No Love Lost

by Rachel Ingalls

Introduced by Patricia Lockwood: Gothic tales from the mistress of the weird behind frogman-romance Mrs Caliban for fans of Shirley Jackson, Lucia Berlin and Patricia Highsmith.

After a one-night-stand with the Angel Gabriel, a monk is transformed into a pregnant woman.

Lost in the fog, two visitors are lured into a ruined candlelit mansion.

A wife confiscates her husband's homemade sex doll, only to demand her own.

Great-aunts warn of the deadly skin of the pearlkillers.

Rachel Ingalls' incomparable novellas are masterpieces: surrealist, subversive, tragicomic. Prepare to meet what lurks beneath...

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Novella, Audiobook, Horror, Anthologies

465 pages, Paperback

First published April 4, 2023

About the author

Rachel Ingalls grew up in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She held various jobs, from theatre dresser and librarian to publisher’s reader. She was a confirmed radio and film addict and started living in London in 1965. She authored several works of fiction—most notably Mrs. Caliban—published in both the United States and the United Kingdom.

Reviews

[Scott JB · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars really. *Almost* up there with Mrs Caliban.

I'm not sure who made this selection from the Ingalls canon: it seems mostly influenced by the stories picked out in the 2019 New Yorker piece by Lidija Haas. It begins strongly, with Patricia Lockwood's wonderfully bonkers introduction, and 'Blessed Art Thou', a sort of spiritual cousin to Mrs Caliban in which, rather than a housewife having an affair with a seven-foot frogman, a young monk sleeps with the Angel Gabriel, discovers he's pregnant, and begins to transform slowly into a woman. (It may be temporary, for the birth. It may have been the Devil, not Gabriel.) The vituperative power structures of the Catholic religion swing wildly in all directions when faced with the real sublime, while the other monks turn into a dreamy Virgin Suicides-style gang, plaiting the pregnant monk's hair and bringing him pillows. (The denouement, again like Mrs Caliban, features a car chase.) It's a hard one to follow, and 'In the Act', about lifelike robotic sex dolls that might appeal to certain twitter-purchasing tech bros, almost does it - you can feel how much fun Ingalls is having even through her plainspoken prose.

Unfortunately, after these, I found the middle a slog: 'Something to Write Home About' is a fairly slight tale about a possibly-neurotic woman on her honeymoon, circling unmentioned sexual tension and release, and 'Theft', Ingalls' first novel, has some of the driest writing of her career. (I suspect it's partly included here because, although long enough to be published as a standalone novel like Mrs Caliban, it's not actually strong enough to justify it.)

There's a strange issue with the editorial selection, rather than the writing, of 'Friends in the Country', 'Inheritance' and 'I See a Long Journey' - they're all good, but gathered together here, they're exposed as having the same premise. A young woman is brought into some kind of cultish, shadowy society; either her own relatives or those she's married into. Something's not right: everyone speaks in code, and her own politeness stops her from marking out her boundaries or leaving; inevitably, the man she's with is more seduced by the world than she is, and the jaws of the trap close tighter. 'Inheritance' is the best of these - it somehow gets clearer and more mysterious as it goes on, and shows that Ingalls can, if she wants, set a house on fire out of nowhere, killing almost everyone with half the story still to go. But encountering them one after the other, I grew exhausted, and I wondered if another story Lockwood's introduction mentions, 'An Artist's Life', might have given the collection more variety.

Still. Ingalls is a singular, funny, unnerving writer, and her stories have a sort of allegorical air where the allegory is just out of reach. Hopefully there'll be a 'further selected novellas' sometime, or a UK reissue of Binstead's Safari...

[Sophy H · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a very good collection of short stories from Rachel Ingalls. Having read Mrs Caliban, I was interested to read some of her other writing (though looking back at my lists, it seems I've read some of her short stories before).

These are by no means happy stories. In fact there is an underlying melancholia running throughout, and often the protagonist is depressed, disillusioned with life or undergoing some sort of challenge or hardship. The characters in the stories are well fleshed out, given that the stories are a little longer in length than your average short tale, and Ingalls manages to follow a complete narrative in such a short space of time.

My favourite tales of the bunch were Blessed Art Thou, Friends in the Country, Inheritance and I See A Long Journey.

3.75 stars

[Sandra Gornall · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not sure any one of these novellas is great on its own, but they have an uncanny cumulative power when read together. Ingalls obsessively revisits certain themes (bad marriages, gaslighting, the intersection of wealth, power, and evil) with an unusual mix of surrealism, humour, and horror.

Notes on each novella (no real spoilers, but the stories are so short that it's best to read them without knowing anything ahead of time)

- Blessed Art Thou - Against the backdrop of a contemporary monastery with some delightfully bitchy characters, a monk gets pregnant following a sexual encounter with an angel. Great except for the rushed ending.

- In the Act - The story of an animatronic sex doll inventor, his embittered wife, and a petty criminal (all delightfully loathsome and just a teensy bit sympathetic); fizzles out a bit at the end.

- Something to Write Home About - A woman struggling with mental illness travels with her husband in Greece.

- Theft - A longer novella with a Christian allegory in a dystopian setting. I found this one hard to get through but vivid, especially the ending.

- Friends in the Country - The most Shirley Jackson of the stories, and probably the funniest, about a couple who wind up trapped in a creepy old mansion where everyone and everything conspire to prevent them from leaving.

- Inheritance - A dreamlike and also funny story of a woman who reconnects with a side of her family that turns out to be very wealthy, very creepy, and very interested in entangling her in their world.

