Overview: In this neo-Victorian novel set in the fictional county of Duncain, spiritualism impacts an Anglo-Irish family. Following the death of her father, Alice Crofton returns to her family’s crumbling house, believing she will settle the estate and leave.

But nothing in Duncain ever truly leaves. In her absence, spiritualism has gripped the rural county and charismatic mediums have encroached into the household, setting their sights on Alice’s family - and her inheritance.

Verdict: With everything not as it once was, Alice tries to hold on to her family and her sanity as hysteria and hauntings take over all she once knew.

Written in gothic and ghost story traditions, Begotten’s dark - and sometimes humorous - narrative raises questions about the trustworthiness of one’s senses and the very nature of ghosts.

The thing that instantly drew me into the world that author Kate Cherrell had created here within the pages of her enthralling new prose Begotten: A Gothic Novel, was that gothic typically brings to mind a sense of mystery, intrigue, and the supernatural, often associated with dark and decaying environments.

And believe me when I say that this book provides all that and more to colorize the cerebral landscapes that are being drawn for us to aid our imaginations in believing her characters could actually exist within, but what Cherrell has also managed to do for us is further that feeling by evoking feelings of genuine fear, suspense, and a dreaded sense of unease, as well as the exploration of dark themes like death, malignant madness, and the supernatural, of course.

A gripping debut of a book from start to finish, I personally read it cover to cover in just two sittings and can proudly add that I wish the book had been double the size that it is as I just didn’t want this magnificently sculpted book to ever come to an end.

Steeped in a pool of gothic traditions, yet none of them here are used as well worn tropes, moreover they are delivered with newly-invigorated veins of spirituality, a beautifully woven tapestry that showcases an emboldened literary aesthetic of fear and haunting that has to be read to be truly admired.

In closing, I simply cannot recommend this book highly enough and so if you like this genre of prose, buy this book TODAY!

About the Author - Dr Kate Cherrell is a writer and researcher specializing in popular séance and 19th century spiritualism. She has been published internationally, writing commercially and academically on paranormal history. She has blogged under the name Burials and Beyond since 2017, and as a paranormal historian, she has co-hosted Haunted Homecoming (2022) and Unexplained: Caught on Camera (2023). She lives in Louth, UK.

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