Marshwood

by Monica Heath

When Kimberly Clayton's parents died, the only heritage they left her was a crown-shaped diamond brooch and a Marshwood. Marshwood turned out to be an old plantation in Louisiana bayou country, where twin mansions stood as a stark reminder of dark family legends. It was here that Kimberly came in search of her mother's past; here that a masked enemy pursued her! First edition, 1977. A well-read copy, with rub marks on the cover, and heavy edge and corner wear. Spine has two creases. Wear to righthand corners. Pages are white. Binding is flexible but intact.

Genres: Gothic

339 pages, Paperback

First published December 6, 1977

Reviews

[William · Rating 3 out of 5]

The death of her parents in an accident sends Kimberly Clayton on a journey to discover the secrets of her past. All she has is a bejeweled Carnival favor and the name of a southwestern Louisiana estate. Kimberly follows the trail to Carnival balls in New Orleans and then to Marshwood, the estate itself. All along the way, a menacing shadowy figure does his best to try to stop her. The novel is an odd mixture of what works and what doesn't: in the first third of the novel, Heath vividly evokes the spectacle and potential danger of Carnival before shifting the action to Marshwood. That's when things get a little odd, throwing snakebite and an extended convalescence into the mix. Things finally come to a head rather quickly. Characters who occupy a lot of attention at the beginning disappear and characters who SHOULD command more attention, based on their importance to the ultimate plot, aren't as fully developed. Still, the atmosphere is strongly delineated and this is a rare, if flawed, example of the subset of 70s gothics known as "plantation gothics."