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Immortelle
When Elinor’s daughter, Rowena, is found poisoned and dead in an animal trough, Elinor is sure the local parish priest is to blame.
A ceramic artist by trade and influenced by her late grandmother’s interest in supernatural magic, Elinor crafts an immortelle for Rowena’s grave and attempts to capture the girl’s spirit in the clay model of a starling. Soon she is inundated with requests for immortelles and the more immersed in the craft she becomes, the greater her powers grow.
As the dead share their secrets with grieving Elinor, she learns the sordid truth of what happened to her beloved daughter and plots a revenge so hideous, it must be kept a secret forever.
A ceramic artist by trade and influenced by her late grandmother’s interest in supernatural magic, Elinor crafts an immortelle for Rowena’s grave and attempts to capture the girl’s spirit in the clay model of a starling. Soon she is inundated with requests for immortelles and the more immersed in the craft she becomes, the greater her powers grow.
As the dead share their secrets with grieving Elinor, she learns the sordid truth of what happened to her beloved daughter and plots a revenge so hideous, it must be kept a secret forever.
95 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 15, 2021
About the author
Catherine McCarthy
30 books300 followersCatherine McCarthy weaves dark tales on an ancient loom from her farmhouse in West Wales.
Her published novellas and novels include Immortelle, Mosaic, A Moonlit Path of Madness, The Wolf and the Favour and her most recent, The House at the End of Lacelean Street. Her short fiction has been published in various anthologies and magazines, including those by Black Spot Books, Nosetouch Press, and Dark Matter Ink.
In 2020 she won the Aberystwyth University Prize for her short fiction.
Time away from the loom is spent hiking the Welsh coast path or huddled in an ancient graveyard reading Dylan Thomas or Poe.
Find her at https://www.catherine-mccarthy-author...
or at https://twitter.com/serialsemantic
Her published novellas and novels include Immortelle, Mosaic, A Moonlit Path of Madness, The Wolf and the Favour and her most recent, The House at the End of Lacelean Street. Her short fiction has been published in various anthologies and magazines, including those by Black Spot Books, Nosetouch Press, and Dark Matter Ink.
In 2020 she won the Aberystwyth University Prize for her short fiction.
Time away from the loom is spent hiking the Welsh coast path or huddled in an ancient graveyard reading Dylan Thomas or Poe.
Find her at https://www.catherine-mccarthy-author...
or at https://twitter.com/serialsemantic
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 98 reviews
September 24, 2024
Immortelles are something I'd never heard of before, but now that I know what they are, I'm fascinated by them. They were often made of china or plaster and were covered by a glass dome. They'd be hand painted and would consist of flowers or...other things. They were most commonly used in Wales, though some were found in England too.
Elinor makes one for her own daughter's grave and surprisingly, she is commissioned to make more immortelles for the graves of loved ones in her small community. Elinor's immortelle for her daughter Rowena's grave is more than just a way to capture her spirit, it might be a way to capture the truth. You'll have to read this to discover if it worked or not!
This is my third Catherine McCarthy book this year, I believe, and I have enjoyed them all. She has such a way of infusing her words with feeling-whether that feeling be rage, regret, love, or vengeance, the reader experiences it as their own. I love this about her work and now I'm off to find another of her books to read next.
Highly recommended!
Elinor makes one for her own daughter's grave and surprisingly, she is commissioned to make more immortelles for the graves of loved ones in her small community. Elinor's immortelle for her daughter Rowena's grave is more than just a way to capture her spirit, it might be a way to capture the truth. You'll have to read this to discover if it worked or not!
This is my third Catherine McCarthy book this year, I believe, and I have enjoyed them all. She has such a way of infusing her words with feeling-whether that feeling be rage, regret, love, or vengeance, the reader experiences it as their own. I love this about her work and now I'm off to find another of her books to read next.
Highly recommended!
February 6, 2023
Catherine McCarthy has become one of my favorite authors over the past year. In fact, I put off reading this book for as long as I could, because I hated the idea that I wouldn’t have any more of her material to read (except for short stories in various anthologies, but I’m admittedly not a huge fan of multi-author collections; I’ll wait for her to publish another collection of her own). But since she'll have three(!!!) new books out in 2023, I decided it was time to tackle this one.
As it turns out, Immortelle is a fantastic, emotionally-jarring novella.
