The Haunting of L

Canadian Trilogy #3

by Howard Norman

From the bestselling author of The Bird Artist, comes the final book in his Canadian trilogy (with The Bird Artist and The Museum Guard): a novel about spirit photographs, adultery, and murder

It is 1927. Young Peter Duvett has accepted a job as an assistant to the elusive portraitist Vienna Linn, in the remote town of Churchill, Manitoba. Across Canada, Linn has been arranging and photographing gruesome accidents for the private collection, in London, of a
Mr. Radin Heur—theirs is a macabre duet of art and violence.

When Peter arrives on the night of his employer’s wedding, his life changes in ways he scarcely could have imagined. Falling under the spell of Vienna’s brilliant and beautiful wife, Kala Murie, the uneasy ménage à trois moves to Peter’s native Halifax, where he reluctantly comes to share Kala’s obsession with spirit photographs as Vienna’s violent art reaches a terrifying climax.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Horror, Canada, Mystery, Novels

336 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

Howard A. Norman (born 1949), is an American award-winning writer and educator. Most of his short stories and novels are set in Canada's Maritime Provinces. He has written several translations of Algonquin, Cree, Eskimo, and Inuit folklore. His books have been translated into 12 languages.

Reviews

[Doug H · Rating 3 out of 5]

This final book in Howard Norman’s loosely-connected Canadian trilogy delivers great mood, finely detailed writing, morally complex characters and a suspenseful story. (Try to imagine a Daphne du Maurier, Ernest Hemingway and Kazuo Ishiguro hybrid.) I felt fully immersed in the scene and saw the potential for it to be as fine a novel as Norman’s earlier installments. I particularly enjoyed Freddie Sorell: an over-the-top creepy character who made me laugh out loud in public. Unfortunately, this novel ultimately suffers a bit from implausibility and repetition. Why didn’t Duvett and Murie simply flee the scene in the face of so many threats? Why did I have to get knocked over the head with a bazillion bottles of Goldwasser and near-constant references to Georgiana Houghton? Norman’s The Bird Artist and The Museum Guard are wonderful novels, especially the latter, but this one pales in comparison.

[☕Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am a huge fan of Howard Norman, and this book is one of my favorites of his to date. I found myself almost mesmerized by the story, with its omnipresent sense of gloom and gothic undertones. The characters were complex and compelling, and though this is at its core the age-old story of a love triangle, the elements of spirit photography and the sinister orchestration of disasters for photographic purposes provided a brilliant backdrop which made it feel altogether unique. Loved it.

[Edwina Book Anaconda · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a strange little book about a man whom tries to murder his wife … so that he can fake a picture of her soul leaving the body.
A quick and easy read, brain candy for a tired mind on a lazy afternoon.

[Elizabeth (Alaska) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Apparently Howard Norman is accomplished at writing opening lines, and this provides a good example.

In the four-poster bed, my employer's wife, Kala Murier, lying beside me, the world seemed in perfect order.

What? Something wrong here. How can the fellow be in bed with his employer's wife and the world seem in perfect order? (I've been told men have a different view of some things, but still ...) In any case, I suspected there would be a murder in the offing, but who would kill whom?

I whipped through this, enjoying my time. It's a little creepy as part of the premise is that sometimes "an uninvited guest" in the form of a spirit may show up in a photograph. Examples abound as the above wife is a scholar on the subject. It's not literature, but it was great fun for the season.

[Thaydra · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this book up at a thrift store before everything closed down. It sat on my shelf for awhile, and I just wasn't as interested as I was when I picked it up. When I finally got around to reading it, it started slow and I didn't think it was going to hold my attention.
Until it did.

It is a slow build, and has an underlying creepy atmosphere to it that just kind of creeps up like a fog. It was a bit predictable, but still wound up being a much more entertaining read that I had anticipated.

[Brian Washines · Rating 4 out of 5]

Howard Norman ends his trilogy of Canadian-centered lore with a dark tapestry of spirit photography, infidelity, and murder. We're trapped in a psychological ringer where trains and planes and automobiles are sabotaged for the sake of one man's volatile art. It often feels like a surreal trip into the deepest pathos where a strange heart resides. Again, it comes down to Norman's artistry, to paint for us these Edvard Munch-style swaths of autumnal-wintry colors between the desires and desperation of his characters.

[Lawrence · Rating 3 out of 5]

I confess that I am a fan of Howard Norman's writing. I have read three of his books so far and I have enjoyed them and been fascinated by them.

