Palace of Shadows: A Spine-Chilling Gothic Masterpiece from the Award-Winning Author of the City Blues Quartet
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‘An absolute triumph’ – Sunday Express
‘Gloriously bonkers . . . a hugely entertaining slice of Gothic fantasy ‘ – Andrew Taylor, bestselling author of The Shadows of London
An outstanding historical novel for fans of The Essex Serpent and Piranesi, Ray Celestin’s Palace of Shadows can lay claim to having at its centre the most Gothic House of them all . . .
“I’m not asking you to build something impossible. I’m asking you to build something that contains all the strangeness and confusion that you can muster.”
Samuel Etherstone, a penniless artist, is adrift in London. His disturbing art is shunned by patrons and critics alike, his friend Oscar Wilde is now an exile living in Paris, and a personal tragedy has taken its toll. So when he is contacted by a mysterious heiress, Mrs Chesterfield, and asked to work on a commission for the house she is building on the desolate Smugglers’ Coast of North Yorkshire, he accepts the offer.
Staying overnight in the local village pub, Samuel is warned not to spend too much time there. He is told of the fate of the house’s original architect, Francisco Varano, chilling tales of folk driven mad by the house, of it being built on haunted land where young girls have vanished, their ghosts now calling others to their deaths…
It is only on arrival at the Chesterfield house that he learns the sinister details of Varano’s disappearance. And yet its owner keeps adding wing upon wing, and no one will tell him the reason behind her chilling obsession . . . But as Samuel delves deeper into the mysteries that swirl about the house, the nature of the project becomes terrifyingly clear.
‘Palace of Shadows moves exhilaratingly into Gothic territory’ – Financial Times
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Additional information
| Publisher | Mantle, Main Market edition (12 Oct. 2023) |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Hardcover | 352 pages |
| ISBN-10 | 1035019078 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-1035019076 |
| Reading age | 18 years and up |
| Dimensions | 16.2 x 3.6 x 24.3 cm |
by sevenpin
If atmospheric gothic horror is what brings you joy, then you are in for a treat with Ray Celestin’s beguiling historical fiction, set primarily in the remote, eerie and deadly Yorkshire moors and smuggler’s coast. Impoverished artist Samuel Etherstone’s friend, Oscar Wilde is in exile in Paris, and he is struggling to get any work after tragedy and scandal. He specialises in ‘impossible objects’, optical illusions that play tricks on the mind. Sam is offered work by the wealthy Mrs Chesterfield that takes him to her monstrous leviathan of a never ending gothic home which is constantly being built on. It can’t be said that Sam was not warned, but there is nothing for him to return to in London, and he signs the peculiar contract, that requires him to live-in, to build a disturbing mausoleum.
Ominous rumours abound, fear and strange chilling stories proliferate locally, of deaths, disappearances of the Marsden girls, ghosts, sacrifices and more, in a desolate landscape of caves, mists, bogs and marshes waiting to claim unwary bodies. The malevolent house appears to have its own powerful spirit of confusion that induces madness, as Sam finds himself with sketches that he has no memory of drawing, distilling the house into its most potent form. This drives the intensity with which he approaches his assignment. He is forced to attend a harrowing seance and sees an apparition. Sam cannot help but find himself consumed with the fate of Italian Francisco Varano, the original architect of the house, stumbling across his journals that outline what happened to him.
What is the purpose of the house? So much begins to become clear to Sam as he descends into a state of insanity, including the mortal peril he finds himself in. Celestin writes a beautifully plotted and well written spellbinding story that unsettles, drawing on the darkest traditions of the horror genre, at the heart of which is a voracious, out of control, house that you will never forget. The author connects and mirrors with skill and style what happens to Sam with Varano’s fate, linked through time with the sinister Palace of Shadows, the art, and the ghosts. I can see a wide range of readers enjoying this, particularly as it makes for perfect reading fare as the nights begin to darken. Many thanks to the publisher for an ARC.
by C S
Palace of Shadows is a well-structured supernaturally influenced mystery, coming on rather like a North Yorkshire reworking of the premise of the Winchester Mystery House in California- but running with the idea much further.
The layering of timelines, supported by the discovery of hidden documents, avoids clunky exposition and instead creates a real sense of history, and building of the threat to our main character.
Very enjoyable
by Elaine Tomasso
I would like to thank Netgalley and Pan MacMillan for an advance copy of Palace of Shadows, a stand-alone gothic thriller set mostly on the Yorkshire moors in 1899.
Struggling artist Samuel Etherstone is invited to Yorkshire for a commission. He paints surreal pictures and the very rich Mrs Chesterfield likes his vision. She is building Chesterfield House and has been for over fifty years, continually adding wings and embellishments. When he arrives at the local pub he is warned off the house with suggestions that it drove the original architect mad, it is haunted and causes death. Sam can see what they mean when he sees the house, but can’t get a straight answer on why Mrs Chesterfield keeps building.
I am a big fan of the City Blues Quartet and was therefore keen to read Palace of Shadows. I applaud the author for trying something different and think that it is a fine example of modern gothic writing. Unfortunately it is not a genre that appeals to me as the supernatural seems silly to me.Having said that, I think that this a very well constructed and written novel. The author creates a strong sense of dread and tension, gradually building the novel to a strong conclusion, with so many little questions as well as the big one – why does Mrs Chesterfield keep adding to the house – and some strange events that defy not just my logic, but any kind at all. He also has a very readable style that draws the reader in and makes them comfortable with his narrative. The way the novel is constructed is also a pleasure as it ends up answering a lot of questions in an easily digestible format and suits the style of the story. The novel opens with an elderly Samuel Etherstone looking back on the past, then switches to his early experiences at Chesterfield House – in one word, strange. As the tension and unease build he finds an old diary from 1948 belonging to to the architect that details his first experiences at the build site of Chesterfield House, again strange, and includes some letters from a man who disappeared at the time, the psychic Gosterwood.
Palace of Shadows is not for me, but don’t let my taste put you off. It is a work of great imagination with an even pace and a evocative atmosphere.
by Gothicshelf
Struggling artist Samuel Etherstone takes a commission from the mysterious Mrs Chesterfield, one he soon regrets. Mrs Chesterfield is widow to a merchant in the arms industry and they say she has gone mad with grief after the death of her family. They say she is building a palace to house the dead souls her late husband’s weapons company is responsible for, and she will not stop building. Samuel enters into the commission with marvel at the enormity and complex design of the mansion and with contempt at the rumours…until disturbing dreams and unsettling visions start to haunt Samuel.
This was a chaotic and surreal gothic novel that swept me up on a mindbending journey from the first chapter. Labyrinthine in both atmosphere and setting, this one was truly unsettling and gave me very strange dreams! The ever developing desperate tone, the desolate backdrop of the Yorkshire Moors and coast, and the threatening malevolence of the House itself woven throughout created an intense sense of unease which exploded into a wild ending that sent my head spinning.
Palace of Shadows had all the classic offerings for a creepy gothic novel but was truly unique and is one that will stay with me for some time. Would highly recommend if you like ghosts, witches, folklore and are in the mood for something a little different!