McCarthy’s work often rests in this hazy, liminal space between genres. Immortelle is no different. It's ostensibly a horror story, but it flirts with literary fiction, historical fiction, murder mystery, and the gothic tale.
The book takes place in a seaside village in Wales, presumably at the tail end of the 1800s. No specific date is mentioned, but there is enough evidence at hand that I feel reasonably assured in this estimate.
Elinor is the main character, a woman grieving in the aftermath of a personal tragedy. Most of the story is told from her first-person point of view, although her daughter Rowena also has a few POV sections. Characterization is one area where McCarthy shines. Not only do we get a strong sense of who Elinor is, but the secondary characters are also painted in their own, unique lights from their words and actions.
The prose is lush (without being purple) and very sensory. Despite being a relatively short book, it was easy to feel immersed in the setting of Aberporth. McCarthy also understands when it's time to show restraint. I've read other excellent prose stylists who seem to revel in their talent to the point where they don't know when it's necessary to tone it down. Not so here.
My only complaint is a minor one, bothersome just because the rest of the novella is so carefully plotted. At the end of Chapter Four, Elinor states "one day... I will explain why I have a scar above my left eyebrow." The very next time we get a chapter from Elinor's perspective (Chapter Six), she is waking up after having been injured. She is bleeding from what is described as a gash on her head. From the prior section, I assumed this was a flashback scene revealing the aforementioned explanation. It took a few pages of disorientation before I realized this was not the case. There's nothing wrong with the scenes in themselves, it's just the proximity of the two seemingly-related but actually separate events that pulled me out of the story for a time. After that, it's indicated that the new wound is parallel to the first scar, and then it's never mentioned again. I kept looking for some link but couldn't find it.
Pacing was another strong point of Immortelle. I really love the novella length in fiction, and at 120 pages the story flowed well without ever getting bogged down. The ending was a powerhouse, with a dark scene of revenge that would make Poe nod in approval, leading to a moment so poignant and beautiful that I teared up while reading it.
Thematically, the book deals with grief, and so I must warn it's not a light read. It's also about how people we assume are good based on their positions/institutions can be truly evil beneath the surface. On a more optimistic note, it's also a commentary on the power of motherly love. Symbolism is cleverly sprinkled throughout the book, not just with the fascinating immortelles, but also with a starling, apples, etc.
If the world had any fairness in it, Catherine McCarthy would be a household name for readers of dark fiction. Indie writers sometimes face a stigma of being less polished than their traditionally-published peers. And while this is, of course, true in many cases, I stand by my opinion that McCarthy is as skilled and professional as they come.
Highly recommended, particularly for readers who enjoy The Turn of the Screw or The Woman in Black. Fans of the film Crimson Peak might also find something to love here. Both are atmospherically-rich ghost stories in which the ghosts aren't to be feared; rather, it's the humans who should be feared.
As it turns out, Immortelle is a fantastic, emotionally-jarring novella.
McCarthy’s work often rests in this hazy, liminal space between genres. Immortelle is no different. It's ostensibly a horror story, but it flirts with literary fiction, historical fiction, murder mystery, and the gothic tale.
The book takes place in a seaside village in Wales, presumably at the tail end of the 1800s. No specific date is mentioned, but there is enough evidence at hand that I feel reasonably assured in this estimate.
Elinor is the main character, a woman grieving in the aftermath of a personal tragedy. Most of the story is told from her first-person point of view, although her daughter Rowena also has a few POV sections. Characterization is one area where McCarthy shines. Not only do we get a strong sense of who Elinor is, but the secondary characters are also painted in their own, unique lights from their words and actions.
The prose is lush (without being purple) and very sensory. Despite being a relatively short book, it was easy to feel immersed in the setting of Aberporth. McCarthy also understands when it's time to show restraint. I've read other excellent prose stylists who seem to revel in their talent to the point where they don't know when it's necessary to tone it down. Not so here.
My only complaint is a minor one, bothersome just because the rest of the novella is so carefully plotted. At the end of Chapter Four, Elinor states "one day... I will explain why I have a scar above my left eyebrow." The very next time we get a chapter from Elinor's perspective (Chapter Six), she is waking up after having been injured. She is bleeding from what is described as a gash on her head. From the prior section, I assumed this was a flashback scene revealing the aforementioned explanation. It took a few pages of disorientation before I realized this was not the case. There's nothing wrong with the scenes in themselves, it's just the proximity of the two seemingly-related but actually separate events that pulled me out of the story for a time. After that, it's indicated that the new wound is parallel to the first scar, and then it's never mentioned again. I kept looking for some link but couldn't find it.
