And in a way you knew things already from the beginning but not why and how they came to be. That was what made the rest of the novella intriguing. I usually don’t like this kind of stylistic way of writing because it takes away from the mystery a bit when you know the characters are alright enough to write letters or diary entries or whatever. But in The Secret Skin it totally worked. I was, like I said, still intrigued by how and why things came to be.
.
I have to be on the lookout for more things from the author or watch if there’s something more interesting from the author’s backlog.
But still. I guess it was enough for its length. It was chilly. It was intriguing. It was sad. It was mysterious. I kept guessing what was truly going on inside that house. In the end, what got to me the the most was the eerie atmosphere. I truly thrived during my read-through because of it.
Furthermore I absolutely adored the writing. It was a lush and intricately written prose. The whole thing also read like a letter from one character to another. And in a way you knew things already from the beginning but not why and how they came to be. That was what made the rest of the novella intriguing. I usually don’t like this kind of stylistic way of writing because it takes away from the mystery a bit when you know the characters are alright enough to write letters or diary entries or whatever. But in The Secret Skin it totally worked. I was, like I said, still intrigued by how and why things came to be.
.
I have to be on the lookout for more things from the author or watch if there’s something more interesting from the author’s backlog.
April 13, 2022
The house no longer looked like a flower emerging from the woodland understory but a toadstool sprung fully formed from decay.
June Vogel, a queer art teacher living in 1920's Portland, Oregon, returns to her coastal family estate known as Storm Break to spend the summer looking after her niece. However, the house known as Storm Break soon begins letting everyone know how it feels about the changes taking place as June's brother returns home with his mysterious new wife.
The pipes groan and whisper secrets, the portrait of the late Lady Vogel looms over a staircase with a mind of its own, and sleepwalking children haunt the halls. As June tries to uncover lost memories, she finds herself falling in love with someone she shouldn't, all while trying to uncover what the house has been desperately trying to tell her.
An excellent combination of a classic gothic vibe mixed with sci-fi and horror that has queer representation and a twisty plot. Set at the Oregon coast, The Secret Skin is incredibly atmospheric and fast paced. It's reminiscent of Charlotte Bronte and Poe but feels fresh and exciting at the same time.
Highly recommended to all my fellow gothic-lovers!
November 14, 2021
Four and a half stars, rounded up to five.
This was a deliciously gothic novella set on the Oregon coast. I loved how June's secrets slowly came to light, the creepiness of Abigail and her doll, and the way the house was unapologetically haunted and evil. For a novella, there were a good number of twists and turns in the story, making it seem larger than it was. My only wish was that we had lingered a little more on the house and the haunting atmosphere.
This was a deliciously gothic novella set on the Oregon coast. I loved how June's secrets slowly came to light, the creepiness of Abigail and her doll, and the way the house was unapologetically haunted and evil. For a novella, there were a good number of twists and turns in the story, making it seem larger than it was. My only wish was that we had lingered a little more on the house and the haunting atmosphere.
May 25, 2022
3.5 stars
December 25, 2025
seriously? the pacing is so rushed that it completely ruins the book. also idk how to feel about that KKK stuff
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 17, 2021
Easily could have read a doorstopper of a novel in this world, but this Pacific Northwest gothic novella was the perfect quick read. A delightful and haunting journey--Wendy Wagner knows how to do it.
January 2, 2022
June Vogel returns to her family's estate to care for her brother's daughter. But things aren't quite right at Storm's Break, the doors slam at night and faucets turn on without touch. And then her brother returns home with his new bride...
A darkly gothic tale, an insular community and a slowly decaying house. There's a slight air of supernatural associated with the Vogel family, contrasted with the menacing house that seems determined to crush the life out of the inhabitants. June's growing relationships with her niece, Abigail, and her brother's bride, Lillian, were delicately yet touchingly written. The shortness was a mild deterrent regarding the growing relationships between June & Lillian, but the short scenes between them were a delight to read even as the house and their pasts crowded in around them. A short novella, but claustrophobic with looming dread with allusions to Rebecca.
A darkly gothic tale, an insular community and a slowly decaying house. There's a slight air of supernatural associated with the Vogel family, contrasted with the menacing house that seems determined to crush the life out of the inhabitants. June's growing relationships with her niece, Abigail, and her brother's bride, Lillian, were delicately yet touchingly written. The shortness was a mild deterrent regarding the growing relationships between June & Lillian, but the short scenes between them were a delight to read even as the house and their pasts crowded in around them. A short novella, but claustrophobic with looming dread with allusions to Rebecca.