This book is getting three stars, however, because I am mystified by it. It's not that I am unaware of the spiritual photography movement of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It's that the story line and the actions of the characters have me stumped. As in the other books I've read (The Bird Artist and The Museum Guard) the protagonist/narrator is a young man. In this book, he is orphaned, a little humorless, tough --- perhaps even a little cynical --- ready to take chances, intelligent, but without goals. He encounters love, and Mr. Norman is excellent on the subject of love. But his encounter with the dark Mr. Vienna Linn is mystifiying me. I will have to read the comments of others!

[Wendy · Rating 3 out of 5]

The concept is an interesting one -- a photographer who arranges accidents so he can photograph them for a sick-o client, and the affair that's going on between his assistant and his wife. But the book just didn't do much for me. I found the characters and their reactions to things a bit odd. I mean, why didn't the assistant and the wife just run off together? It made no sense. Wished I liked it better.

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have said it elsewhere and I will say it again : Howard Norman is the only writer who can introduce elements of the supernatural into his books and yet keep me riveted to the pages. This book takes place in Canada in 1926-1927. Peter Duvett has moved to an isolated town in Northern Canada to take up a job as darkroom assistant to Vienna Linn. He happens to arrive on the day that Vienna is going to make an honest woman out of his long-time companion, Kala Murie. Vienna is far from being the romantic new groom, and within hours Peter and Kala start an affair. Kala's occupation is giving public lectures on spirit photography, that is: the strange phenomenon whereby an "uninvited guest", the spirit of a recently deceased person, appears in pictures taken of their friends and family. As if that not eerie enough, Peter also begins to realize that Vienna's uncanny ability to be on the spot when accidents happen (and to take lurid but lucrative photographs) hides a more dangerous reality.

The strange menage-a-trois eventually makes their way to the more cosmopolitan Halifax, but it's clear that things will have to come to a head... and the arrival of an expert in photographic trickery, sent by the distant and mysterious buyer of Vienna's photograph, is the trigger.

I thought it was very well done. The sense of loneliness in the wide open spaces of Canada, the uneasy coexistence with the indigenous people, Peter and Kala's sense of being trapped by Vienna's manipulations and plausible lies... It all worked for me!

[Laurel Deloria · Rating 5 out of 5]

An unusual plot/premise good reading ,good characters, good plot, what else do you need?
Loved it. Maybe no not really my favorite but close.

AmazonFrom the bestselling author of The Bird Artist, comes the final book in his Canadian trilogy (with The Bird Artist and The Museum Guard): a novel about spirit photographs, adultery, and murder

It is 1927. Young Peter Duvett has accepted a job as an assistant to the elusive portraitist Vienna Linn, in the remote town of Churchill, Manitoba. Across Canada, Linn has been arranging and photographing gruesome accidents for the private collection, in London, of a
Mr. Radin Heur—theirs is a macabre duet of art and violence.

When Peter arrives on the night of his employer’s wedding, his life changes in ways he scarcely could have imagined. Falling under the spell of Vienna’s brilliant and beautiful wife, Kala Murie, the uneasy ménage à trois moves to Peter’s native Halifax, where he reluctantly comes to share Kala’s obsession with spirit photographs as Vienna’s violent art reaches a terrifying climax.

[Beachbumgarner · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was the third book in Norman's trilogy, and my least favorite. The characters were not quirky so much as creepy, and the reasons they did or did not do things was never explained--for example, when the main character knew that there were people plotting to crash a plane, why did he not say anything or alert anyone? After the fact he was not surprised--well no, he was told ahead of time.

There is incredibly good writing here and some wonderful lines and dialogue. The plot, taking photos of spirits transcending and selling them to a crazy client, was only as sound as your belief, as reader, that seances really do call forward the spirits named and that there was a chance with the first cameras to actually picture such events. The plot and pace and suspension of disbelief did not coincide which left the entire story sort of toppling at all times. I love Norman's writing, but not this particular story.

[Alice · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am a Howard Norman fan and was thrilled when I actually met him some years ago. I was genuinely excited, nay thrilled, to hear that there was another Norman book I hadn't read. Alas, I am a bit disappointed in this one, and I agree with at least one reviewer that the ending was a bit of a let-down. Plot aside (I always let the other reviewers describe plot), the writing is typical Norman: gorgeous, sprinkled with surprising word choices that are wonderful to read. But something about this book just didn't grab me as others did. That being said, if you haven't read Howard Norman before, read The Bird Artist (an absolute stunning book) and then his latest, My Darling Detective, which is great fun but retains Norman's marvelous writing style while nodding in deference to the noir detective story of past years.