Pacing was another strong point of Immortelle. I really love the novella length in fiction, and at 120 pages the story flowed well without ever getting bogged down. The ending was a powerhouse, with a dark scene of revenge that would make Poe nod in approval, leading to a moment so poignant and beautiful that I teared up while reading it.
Thematically, the book deals with grief, and so I must warn it's not a light read. It's also about how people we assume are good based on their positions/institutions can be truly evil beneath the surface. On a more optimistic note, it's also a commentary on the power of motherly love. Symbolism is cleverly sprinkled throughout the book, not just with the fascinating immortelles, but also with a starling, apples, etc.
If the world had any fairness in it, Catherine McCarthy would be a household name for readers of dark fiction. Indie writers sometimes face a stigma of being less polished than their traditionally-published peers. And while this is, of course, true in many cases, I stand by my opinion that McCarthy is as skilled and professional as they come.
Highly recommended, particularly for readers who enjoy The Turn of the Screw or The Woman in Black. Fans of the film Crimson Peak might also find something to love here. Both are atmospherically-rich ghost stories in which the ghosts aren't to be feared; rather, it's the humans who should be feared.
July 10, 2021
An unsettling, morose tale—fans of moody, quiet, ghost stories, small town horror, murder mysteries & human monsters will enjoy IMMORTELLE. Catherine’s storytelling voice is soothing but also authoritative and assured. The descriptive language is so “tempt” a word my family and I use when we want to emphasize the scrummy noise of typewriter keys, or the way a glassine envelope crinkles delicately when you handle it. Catherine McCarthy is so tempt. I’m a huge fan already.
September 4, 2022
A murder mystery-come-ghost story set within a Welsh village, this obviously was always going to appeal to me! The characters and world are built so richly within less than 100 pages.
Immortelle is a folk horror which centres around a Mother’s grief. It makes you really empathise with the character of Elinor, grief-stricken after her daughter Rowena is found dead. You want Elinor to seek justice for what happened to her daughter, or at least get an explanation for why it happened. I did predict where the story was going to go quite early on, but it was so well-written from start to finish that it didn’t really matter. I felt satisfied with the conclusion overall.
4.5 stars🏴💀
Immortelle is a folk horror which centres around a Mother’s grief. It makes you really empathise with the character of Elinor, grief-stricken after her daughter Rowena is found dead. You want Elinor to seek justice for what happened to her daughter, or at least get an explanation for why it happened. I did predict where the story was going to go quite early on, but it was so well-written from start to finish that it didn’t really matter. I felt satisfied with the conclusion overall.
4.5 stars🏴💀
June 30, 2021
This is my third Catherine McCarthy read (I'd previously read her excellent short story collections) and now she's an insta-buy author for me.
The story follows Elinor, a ceramic artist, who is bringing up her young daughter, Rowena, single-handedly, in a small Welsh coastal village. And I'll say right now that setting is another character in Catherine's stories. She perfectly captures the beauty and wild spirit of place, using it as grounding for her characters to play upon.
And this is such a character-driven story, beautifully crafted, and it's very easy to get swept up in its passion and meticulous research. Small smatterings of Welsh language add to the feel and you're left with the sure knowledge that the author loves the land she writes about.
But this tale belongs to Elinor and it's impossible not to be caught up in her grief and guilt. And her burning need for revenge.
No details from me on the plot. I want you to discover it for yourself. Come back after you've spent a while wandering in the graveyard of the white church on the hill, and tell me how right I was.
The story follows Elinor, a ceramic artist, who is bringing up her young daughter, Rowena, single-handedly, in a small Welsh coastal village. And I'll say right now that setting is another character in Catherine's stories. She perfectly captures the beauty and wild spirit of place, using it as grounding for her characters to play upon.
And this is such a character-driven story, beautifully crafted, and it's very easy to get swept up in its passion and meticulous research. Small smatterings of Welsh language add to the feel and you're left with the sure knowledge that the author loves the land she writes about.
But this tale belongs to Elinor and it's impossible not to be caught up in her grief and guilt. And her burning need for revenge.