November 25, 2022
I looooved this! Read it all in one day (which isn’t oft for me). I’ve been wanting to read more queer gothic works, and The Secret Skin does a great job at building mystery, intrigue, and thrill in a perfectly paced novella. If you enjoy sapphic and haunted house stories where the house has a life of its own, then you should definitely give this one a read
September 21, 2025
(Huh, you'd think I'd have a shelf for "gothic", and yet...)
There's a stiff and bitter darkness to this setting, and it makes the kinder elements of the story stand out all the more strongly. A deeply satisfying ending.
There's a stiff and bitter darkness to this setting, and it makes the kinder elements of the story stand out all the more strongly. A deeply satisfying ending.
January 20, 2022
A surprising must-read on the recommendation of my local librarian. If you have read and loved DeMaurier’s Rebecca, but want a little queerness to the love story? This gothic novella is for you — bonus, the opening lines are nearly identical. I was silently screaming with excitement.
February 5, 2025
Rec. by: Local color, grey and windswept
Rec. for: The new governess
Echoes of Rebecca become readily apparent from the very first pages of The Secret Skin—but Wendy N. Wagner's hauntingly beautiful novella is an intensely compressed, Americanized and thoroughly modern story, one that only starts out being similar to du Maurier's classic novel.
As Wagner's vision begins, June Vogel has been called back from her successful and independent life as a portrait artist in Portland to her family's grand estate on the remote southern Oregon coast, where she encounters unfriendly staff and a rather odd niece.
June's destination is named Storm Break, and that massive and misplaced mansion (sadly diminished from its glory days—much like Manderley, I must admit) is based on a very real place: Oregon lumber baron Louis J. Simpson's Shore Acres. Simpson's estate had its own unhappy history—his great house on the bluff burned down in 1921, and was never successfully rebuilt. The grounds were purchased by the state of Oregon in 1942, though, and subsequently turned into a beautiful park. Wagner gratefully credits the Friends of Shore Acres in her Acknowledgements, and I can attest from my own visits that Wagner was able to extract quite a bit of Shore Acres' genius loci for the Vogel manse.
However, Storm Break is an altogether more haunted place, whose very structure seems to reject June's presence. The Vogels' dark secret marks the skins of all its members, in a way that makes me want to employ the overused adjective "Lovecraftian." And June's niece Abigail, child of her brother Frederick's first marriage to his strong-willed cousin Blanche, is the kind of child around whom things tend to happen. So when Frederick brings Abbie's new stepmother—his ethereally-beautiful new wife Lillian—with him to Storm Break, the electricity between these young women becomes even more intense (and more explicit, in ways that Rebecca never got to indulge). The cover of The Secret Skin bills this as a "sawmill Gothic," which truly does begin to seem more and more apt the more we find out about the Vogels, their tangled relationships and their ill-fated enterprises.
I put Wendy N. Wagner's slender tale The Secret Skin on my to-read list in 2021, but neglected to say exactly why at the time. I might've even heard about it at Shore Acres. But wherever I heard about it, I was entirely right to take notice—Wagner's eerie little tale did satisfy.
Rec. for: The new governess
Echoes of Rebecca become readily apparent from the very first pages of The Secret Skin—but Wendy N. Wagner's hauntingly beautiful novella is an intensely compressed, Americanized and thoroughly modern story, one that only starts out being similar to du Maurier's classic novel.
As Wagner's vision begins, June Vogel has been called back from her successful and independent life as a portrait artist in Portland to her family's grand estate on the remote southern Oregon coast, where she encounters unfriendly staff and a rather odd niece.
A passenger train ran from Portland to Coos Bay, but given my family, it was cheaper to catch one of our steamers headed south. The ships didn't usually put in on the route from Gray's Harbor to San Francisco, but for my brother, they made an exception. That's how it was when you were a Vogel. There were bigger ship-builders and richer lumber companies, but my family did well enough.
—p.11
June's destination is named Storm Break, and that massive and misplaced mansion (sadly diminished from its glory days—much like Manderley, I must admit) is based on a very real place: Oregon lumber baron Louis J. Simpson's Shore Acres. Simpson's estate had its own unhappy history—his great house on the bluff burned down in 1921, and was never successfully rebuilt. The grounds were purchased by the state of Oregon in 1942, though, and subsequently turned into a beautiful park. Wagner gratefully credits the Friends of Shore Acres in her Acknowledgements, and I can attest from my own visits that Wagner was able to extract quite a bit of Shore Acres' genius loci for the Vogel manse.