[Nancy]

Quirky and beautiful story of a young man who flees his small town to become an assistant to a photographer in Manitoba. It turns out this photographer takes pictures of train wrecks after paying others to make sure the wrecks happen, then sells these to a wealthy (and sick) benefactor. The protagonist falls in love with the photographer's wife, who lectures on the "uninvited visitor"--dead people who show up in photographs of their loved ones. The photographer discovers the affair and sets into motion events which move the story to its conclusion.

As usual, Norman does a wonderful job of evoking place--the northern reaches of Canada--as well as the relationships between some very buttoned-up characters. Definitely recommend.

[Mandy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book. While the writing was beautiful, the story and character development were lackluster. I kept waiting for the moment that a point to the whole thing would reveal itself but that never happened. It felt like the whole book was one long, drawn-out prologue to a story that never got around to being told. After finishing, I closed the book and thought "What even WAS that?"
There are truly some beautiful lines in this book, and I feel like if the characters had been given more depth this could have been a beautifully haunting story.

[Thomasin Propson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not exactly "suspense," but somewhat suspenseful. I enjoyed the timeline of the narrative in the start--catching the reader up on the happenings. But the slow pace, while chosen for a reason, didn't create in me a passion for finding out what happens next, hence the length of time it took me to finish the book (more than two weeks!). Still, I enjoy the author and this was a good book. Quiet and valuable in a certain way.

[Marty · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not sure how this ended up on my queue at the library. None of my friends have reviewed it; it's the third in a series I haven't read; the various descriptions don't sound like something I'd be interested in. In any case, it shouldn't have been there and I'm not continuing.

[Maxine McDonald · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another weird story by Howard Norman

[Jennifer A · Rating 4 out of 5]

enjoyed

[Dan Wever · Rating 5 out of 5]

Haunting

[TheGirlBytheSeaofCortez · Rating 2 out of 5]

It is March 1927, and twenty-nine-year-old Peter Duvett, a photographic darkroom assistant attempting to flee his demons, travels from Halifax, Nova Scotia to Churchill, Manitoba, a community of about 1,500 situated on Hudson Bay.

Duvett just happens to arrive in Churchill on his new employer’s wedding day. Vienna Linn, a rather macabre and sinister man who photographs newly baptized Eskimo for the local Jesuit missionaries, is marrying the attractive, red-haired Kala Murie. Kala, though not a photographer herself, has a definite interest in photography. She’s a devoted follower of Georgiana Houghton, a nineteenth century spiritualist and author of "The Unclad Spirit," a book Kala’s made her bible. The book details the subject on which Kala occasionally lectures – spirit photography – in which an "uninvited guest," not present when the photo was taken (he or she being already deceased), appears after the photo is developed.

I don’t want to give too much away, but there are several surprises on the Linn/Murie wedding night that create an interesting, though not wholly believable dynamic among the three main characters.

The book quickly takes on a wonderfully noirish tone as we learn of Radin Heur, a wealthy and eccentric London collector who, in the past, had paid Linn to photograph tragic and gruesome accidents. The fact that Linn probably wouldn’t have been anywhere near the scene of the accident is solved in a way that’s caused both Linn and Murie to flee from Heur – at least temporarily.

A lot of things – melodramatic things – happen in The Haunting of L. – adultery, murder, attempted murder, suicide – and the book is wonderfully atmospheric, capturing perfectly the cold, the snow, and the desolate isolation of northern Manitoba. You’d think, with all the above, it’d most certainly be a page-turner if ever there was one. And yet, the book drags. Surprisingly, it just plods along until reading it becomes more a chore than a delight.

The story is told from the point of view of Duvett, and this, I think, is part of the problem. Peter Duvett is so passive, so complacent, so totally without imagination or curiosity that it’s next to impossible to care about him. Linn and Murie don’t fare any better as far as character development is concerned. Both are shallow and underdeveloped, and I found Murie, in particular, despicable, though it’s Linn I should have despised.