No details from me on the plot. I want you to discover it for yourself. Come back after you've spent a while wandering in the graveyard of the white church on the hill, and tell me how right I was.
June 23, 2021
McCarthy has written something special here. An immersive, heart-rending, creepy tale of loss and revenge on the windswept Welsh coast.
The protagonist, Elinor, is an artist in clay and a single mum, doing her damndest to provide for her daughter. She's complicated in all the best ways, which only made this reader root for her on every page. It brings the mother-daughter dynamic to life, but it is also this precise character-building that makes this story so heart-breaking when the narrative takes its dark turn. The details are lush and brilliantly woven to allow the reader to immerse themselves in this world. From the firing and glazing of pottery to the significance of certain flowers, from the funerary customs to the scraps of the Welsh language peppered throughout. I loved every sentence of this book and did not want to leave it when I got to the end. Catherine McCarthy is a rare talent when it comes to storytelling, and I can't wait to read what she dreams up next.
The protagonist, Elinor, is an artist in clay and a single mum, doing her damndest to provide for her daughter. She's complicated in all the best ways, which only made this reader root for her on every page. It brings the mother-daughter dynamic to life, but it is also this precise character-building that makes this story so heart-breaking when the narrative takes its dark turn. The details are lush and brilliantly woven to allow the reader to immerse themselves in this world. From the firing and glazing of pottery to the significance of certain flowers, from the funerary customs to the scraps of the Welsh language peppered throughout. I loved every sentence of this book and did not want to leave it when I got to the end. Catherine McCarthy is a rare talent when it comes to storytelling, and I can't wait to read what she dreams up next.
February 6, 2022
A windswept, ghost-ridden tale of gothic horror that pulls the reader into the depths of magic, necromancy, and grief. Elinor is a character of tremendous depth and Father Kendrick one of dark mystery.
The setting is imbued with heavy atmosphere, and the story in which a mother follows the trail after the death of her daughter unfolds with suspense, mystery, and touches of terror. The plot device of the immortelle created for Rowena is brilliant.
Catherine McCarthy is a wonderful talent with a poet’s feel for language, a painter’s eye for detail, and a grimscribe’s ear for the cry that kills.
Immortelle is a novella that does not disappoint, and it’s a read that can be completed in a couple hours. Highly recommended!
The setting is imbued with heavy atmosphere, and the story in which a mother follows the trail after the death of her daughter unfolds with suspense, mystery, and touches of terror. The plot device of the immortelle created for Rowena is brilliant.
Catherine McCarthy is a wonderful talent with a poet’s feel for language, a painter’s eye for detail, and a grimscribe’s ear for the cry that kills.
Immortelle is a novella that does not disappoint, and it’s a read that can be completed in a couple hours. Highly recommended!
September 26, 2021
Absolutely adored this book. Loved the bleak atmosphere, the grief exploration and ghosts.
July 12, 2021
** Edited as review is now live on Kendall Reviews! **
I’ve only had the pleasure of reading Catherine’s short fiction and poems over the last few years, so when the news was announced that she had a release coming soon from Off Limits Press, I was over the moon. Sam and Off Limits Press have already established themselves as a publisher to be reckoned with and with ‘Immortelle,’ we’ll see why McCarthy is a writer that you must read.
What I liked: ‘Immortelle’ tells the story of a woman struggling to deal with her daughter passing away. Her death doesn’t sit right with her. But, in order to honor her, she builds a memorial piece, an immortelle, that is supposed to allow the deceased to be able to stay connected with their family.
From here, McCarthy crafts a story that is both grief-driven but also filled with twists and turns as more details come to light. I really loved the mother character. Elinor was a lady who managed to balance her sorrow with the growing demand for others who wanted her to build them immortelle’s for their lost loved ones.
The writing is crisp, the pacing spot on, and the ending is superb. McCarthy takes us on a very difficult journey, but one that ultimately will (hopefully) give the reader closure.
What I didn’t like: I’m not sure if there was a word count limit here with this novella, but I would’ve loved to see the ‘who done it’ aspect given one or two more suspects/twists. It was straightforward as to who the culprit was from the beginning but that didn’t diminish the rest of the story.
Why you should buy this: McCarthy writes tales that make everything feel dark and rainy. She has such a gift of covering even the nicest parts of a story with gloom and despair and ‘Immortelle’ really showcases this aspect well.
