What happens when you play along to fit into a bad system? When you give the benefit of the doubt for acceptance? Donyae Coles’ debut novel Midnight Rooms is a disorienting fever dream of an erotic horror novel that will spin you in circles, and have you questioning the sanity of its hero, as you wrestle with these questions. It lures you in innocently, with a dark gothic romance story that feels familiar however, this book is anything but. Set in 1840s England, a perfect backdrop for this genre, Midnight Rooms dishes up something new from the familiar.
Orabella is an outsider. A young, Black orphan raised by her uncle. She finds herself at a crossroads. One life, as an unwanted ward of her uncle's home in Bristol, is ending. Her new life is the product of an arranged marriage of convenience, her uncle put together in exchange for a gambling debt. Her new husband, Elias Blakersby, seems too good to be true, wealthy, cordial, polite, and handsome. He seems to care about what Orabella wants, even leaving the choice of marriage up to her, though that choice may be illusory. Her new life is in Korringhill, a dark, decaying mansion filled with secrets, locked doors, and strange inhabitants. She’s given a “personal girl,” Sloane, who she befriends almost instantly, though their uneven footing undermines the nature of their friendship, often with disastrous results.
It's difficult to pinpoint the exact moment things go sideways in this novel. From the moment Orabella arrives at Korringhill, you want her to leave. Orabella’s new family has some rather strict rules and schedules at Korringhill, they insist she drink tea and wine which often seems to make her sleepy or disoriented. Worse, they make a habit of locking her away. The more freedom Orabella loses, the more she is judged for the outcomes. Sloane is tasked with ensuring Orabella follows the house schedule and also sees to the orders of Mrs. Locke, Hastings, and his daughter Claresta. Elias doesn’t stay with Orabella at night. Her father-in-law is cruel, mysterious, and demanding. Claresta is doll-like and never speaks.
It's important to note the ways Orabella is persuaded by her new husband, Elias. Despite the red flags, she finds him attractive and interesting. As an orphan, she lacks the options of someone with the background of her wealthier cousin, she often finds herself making the best of situations. She might wait for another suitor, but she questions whether he will be worse or able to afford her the kind of life Elias can. The jaws of this trap are order and decency, in her desire to be part of polite society, Orabella finds herself with less and less.
This setup is no doubt familiar, and I must confess, reading the early chapters, I wasn't sure this book was for me, but if Donyae Coles Midnight Rooms is good at one thing, it's setting you up for the familiar and sweeping your feet out from under you. Fairly early in the book, the reader is given every indication that the Blakersby family is not at all what they seem, but Orabella’s point of view becomes increasingly less reliable with each dizzying sip of wine and tea. So much of this book is told through altered perceptions, and I found myself wondering with glorious anxiety if the things clouding Orabella’s judgment weren’t also changing her. By the time you hit anything conclusively grim or supernatural, the horror is already so suffocating that you hardly blink at the escalation. In the end, I loved it.
Comparing Midnight Rooms to anything is difficult, but I’ll attempt. Suppose you combined the hallucinatory elements of Midsommar, with the surreal fairy tale atmosphere of A Company of Wolves and set it in a gothic mansion ala Moreno-Garcia's Mexican Gothic but with the sensuality of old Hammer horror films, you might get close to describing Midnight Rooms.
This story is about the dangers of conformity, the loss of autonomy, and the limits of determination. Orabella is systematically made powerless by her new family and is surrounded by beastly animalistic behavior. The parallels to the way patriarchal systems isolate and alienate women and outsiders are 1:1. For Orabella, any reasonable reaction or protest to the cruelty and inhumanity of her new family is seen as proof of her mental instability. They cannot relate to her desires. Their only expectation is for her to be obsequious and ornamental.
Often when reading the fusion of romance and horror, I find myself lulled into an unfortunate sense of security, knowing that the emotional connection between the two characters serves as a kind of light, it diffuses the horror. That is delightfully not the case in Midnight Rooms, where our main character Orabella finds herself regularly seduced beyond reason, succumbing to her desires, unsure of her husband's intentions or innocence, and always making excuses to herself and her lover before giving in. I'm reminded of the way classic horror filmmaker Terence Fisher thought of evil; it is attractive. It's something you want. And that's both the allure of power a family like the Blakersby offers and also the raw sexuality of Elias Blakersby. Orabella frequently goes against her better judgment, but if you examine the scenarios closely enough, she seldom has any choice at all. Agency is an illusion for women and outsiders at Korringhill. I kept turning pages as Orabella’s encounters with her husband became increasingly erotic, I wondered what they were costing Orabella as things became increasingly passion-blind.
If you're looking for a Gothic horror novel from a fresh voice, Midnight Rooms hit shelves last Tuesday. Donyae Coles put together a wicked maze of a debut horror novel that will please many pallets. You can lose yourself in Korringhill’s Midnight Rooms by buying it wherever books are sold.
I received an advance reading copy free in exchange for honest feedback and am leaving this review voluntarily. Below are links to purchase MIDNIGHT ROOMS from two local (St. Louis) bookstores which Nocturne Books and Media is not affiliated with but firmly believes deserve your support. It looks like as of this writing, it's available in both stores.
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