- I See a Long Journey - Another story about a trapped woman, this time a more realistic and tragic portrayal of a character who has married into a wealthy family and who seeks advice from a child deity-figure while travelling with her husband and their bodyguard in an Asian country.

- No Love Lost - Another dystopia, where love and human decency crumble under the pressure of survival and evil flourishes in the old quarry on the edge of town. Bleak and brutal, but perhaps the most complete-feeling of the novellas.

[Kevin Crowe · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have to admit that, until I saw a review of this book, I had never come across Rachel Ingalls, an American writer who was born in 1940, spent most of her life living in Britain and died in 2019. I'm not alone: for much of her life most of her books were out of print and often difficult to find. Perhaps it was because most of her writing was in the genres of either short stories or novellas (a novella is a story that is longer than a short story but shorter than the average novel. Classic examples of novellas include Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" and R L Stevenson's "Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde"). Or perhaps it was because her stories don't fit into the categories often used by the publishing industry. Whatever the reason, I am glad to have belatedly discovered this wonderful writer.

This recently published collection contains eight of her novellas, all of which are different from each other but all have one thing in common: the quality of the writing. The opening novella "Blessed Art Thou" remains my favourite. Partly Gothic fiction and partly a satire on religion in general and the monastic life in particular, it tells the story of the monk Brother Anselm who claims to have been visited by the Angel Gabriel, who impregnates him. Not only does Anselm become pregnant but he is transformed into a woman. The other monks form sides, with some considering what is happening to be blasphemy, while others compare it to the much older story of the angel impregnating the Virgin Mary, with yet others just enjoying the sight of a woman in what is normally a male-only preserve.

"In the Act" features an apparently conventional married couple, though with a controlling husband. When the wife, while he is at work, searches her husband's workshop, she finds he has built himself a sex doll, one that can talk and walk. The wife hides the doll and tells her husband she will only tell him where the doll is hidden if he makes her a male sex doll, one with a satisfactorily-built body that can satisfy her needs. Meanwhile a thief steals the original sex doll and falls in love with her/it. As the story progresses, it becomes ever funnier and anarchic.

Most of "Theft"takes place in a prison in an unnamed country, where two thieves and a prison guard have interminable conversations that seem to go nowhere. Just when the reader wonders when something is going to happen, something does - something so horrific yet so familiar. No plot spoilers, but if you do read this story, bear with it.

In the title story "No Love Lost" the ambiguity of that phrase is fully explored in both its positive and negative aspects. Set in an unnamed country sometime in the future immediately after the end of a war that has devastated the whole country, a soldier returns to his wife and family. In this increasingly dystopian nightmare, the effects of the war on both society and individuals are apparent, as civilisation is in crises.

The other stories in this collection are also powerful, combining realism, fantasy, mystery and humour with many Gothic touches. She should be a lot better known than she is.

[Robyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rachel Ingalls writes bizarre stories that are like nothing else. I loved Mrs Caliban, felt let down by Binstead's Safari, and really enjoyed my third foray into her work. These stories transported me to another place and time, despite the mystery surrounding the settings.

Blessed Art Thou - 3*, a little slow paced for me but a funny story nonetheless.

In the Act - 5*, this was so well paced, hilarious and uncomfortable. I could've read a full book about these strange people's antics.

Friends in the Country - 5* I can't think of the last book that made me feel so trapped and anxious! Truly unnerving. Feels like something from a horrible dream

Something to Write Home About - 4*. The husband's love and care for his wife made me quite emotional in this one. It's mysterious and could be a metaphor for a number of things.

Theft - 4* Unusual, offbeat and quite horrifying. I wonder where and when this was meant to be set.

Inheritance- 4.5*, a creepy, layered story full of subtext and allusions to long-gone history. The description of the pearl at the end made me feel a bit grossed out.

I See A Long Journey - 4*, such a sad story. I felt like there were certain parts I wasn't fully understanding, but this describes the whole book to some extent

No Love Lost - 4*, disturbing and depressing as hell. I can't fathom what the inspiration for this story could have been.

[Toby Sutton-Long · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am quite new to novellas within my reading journey, but for some reason when in the Brick Lane bookshop last year this volume spoke out to me. I've only just got round to completing it now, and to be honest most of it just wasn't my thing. Ingalls was clearly a powerful writer but many of these novellas just didn't resonate with me. The ones I enjoyed, I really enjoyed but they always seemed to end too soon, as opposed to Theft and No Love Lost which seemed to go on and on forever on very depressing topics. However I'm of mind that this is more of a me thing than anything else so don't let this stop you from reading it.

[Annie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ingalls' writing is fantastic and the first few novellas have brilliant concepts and ideas, but as others have said before me having them all in one place does highlight the issue of repetitiveness at times.

[Cassie]

Great writer per Atlantic reviewer

[Alyson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Only enamoured with the first story. Most of the rest is painfully dragged out and based on a similar premise, so the anthology is just kind of bland for me

[Cathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Started well, lagged in the middle and finished mediocre. Mrs Caliban still the best

[Julian Ridley · Rating 2 out of 5]

The off kilter approach & lack of either fufillment or happiness in the stories did for me. Stopped after the first two. I needed the enjoyment level to increase‼️

[Clementine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Blessed Art Thou 3.75/5
In the Act 4.5/5
Friends in the Country 3.75/5
Something to Write Home About 3.5/5
Theft 3/5
Inheritance 4/5
I See a Long Journey 4/5
No Love Lost 3.75/5

Average 3.78 rounded

[Libby · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stunning short stories, by turns funny & horrifying

[ivy · Rating 2 out of 5]

per la maggior parte dei casi niente di speciale e quello che mi piaceva non ha ricevuto particolare attenzione