A solid, sad story, one that’ll stay with me for a long time.
I hope ‘Immortelle’ rockets off the line on release day, as McCarthy, and this story, deserve to be read.
I’ve only had the pleasure of reading Catherine’s short fiction and poems over the last few years, so when the news was announced that she had a release coming soon from Off Limits Press, I was over the moon. Sam and Off Limits Press have already established themselves as a publisher to be reckoned with and with ‘Immortelle,’ we’ll see why McCarthy is a writer that you must read.
What I liked: ‘Immortelle’ tells the story of a woman struggling to deal with her daughter passing away. Her death doesn’t sit right with her. But, in order to honor her, she builds a memorial piece, an immortelle, that is supposed to allow the deceased to be able to stay connected with their family.
From here, McCarthy crafts a story that is both grief-driven but also filled with twists and turns as more details come to light. I really loved the mother character. Elinor was a lady who managed to balance her sorrow with the growing demand for others who wanted her to build them immortelle’s for their lost loved ones.
The writing is crisp, the pacing spot on, and the ending is superb. McCarthy takes us on a very difficult journey, but one that ultimately will (hopefully) give the reader closure.
What I didn’t like: I’m not sure if there was a word count limit here with this novella, but I would’ve loved to see the ‘who done it’ aspect given one or two more suspects/twists. It was straightforward as to who the culprit was from the beginning but that didn’t diminish the rest of the story.
Why you should buy this: McCarthy writes tales that make everything feel dark and rainy. She has such a gift of covering even the nicest parts of a story with gloom and despair and ‘Immortelle’ really showcases this aspect well.
A solid, sad story, one that’ll stay with me for a long time.
I hope ‘Immortelle’ rockets off the line on release day, as McCarthy, and this story, deserve to be read.
November 6, 2021
Immortelle is a sad and uncanny ghost story about the mother Elinor who, after having lost her daughter under mysterious circumstances, dedicates herself to crafting pretty immortelles - flower arrangements for graves. She's in fact so committed that even the dead are interested in her work, visiting her and watching her create and paint, telling her their stories. When another young girl dies in the same Welsh seaside town, she finds that her visitor has quite a devastating story to tell and it will involve Elinor in ways she wasn't expecting, but was surely hoping for.
An extremely well-written, well-structured and well-paced, captivating but gentle little story. At times I thought the children sounded a little too adult but considering the overall high quality of the writing that's not even worth mentioning. Highly recommended.
An extremely well-written, well-structured and well-paced, captivating but gentle little story. At times I thought the children sounded a little too adult but considering the overall high quality of the writing that's not even worth mentioning. Highly recommended.
November 15, 2021
Haunting, beautifully written with a compelling voice. A heartbreaking and atmospheric tale of loss and revenge - Catherine McCarthy's writing is some of the most evocative I've read.
February 27, 2022
A stunning and eerie novella, beautifully written with a heartbreaking end.
September 26, 2021
Beautiful and moving. The age at which a child starts to keep things secret from a parent is a scary, though necessary one as they grow to independence. Sometimes the consequences of such silence can be tragic. A wonderful read.
July 15, 2021
Wow
This novella is a work of art, as exquisite as one of Elinor’s immortelles in the story.
The plot is spot on, heartfelt and moving.
The characters are grounded as clay, yet as complex and nuanced as real humans, each with their own distinctive voice woven through with McCarthy’s powerful prose.
Oh the prose! It is like liquid poetry. It sings from every paragraph.
A wonderful book. I highly recommend it.
This novella is a work of art, as exquisite as one of Elinor’s immortelles in the story.
The plot is spot on, heartfelt and moving.
The characters are grounded as clay, yet as complex and nuanced as real humans, each with their own distinctive voice woven through with McCarthy’s powerful prose.
Oh the prose! It is like liquid poetry. It sings from every paragraph.
A wonderful book. I highly recommend it.
March 12, 2022
Stories are immortal.
Of all the things that connect human to human it is our memories, that we convert to stories that really last. We tell ourselves, siblings, family and friends, those we are inclined to share. This story connected with me, through the blurb, then the sample, I loved the image of a baby, crying and shaking little fists at the heavens the way babies do. The ceramics work was also an attraction as I've taken ceramics classes.