However, Storm Break is an altogether more haunted place, whose very structure seems to reject June's presence. The Vogels' dark secret marks the skins of all its members, in a way that makes me want to employ the overused adjective "Lovecraftian." And June's niece Abigail, child of her brother Frederick's first marriage to his strong-willed cousin Blanche, is the kind of child around whom things tend to happen. So when Frederick brings Abbie's new stepmother—his ethereally-beautiful new wife Lillian—with him to Storm Break, the electricity between these young women becomes even more intense (and more explicit, in ways that Rebecca never got to indulge). The cover of The Secret Skin bills this as a "sawmill Gothic," which truly does begin to seem more and more apt the more we find out about the Vogels, their tangled relationships and their ill-fated enterprises.
I put Wendy N. Wagner's slender tale The Secret Skin on my to-read list in 2021, but neglected to say exactly why at the time. I might've even heard about it at Shore Acres. But wherever I heard about it, I was entirely right to take notice—Wagner's eerie little tale did satisfy.
May 31, 2022
queer gothic queer gothic!!! delicious, haunting, lush, atmospheric, this was almost everything i could have asked for in a novella. this started off slow for me but by the end i was completely wrapped up in it.
i adore wagner's writing style in this and i've never read a gothic set in this particular time period and location (coastal oregon in the 1920s) so that was really intriguing. the premise is spectacular - june returns to her family home to look after her niece while his brother is on honeymoon with his new bride, and the niece abigail is such a fun, pushy kid ("you must really be my aunt if the house wants to kill you" is so baller). the brother returns and a connection also sparks between june and his new wife. the title references a skin condition june and her brother have that manifests strongly when they are at storm break. the house captures a lot of fear and history and family trauma june moved away to avoid (she's been working as an art teacher for the past few years), and coming back means she needs to face the house as well as all of the unpleasant aspects of her past she's pushed aside.
i really think this would have been a five star for me if it had been longer. i know i could have come to love these characters if i had been able to spend a few hundred more pages with them. in particular, extra page length could have given more time to do more with the skin condition and develop the romance and lillian's character. (and also the references to racism and the kkk - they are so briefly mentioned in a blink-and-you'll-miss-it way when their truthfulness would impact the way certain characters come across.)
i really wanted it to be less clear and explicit that the house was haunted and that abby had these abilities. one of the things i adore about other gothic books this is comparable to (the haunting of hill house and the turn of the screw) is how it's never clear whether what's being described is actually happening - there's a level of doubt in the narrator's perception of reality or memory or whether it was a ghost or the wind, etc. the house being haunted is an expression of some other trauma or psychological distress. whereas here, by the explosive (somewhat rushed) ending, it's made clear that the house is intentionally attempting to harm our narrator and her companions. and i didn't like that - i wanted to be kept guessing longer.
overall, i adored this and it's making me want to read more of the gothic immediately. i'll be curious to see what else wagner writes!
i adore wagner's writing style in this and i've never read a gothic set in this particular time period and location (coastal oregon in the 1920s) so that was really intriguing. the premise is spectacular - june returns to her family home to look after her niece while his brother is on honeymoon with his new bride, and the niece abigail is such a fun, pushy kid ("you must really be my aunt if the house wants to kill you" is so baller). the brother returns and a connection also sparks between june and his new wife. the title references a skin condition june and her brother have that manifests strongly when they are at storm break. the house captures a lot of fear and history and family trauma june moved away to avoid (she's been working as an art teacher for the past few years), and coming back means she needs to face the house as well as all of the unpleasant aspects of her past she's pushed aside.
i really think this would have been a five star for me if it had been longer. i know i could have come to love these characters if i had been able to spend a few hundred more pages with them. in particular, extra page length could have given more time to do more with the skin condition and develop the romance and lillian's character. (and also the references to racism and the kkk - they are so briefly mentioned in a blink-and-you'll-miss-it way when their truthfulness would impact the way certain characters come across.)
i really wanted it to be less clear and explicit that the house was haunted and that abby had these abilities. one of the things i adore about other gothic books this is comparable to (the haunting of hill house and the turn of the screw) is how it's never clear whether what's being described is actually happening - there's a level of doubt in the narrator's perception of reality or memory or whether it was a ghost or the wind, etc. the house being haunted is an expression of some other trauma or psychological distress. whereas here, by the explosive (somewhat rushed) ending, it's made clear that the house is intentionally attempting to harm our narrator and her companions. and i didn't like that - i wanted to be kept guessing longer.
overall, i adored this and it's making me want to read more of the gothic immediately. i'll be curious to see what else wagner writes!