The Haunting of L. is the third book in Howard Norman’s Canadian trilogy, the other two being the magnificent The Bird Artist and The Museum Guard. The Haunting of L. is written in the same elegant, pared-down prose that’s found in the first two, and Norman provides much food for thought, but, as with its characters, he never gets around to developing any of it, and his book certainly suffers. This is a story that "could have, should have, would have" been so very much, but, though beautifully written, just isn’t.

I could have forgiven Norman this shallowness had it not been for the ending. All through the reading of this mysterious, creepy novel, I had no idea how it would end, but I certainly didn’t expect the come-out-of-the-blue, pat ending provided by Norman. Despite the flat characterization, Norman managed to create an original story and a plot that continually twists and turns. He got the three principals in so much trouble one would think there was no way they could dig themselves out. And apparently, there wasn’t. The ending is far too easy, too implausible, and it left a decidedly bitter taste in my mouth.

Sadly, I can’t recommend The Haunting of L. despite its lovely and accomplished writing and its genuinely creepy atmosphere. However, I can enthusiastically recommend the first two books in the trilogy, mentioned above. These books still contain the lovely, evocative writing found in The Haunting of L., but they don’t suffer from flat characterization and a tacked on ending.

By all means, read Howard Norman. Just skip this particular book.

[Yndia Barrows · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book so much, it was truly enjoyable and thought provoking

[Katherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

“…a protruding Adam’s apple, uncomfortable to look at, because it was like watching a gear fitting inside a human body” (27).
“ ‘Yet in diction and how he carries himself, he’s somewhat the opposite of a lowlife’” (28).
“…she was the most exquisite woman I’d ever seen. Exquisite was not a word I had ever needed before, a word in waiting” (33).
“…the lenses were so thick; I imagined Vienna Linn could merely see into the glass, not through it” (38).
“ ‘He talks a lot; what he divulges is quite another matter’” (42).
*Ah! The “silent butler” shows up again. I love the silent butler (what I’ve only known as a coat rack).
“…the little wooden replica of a bride and groom toppled on their sides; they looked to be resting their heads against pillows of frosting” (62).
“Swain now played chess with himself. Petchey once asked him why he played alone like that, and Swain had answered, ‘You both win and lose, of course. But the odd thing is, if I beat my opponent—me—handily, I still feel pretty good about it’” (114).
“The horse snorted, started forward without much news from the reins…” (153).
“Tug-of-war, it seems to me, was a game that in my family was more an inevitability than an enjoyment…” (167).
“It is a mesmerizing sight, a train wreck in progress. If you saw this photograph on someone’s wall, I imagine you’d feel a shock of emotion first—get drawn in—and only later as, Who would have a photograph like this in their house?” (205).
“Glassy-eyed, he was talking to himself, or at least the man and woman to his right were ignoring him” (244).
“ ‘In fact, every day I struggle to work my way up to cynicism, this job being what it is. Human nature being what it is’” (285).
“ ‘You talk like a dime novel, Duvett’” (287).
“ ‘…I feel like the third-chair violinist, some street thug poured cold porridge through the sound hole of my violin when I wasn’t looking’” (294).
“ ‘…Mrs. Elroy, Freddy’s landlady at the squalid hovel in Dartmouth where they found him, she has nerve,’ Mrs. Sorrel said” (297).

[Ronald Wise · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the third of Howard Norman's "Canadian Trilogy", and as with the preceding two novels (The Bird Artist and The Museum Guard), this one lulls the reader into a false sense of monotonous predictability by a small set of characters in a quaint location, and then proceeds to chip away at that sense relentlessly, so that at the end all one can do is puzzle over what has just happened.

Set in the remote Hudson Bay village of Churchill, Manitoba, and the city of Halifax in the 1920s, the symbolic vehicle in this story is photography. Young Peter Duvett has accepted a job as a photographer's assistant and travels to Churchill to join his employer on a night which establishes much of the weirdness to follow.

The three books of this trilogy are not sequential in time and all are good stand-alone reads, but they have enough in common that they blend together to form a single melancholy and mysterious impression in my recollection. All involve an artistic method of representing reality - illustration, fine art, photography - where the distinction between the real and its depiction become confused. And in all three the narrator is a young man making his first tentative steps into adulthood without the help or advice of parents, to quickly learn that the adult world is full of unsavory secrets, many of which are plots with schemes involving him.