I started reading and was became a wriggling fish, taking the literary bait the author had planted. Well crafted as a darker story, leaning into an exploration of grief among the living and the dead, it gave me a thread and invited me to pull on it. There's a reason we like stories and I realised halfway through the third reason I was reading and enjoying this story.
The ideas are great, true. The writing brought the imagery, reality and therefore the characters and story to life. The other reason I enjoyed it - I just lost my mother to cancer in February. It was a completely unconscious reason for buying the novella -it drew a picture of life in grief and also have me hope, which I cannot fully explain. Why tell anyone this?
This story connected with me personally and connects with me as a story too. Not everything in life or afterwards needs an explanation. But what's clear to me is that THIS story provides entertainment and a link to a world of memories of those who have left us. Brilliant.
Of all the things that connect human to human it is our memories, that we convert to stories that really last. We tell ourselves, siblings, family and friends, those we are inclined to share. This story connected with me, through the blurb, then the sample, I loved the image of a baby, crying and shaking little fists at the heavens the way babies do. The ceramics work was also an attraction as I've taken ceramics classes.
I started reading and was became a wriggling fish, taking the literary bait the author had planted. Well crafted as a darker story, leaning into an exploration of grief among the living and the dead, it gave me a thread and invited me to pull on it. There's a reason we like stories and I realised halfway through the third reason I was reading and enjoying this story.
The ideas are great, true. The writing brought the imagery, reality and therefore the characters and story to life. The other reason I enjoyed it - I just lost my mother to cancer in February. It was a completely unconscious reason for buying the novella -it drew a picture of life in grief and also have me hope, which I cannot fully explain. Why tell anyone this?
This story connected with me personally and connects with me as a story too. Not everything in life or afterwards needs an explanation. But what's clear to me is that THIS story provides entertainment and a link to a world of memories of those who have left us. Brilliant.
August 14, 2021
Some books you race through; some books demand you take your time. Immortelle is definitely the latter. Don’t get me wrong, it would have been easy to devour this novella in a single sitting. It’s less than a hundred pages and the prose is elegant and flowing. But there’s also a deep emotional intensity here, underscored by the dramatic Welsh coastal setting and a doom-laden atmosphere. There are moments of heartbreak that demand you set the book aside for a time. Some dishes are too rich to wolf down. Like Michelle Paver’s Dark Matter and Thin Air: A Ghost Story, Immortelle is both gothic and contemporary, occupying its own strange island somewhere between now and then. It’s simultaneously a visual book and a thoughtful book, a thrilling book and a stately book. It takes a capable writer to balance these often competing demands. Fortunately, Catherine McCarthy is far more than 'capable'. She's an excellent writer, and this is an excellent book.
December 5, 2021
Review coming soon to www.dreadfulesque.com
September 19, 2022
Spellbinding!
IMMORTELLE is a haunting, beautifully-written, atmospheric masterpiece. If you like horror infused with grief, ghosts, and unforgettable prose, you absolutely can't go wrong with this one. I'm looking forward to more from McCarthy. Highly recommended!
IMMORTELLE is a haunting, beautifully-written, atmospheric masterpiece. If you like horror infused with grief, ghosts, and unforgettable prose, you absolutely can't go wrong with this one. I'm looking forward to more from McCarthy. Highly recommended!
August 9, 2021
I feel as if I was there in that small village on the Welsh coast, breathing in the sea air and seeing the gravestones by the church. Catherine McCarthy weaves genuine magic as she evokes the spirit of place and captures it, not only in description but also in the very structure of sentences, in the lilt and flow of her words.
Beautifully written, dark, and heart-wrenching, 'Immortelle' is just as much a work of art as the immortelles described in this wonderful novella.
Beautifully written, dark, and heart-wrenching, 'Immortelle' is just as much a work of art as the immortelles described in this wonderful novella.
August 30, 2021
Très beau, très triste, un peu flippant, surtout beau.
July 1, 2021
I love this book so much. I have a full length review on inkheist.com but had to drop a comment or two here. This book is absolutely splendid. It burns slow and hot, and to quote myself:
"McCarthy spoon-feeds you honey, but she’s got scalpels concealed and she wields them as a master surgeon would, precise, at first painless, then beginning to bite as the blood wells up in the tiny little cuts. Vicious, aching wounds that bleed inward to the places where your darkness lives."
If you need more, the full review is right here: https://inkheist.com/2021/06/29/immor...