March 12, 2022
A fantastic gothic novella, beautiful descriptions and a chilling atmosphere that sucks you right in. Totally engrossing, once I hit chapter 2 I had to devour it all.
I loved the not-quite epistolary perspective that lent an air of mystery to the HOW and WHAT of Storm Break manor’s tragedy. Abigail was a surprising character, I didn’t expect to feel so much for the wild little girl. I’ve come to expect creepy and sad children in gothic novels, but I loved that she was lonely and feral because of it.
Some of the elements felt a bit ham-fisted; I appreciated Andrew’s character and his role at the end, but his conclusion felt a little forced. For how detailed the other characters were, he didn’t feel fully fleshed out. And with the implication that Frederick may have also been involved in the KKK, I didn’t feel sympathy for him in the end. The head maid as well felt a bit wooden, but I think the last chapter simply felt rushed. (Maybe I just wanted to read more!!)
I really loved June’s “twin” relationship with the house.
Definitely looking forward to reading more works from Neon Hemlock, and other horror books from this author as well!
I loved the not-quite epistolary perspective that lent an air of mystery to the HOW and WHAT of Storm Break manor’s tragedy. Abigail was a surprising character, I didn’t expect to feel so much for the wild little girl. I’ve come to expect creepy and sad children in gothic novels, but I loved that she was lonely and feral because of it.
Some of the elements felt a bit ham-fisted; I appreciated Andrew’s character and his role at the end, but his conclusion felt a little forced. For how detailed the other characters were, he didn’t feel fully fleshed out. And with the implication that Frederick may have also been involved in the KKK, I didn’t feel sympathy for him in the end. The head maid as well felt a bit wooden, but I think the last chapter simply felt rushed. (Maybe I just wanted to read more!!)
I really loved June’s “twin” relationship with the house.
Definitely looking forward to reading more works from Neon Hemlock, and other horror books from this author as well!
April 11, 2022
I bought this book a long time ago, read a page, and immediately decided to save it. That's a thing I do sometimes--I'll read an opening paragraph that's so good that it tells me the book is meant to be an *event*, and not something to just carelessly breeze through. So I waited as I got through a stressful time at work, until I had a few days in a row where I could go as slowly as I wanted and just savor it, and it was so worth the wait.
I'm having trouble articulating how wonderful this book is. Yes, the prose is exquisite--lush and yet incisive, the voice so deeply steeped in character and time that it's instantly transportative. Yes, the setting and the aesthetic are delicious: creepy, foreboding, beautiful, heartbreaking. Yes, I love the character, and yes, the plotting is drum-tight and stellar--but there's something else, some special something that elevates this book from the merely "amazing" into the kind of thing that follows you around and lives in your head rent-free, and I am not nearly skilled enough to even begin to be able to put exactly what that is into words.
Sufficient to say, this book has made Wendy Wagner an instant-buy for me, forever and ever.
I'm having trouble articulating how wonderful this book is. Yes, the prose is exquisite--lush and yet incisive, the voice so deeply steeped in character and time that it's instantly transportative. Yes, the setting and the aesthetic are delicious: creepy, foreboding, beautiful, heartbreaking. Yes, I love the character, and yes, the plotting is drum-tight and stellar--but there's something else, some special something that elevates this book from the merely "amazing" into the kind of thing that follows you around and lives in your head rent-free, and I am not nearly skilled enough to even begin to be able to put exactly what that is into words.
Sufficient to say, this book has made Wendy Wagner an instant-buy for me, forever and ever.
October 5, 2022
3.5
This book definitely leans more gothic than horror, which I can appreciate. I liked it, though there are some things that go unexplained.
I think the thing that bothered me the most is the couple of mentions of the KKK and the racism towards a single Black character. While Oregon (and the Pacific Northwest in general) has a significant history of racism a prominent history of KKK presence, it felt a bit unnecessary for this story. Each time it was mentioned I didn’t feel like it added anything to the story other than saying “this was a shit time for anybody who wasn’t a cis white man” which…. Duh. It’s set in the 1920s. I think if it had been integrated into the story, similar to how it was in Ring Shout, it could age worked but it was just left me questioning a bit whenever it was mentioned.