The author has also written books and short stories regarding the folklore of Canada's First Nation peoples, which leads me to wonder if the narrators in these three novels are not attempts to personify the experience of indigenous people whose connection with their roots has been severed as they try to understand and assimilate into a strange new culture. Regardless of symbolic intent, however, these stories reminded me of how much we expect of the young men in our society while providing many of them limited empathy, support, or guidance.

[Tyler McGaughey · Rating 4 out of 5]

The final book of Howard Norman's loosely-grouped "Canadian trilogy" is very nearly the equal of The Bird Artist and The Museum Guard, which is no small talk, as I'd count those among the best novels I've ever read. Ever!! (And if my word ain't good enough, take the word of DAVID BOWIE, who called The Bird Artist one of his 100 favorite books.)

The Haunting of L. circles around many of Norman's recurring themes and tropes - adultery, passionate murder, unhealthy obsession with art objects and art images, hotels, snow-covered trains - in tight-lipped clear-eyed prose that feels something like a North American Ishiguro. This book doesn't have quite the same incantatory inevitability that powers the plots of its two predecessors but it is a denser, more widely-scoped novel, a testament to an artistic sensibility growing more confident with each work.

[El · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a strange little book, and that's not to say I didn't like it.

Peter Duvett moves to Manitoba to work as a photography assistant to Vienna Linn. Linn's new bride, Kala Murie, is fascinated by (er, obsessed with) "spirit photography" - the images of the dead in the background of normal everyday photographs. Murie sets out to seduce Duvett, and lets him in on a little secret - her new husband works for a man who has Linn arranging and photographing train wrecks. That's only the beginning of the weirdness.

I enjoyed it all of the way through, particularly the bits about spirit photography, but then I'm a dork for stuff like that anyways. I've heard good things about Norman's The Bird Artist A Novel, so now that I've read this one by him I think I need to bump the other up.

[Donna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another Howard Norman set in Halifax and beyond. Norman's books are all great reads about people and relationships as they struggle through one difficulty or another. This one set in the early to mid-1900is about a young man who comes from a tragic childhood and finds himself entangled with a photographer who actually sets up terrible accidents so that he can photograph the aftermath and sell them for profit. Peter, our main character, falls in love with the photographer's wife and as he learns more and more about the dealings of the photographer, he is so entrenched that he is caught up in the events.

I always enjoy reading Howard Norman and have only one more fiction work to read. I have always love reading books set in the early and mid-1900's. There are always references in his books to radios, hotel life, WW II, photography, isolated lives and other historical events. Good reading.

[Steve Kreidler · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have truly loved Norman's other works, particularly The Bird Artist. There is a reason I found this one in a discount rack. While his prose is still remarkable, this lacked the compelling storyline of his other novels. A hack photographer takes a job in a miserable tiny Canadian town as an apprentice. The senior photographer is an evil fellow who creates tragedies so that he can capture them at the moment of death for the victims. Our protagonist immediately begins an affair with the newlywed wife of the senior.

Modest tension ensues, but not enough to create the kind of tension that might provide insight to the reader. I'd pass on this, but seek out "The Bird Artist" or "The Northern Lights", both of which are novels of my highest recommendation.

[Erin Thornhill Collens · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have found Norman's books very interesting but at the end i'm never sure if I liked them or they frustrated me a bit. The way his characters speak is often quite strange and now that I've read a second one and am into a third - I just can't imagine anyone having coversations like this. And so far I haven't been able to get a really clear picture of the narrator in any of them. He seems almost a non entity in all three books (and all three different narrators!)But I do enjoy the plots and the way he writes enough to keep reading him.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another very atmospheric novel from the excellent writer Howard Norman. Vienna Linn hires Peter Duvett to assist him in developing photos in a tiny town in the middle of nowhere, Canada. Peter is seduced by Linn's wife, and the three form a strange gang trying to convince a wealthy benefactor of the authenticity of a "spirit photograph," a photograph that shows the souls of two saved Eskimo leaving their bodies while the unsaved Eskimo shows no such thing. All of the characters are haunted in some way and it is this quiet unveiling of these histories that lends the novel its force.

[Suzy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I LOVE Norman's Bird Artist, and so was excited to check this out of the library. There's a dark, fairytale, dreamlike quality to all of his work...but that can't be an excuse for plot occurrences, and you had to wonder numerous times why the main characters didn't just LEAVE. Still, the writing is a cut above, the voice Norman's own, and it was overall a pleasure to read (and I'm not just saying that because it's an FSG title and I used to work there).