"McCarthy spoon-feeds you honey, but she’s got scalpels concealed and she wields them as a master surgeon would, precise, at first painless, then beginning to bite as the blood wells up in the tiny little cuts. Vicious, aching wounds that bleed inward to the places where your darkness lives."
If you need more, the full review is right here: https://inkheist.com/2021/06/29/immor...
January 1, 2022
Review to follow but this was phenomenal!
February 16, 2022
This was one of my first reads of the year, and it was a good one. Catherine introduced me to the Immortelle popular in the 19th century. This is a memorial left on a grave that incorporates ceramic flowers and other ornaments and trinkets inside a glass dome to protect them. Of course, as the flowers are ceramic, they are long-lasting. The Immortelles weren’t generally personalised; however, in this story, they are.
This is a mesmerising, haunting tale and will undoubtedly appeal to all those who love gothic fiction. Set in a Welsh coastal town, we meet Elinor, a skilful potter and her daughter Rowena. Sadly, tragedy strikes and Rowena is found dead in suspicious circumstances. Overcome with grief and desperate to understand what’s happened, Elinor makes an immortelle for her daughter’s grave, encompassing elements that hopefully will invoke the girl’s spirit.
I don’t want to give anything else away other than to say if you enjoy gothic, supernatural tales that also have an emotional punch, this book is for you and it has a highly satisfying conclusion. This is quiet horror, a book that unravels in a horrific yet emotional way and which stays with you.
It also left me fascinated by the concept of the Immortelle, and I was fortunate to find some on graves at a chapel I visited on a recent holiday in Wales. Once I saw the decorative memorials, the book came even more alive for me. I could certainly see why the author found these fascinating objects inspiring for this story.
This is a mesmerising, haunting tale and will undoubtedly appeal to all those who love gothic fiction. Set in a Welsh coastal town, we meet Elinor, a skilful potter and her daughter Rowena. Sadly, tragedy strikes and Rowena is found dead in suspicious circumstances. Overcome with grief and desperate to understand what’s happened, Elinor makes an immortelle for her daughter’s grave, encompassing elements that hopefully will invoke the girl’s spirit.
I don’t want to give anything else away other than to say if you enjoy gothic, supernatural tales that also have an emotional punch, this book is for you and it has a highly satisfying conclusion. This is quiet horror, a book that unravels in a horrific yet emotional way and which stays with you.
It also left me fascinated by the concept of the Immortelle, and I was fortunate to find some on graves at a chapel I visited on a recent holiday in Wales. Once I saw the decorative memorials, the book came even more alive for me. I could certainly see why the author found these fascinating objects inspiring for this story.
August 11, 2023
I recently read A Moonlit Path of Madness and was so enamored with it that I purchased the rest of Catherine McCarthy's books. There are, as of yet, not many, but I will be anxiously awaiting the next. How delicious is it to find an author who speaks to your soul fairly early in their career so that you can enjoy their writing journey as they take it? Delicious indeed!
This is not a horror novelette, and yet, as a mother it was horrific. It's a darkly gothic tale. A young girl, Rowena, is violated (spiritually, not physically, thank goodness!) by a priest. The opening of the book sets the stage for her mother's suspicions, affirmation of theory, and eventual revenge. The eventual deliverance of this revenge is incredibly satisfying as only private revenge can be.
McCarthy mentions in passing things that are not expanded upon. Suspicions, secrets, possible lies, that in a novel would be maddening, but in something this short they simply add to the mood and atmosphere. There is not room to tell the reader everything, so McCarthy chooses instead to pique interest by dropping breadcrumbs upon a trail the reader is unable to follow to it's conclusion. Doing so in a way that makes sense without causing intense frustration is a skill that many authors do not have. McCarthy has this skill in spades.
I had never heard of an immortelle before reading this, but after falling down a rabbit hole of research, find them fascinating. It seems as if McCarthy peppers her prose with the customs, myths and faith of her home. Because I have never been to Wales, this is all very foreign and charming to me. It may seem odd to use a word like charming when referring to a book about the death of a child, but I did find those parts so.
This is not a horror novelette, and yet, as a mother it was horrific. It's a darkly gothic tale. A young girl, Rowena, is violated (spiritually, not physically, thank goodness!) by a priest. The opening of the book sets the stage for her mother's suspicions, affirmation of theory, and eventual revenge. The eventual deliverance of this revenge is incredibly satisfying as only private revenge can be.