This book definitely leans more gothic than horror, which I can appreciate. I liked it, though there are some things that go unexplained.
I think the thing that bothered me the most is the couple of mentions of the KKK and the racism towards a single Black character. While Oregon (and the Pacific Northwest in general) has a significant history of racism a prominent history of KKK presence, it felt a bit unnecessary for this story. Each time it was mentioned I didn’t feel like it added anything to the story other than saying “this was a shit time for anybody who wasn’t a cis white man” which…. Duh. It’s set in the 1920s. I think if it had been integrated into the story, similar to how it was in Ring Shout, it could age worked but it was just left me questioning a bit whenever it was mentioned.
August 29, 2022
This book was truly the definition of a page-turner. It instills a sense of dread in you that is so addicting.
It’s a very simple story about familial trauma at it’s core, but manages to still be unique and engrossing. The atmosphere Wagner created is incredible; I felt the same way reading this book as I did reading Haunting of Hill House. However, it did have the added bonus (that hill house lacked) of a sapphic love story. 💗
I would have given it another star if it was just a tad longer; I would have loved to delve into this history of the Vogel family, or even to hear more about the Storm Break in itself. But of course, that would have effected the pacing so! I get it.
All in all, a very short but engrossing novella.
It’s a very simple story about familial trauma at it’s core, but manages to still be unique and engrossing. The atmosphere Wagner created is incredible; I felt the same way reading this book as I did reading Haunting of Hill House. However, it did have the added bonus (that hill house lacked) of a sapphic love story. 💗
I would have given it another star if it was just a tad longer; I would have loved to delve into this history of the Vogel family, or even to hear more about the Storm Break in itself. But of course, that would have effected the pacing so! I get it.
All in all, a very short but engrossing novella.
January 3, 2022
An absolutely wonderful little gothic novella that is pitch perfect while being so very original. This book has it all, family secrets, lies, an evil house, and sapphic romance.
As always, Wagner’s writing is beautiful, for example, “She gilded herself in secrets and hid her claws beneath their pretty shimmer.” This book is a sheer joy to read if you enjoy gothic fiction. And if you’re not a fan of gothic fiction, you just might be after you read this.
What a great way to start off 2022, and I can’t wait for what’s next from Wagner.
As always, Wagner’s writing is beautiful, for example, “She gilded herself in secrets and hid her claws beneath their pretty shimmer.” This book is a sheer joy to read if you enjoy gothic fiction. And if you’re not a fan of gothic fiction, you just might be after you read this.
What a great way to start off 2022, and I can’t wait for what’s next from Wagner.
November 19, 2022
I absolutely loved the 1920s setting. I would love to see more books with this setting. I love the gothic genre. Plus adding Wlw to the mix and it’s just the perfect combination.
I really wish Lillian and June could have gotten more moments together. I feel a lot of the novel was spent with Abigail which was fine, but I feel like more of that time could have been spent with Lillian and June’s intimate moments.
I really wish Lillian and June could have gotten more moments together. I feel a lot of the novel was spent with Abigail which was fine, but I feel like more of that time could have been spent with Lillian and June’s intimate moments.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 9, 2024
An interesting way to speak on the oppressive nature of high society. The intense neatness and perfection of the house is set on the backdrop of the Oregon wilderness. Potentially a statement on how it’s difficult to suppress our true natures as the protagonist realizes in the end. A lot of imagery about shedding skins. The book brings up racism, but it’s not really long enough to flesh out the specific thoughts regarding racism in the time period. I enjoyed the book overall, though!
Want to read
May 10, 2021"The Secret Skin is a sawmill gothic that begins with June Vogel’s return to Storm Break, her
family’s estate. Things in the great house aren’t what they used to be. Doors slam in the night.
Faucets turn on, untouched. Something is always watching, whatever June does. And when her
brother returns with his new bride, deceit and betrayal threaten to destroy everything she loves."
family’s estate. Things in the great house aren’t what they used to be. Doors slam in the night.
Faucets turn on, untouched. Something is always watching, whatever June does. And when her
brother returns with his new bride, deceit and betrayal threaten to destroy everything she loves."
November 21, 2022
This book is barely over a hundred pages but it wants to be derivative of as many novels as possible, so the subplots just won't stop coming, despite the book's inability to bring any of them to a satisfying close. The queer content of the book is the only thing that is at all new or interesting here; otherwise, it's just a hash of a dozen better books.
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