An Invisible Darkness

by Phyllis Paul

A man coming from nowhere to a small town claims to be one of its prominent residents who disappeared many years ago. Is he lying or is he not? Paul structures the story in such a way that no answer is clear-cut.

Genres: Fiction, Horror

314 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 1967

About the author

Very little is known about Phyllis Paul and she is little-known today, although she received very positive reviews for her work at the time of publictaion. A subtle novelist, her work invokes an atmosphere of the supernatural and often allows for a supernatural interpretation.
Excerpt from tartaruspress.com

Here are her 11 known works:

1.We Are Spoiled, 1933
2, The Children Triumphant, 1934
3. Camilla, 1949
4. Constancy, 1951
5. The Lion of Cooling Bay, 1953
6. Rox Hall Illuminated, 1956
7. A Cage for the Nightingale, 1957
8. Twice Lost, 1960
9. A Little Treachery, 1962
10. Pulled Down, 1964 (Also published as Echo of Guilt, 1966)
11. An Invisible Darkness, 1967

Reviews

[Ariadne Lane · Rating 5 out of 5]

'An Invisible Darkness' is Paul’s last novel, published in 1967, and the first one I’ve read. To call it a grim affair would be an understatement; Paul writes about the dark mainsprings of behaviour and hidden undercurrents of human relationships in such a way that the cumulative effect is devastating. It’s not a book to set aside lightly after finishing – the story kept haunting me for weeks afterwards.

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[Kacper Nedza · Rating 4 out of 5]

In my opinion, the novel is a solid 70-80 pages too long--entire sections meander without any real purpose. But oh, the bones of it are *exquisite*. A strange surreal story that at times reads a bit like a Greek tragedy or an obscure fable, written with aching perception. To say the ending is devastating is an understatement. It has to be said that a couple narratorial asides are downright racist (one character's voice reminds someone of "a Negro's", not in a good way, and another character is described having hair that's "bushy as a savage's"), and between this and the mix of contempt and terror with which the text treats contemporary young people, one gets the sense of the author as sheltered and fearful. But how she could write! This is a story that gets under the skin.