McCarthy mentions in passing things that are not expanded upon. Suspicions, secrets, possible lies, that in a novel would be maddening, but in something this short they simply add to the mood and atmosphere. There is not room to tell the reader everything, so McCarthy chooses instead to pique interest by dropping breadcrumbs upon a trail the reader is unable to follow to it's conclusion. Doing so in a way that makes sense without causing intense frustration is a skill that many authors do not have. McCarthy has this skill in spades.
I had never heard of an immortelle before reading this, but after falling down a rabbit hole of research, find them fascinating. It seems as if McCarthy peppers her prose with the customs, myths and faith of her home. Because I have never been to Wales, this is all very foreign and charming to me. It may seem odd to use a word like charming when referring to a book about the death of a child, but I did find those parts so.
April 25, 2022
This has become one of my favorite books I've read this year. It's such a beautiful tale full of tradition, grief, pain, and love. Knowing what will happen to the characters make the first part of the book more impactful, and it's easy to get attached to the characters after they are introduced, making it more difficult and heartbreaking to see the journey Elinor experiences throughout the book. I loved the interaction between the characters, and the scenes describing the creation of each immortelle, and I especially loved the ending, which is sad but beautiful and perfect in its own way. It's really great, and a perfect tale of the love a mother has for her daughter, one that is heartbreaking and full of emotions.
July 27, 2021
Just like how a song takes you back to a time and place, Immortelle will forever be one of those stories that will do the same for me.
Tomorrow we have to say goodbye to a big part of the family. Our dog, Lucy.
My partner is sitting here heartbroken while I'm writing this through my own tears.
I want to keep this brief, so I just want to say how much warmth I felt from this story. I want to say how much life this story has. I want to tell you how special a story can be and I want to say thank goodness stories like this are written.
Yes, this one hit me kind of hard.
Five stars all the way.
Thank you for pouring your heart into this one, Catherine.
Tomorrow we have to say goodbye to a big part of the family. Our dog, Lucy.
My partner is sitting here heartbroken while I'm writing this through my own tears.
I want to keep this brief, so I just want to say how much warmth I felt from this story. I want to say how much life this story has. I want to tell you how special a story can be and I want to say thank goodness stories like this are written.
Yes, this one hit me kind of hard.
Five stars all the way.
Thank you for pouring your heart into this one, Catherine.
August 22, 2021
Catherine McCarthy’s unique voice is a beautiful addition to the world of literary horror. Immortelle hauntingly unfolds quiet grief horror, with an ending that will leave you gobsmacked. Also, strong cottagecore vibes, which I adored. Highly recommended!
October 7, 2021
Such a wonderful read. Unlike any ghost story I’ve read before. Beautifully written, making for really vivid imagery. This is a really easy read to recommend to anyone looking for their next ghost story.
Also, I couldn’t help but read it in a thick Welsh accent! Made it all the better. :)
Also, I couldn’t help but read it in a thick Welsh accent! Made it all the better. :)
March 8, 2023
Wow, wow, and wow again!
What an astounding folk horror tale, and so beautifully written. Read it in one sitting. Oh my gosh, this was just wonderful.
I didn’t just like this book, I adored it very.
Need more, please!
What an astounding folk horror tale, and so beautifully written. Read it in one sitting. Oh my gosh, this was just wonderful.
I didn’t just like this book, I adored it very.
Need more, please!
June 17, 2022
Catherine McCarthy is quickly becoming one of my favorite contemporary Gothic fiction authors, and Immortelle may be the best thing I’ve read from her. The story has all the elements you’d expect from work in this genre: lush prose, a 19th century setting, hair-raising supernatural happenings. But what I love most is the way McCarthy describes the construction of the titular immortelles, the glass-domed, graveside decorations popular in the Victorian and Edwardian eras. The floral elements of daisies, oak leaves, sheaves of wheat, bluebells, bay laurels, orange blossoms, all conjure a sort of transportive aromatic magic, while the dangerous compounds for the pottery glazes evoke the mysticism of a medieval alchemist. Elinor’s expertise in crafting the immortelles mirrors the author’s own literary talents. Each passage is lovingly built to create an overall atmosphere of exoticism, mystery, beauty, and longing. If you are a fan of Gothic fiction—or even just dabbling—this book deserves a spot on your bookshelf. Highly recommended.
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