I haven’t had a book break my heart the way The Dravenhearst Brides did in a long time. Since Lindsay Barrett is a new to me author, I went in with few expectations, but I was immediately drawn in. The Dravenhearst Brides is a gothic romance set in Kentucky in 1933, towards the end of Prohibition and is described as a loose retelling of Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca. Since the book is a loose retelling of Rebecca, I wasn’t surprised that two of the characters are clearly influenced by Rebecca de Winters and Mrs. Danvers (both queer coded legends), or that the central conflict is in the end revealed to be between the women in the book. What broke my heart in the end was the violence with which the two queer women are eliminated.
I recoiled so hard at the implications of the final confrontation that I did something I’ve never done before – I messaged the author and asked if she would be open to feedback. With the caveat that the manuscript file was locked and it was too late for changes, she said she was. We had a very respectful exchange where I briefly laid out my issues and she explained that she felt like she had created nuanced characters which mitigated the harm. After our exchange I reread the book. On my reread, it was even clearer to me that queer women are treated as transgressive characters who must be eliminated in order for the current bride and her husband, the scion, to have their happily ever after, which includes a straight happy marriage and a return to family wealth.
Transgressive characters seek to live outside social norms and they populate Gothic literature. Gothic literature started as a response to rapid social changes and those transgressive characters were mostly there to be lessons so that the main characters could return to an adherence to social conventions. In other hands, those same transgressive characters were the main characters and they exposed the rot at the core of social conformity. In The Dravenhearst Brides, whether Lindsay Barrett intended it or not, the two women who wanted to live outside the gender norms of the day are eliminated with violence in order for the central heterosexual couple to secure a safe and happy future.
I had a whole point by point explaining who everyone was and how they related to my thesis that The Dravenhearst Brides is queerphobic, but that got very long and confusing. Part of my disappointment in the book is that I thought the way it explored women’s mental health and reproductive health through hauntings was interesting. I fully support authors writing the stories of their hearts and readers reading what they want. I also believe that what we consume in pop culture shapes the way we look at the world and what we expect from other people. To write a story without considering how the queer women are treated as compared the the heterosexual women at a moment when the US government is hostile to both the LGBTQ+ community and to women in general feels dangerous.
I received an advance reader copy from the author. My opinions are my own, freely and honestly given.