I’m going to focus on the setting of Catherine Cavendish’s 2019 novel The Haunting of Henderson Close published by Flame Tree Press. It is 100% a ghost story, and one of the biggest challenges with a ghost story today is making it feel fresh and original without using the same old worn out tropes. Now sometimes I like a traditional ghost story set in the creepy, old, country house with the things that go bump in the night, but it’s always refreshing to find a story which eschews that approach. Catherine Cavendish pulls it off here by not having a haunted house, but a haunted place, a street, or really, a pair of streets.That’s the first part that made this exciting for me. Secondly, was the fact that this was set within a tourist attraction so the place was simultaneously of the present while trying to emulate the past.
While Henderson Close and Farquhars Close are not real places, in the acknowledgements Catherine Cavendish reveals that you can visit one of Edinburgh’s old closes, The Real MAry King’s Close. There’s a picture just below.
Now I’ve never visited this place, but from the story and from experience of similar places, I very much know what they’re like. Houses are made to look like they would have done in the period they’re trying to represent. In this case, the houses on a Victorian street would be furnished for the era. Some of these attractions have sound effects – hammering as you pass the blacksmiths – others have mannequins appropriately attired. If they’re going to go all out though, as in the novel, they hire tour guides and have them play characters from the era too.
Now I’d not read a novel that made use of such a setting before, and I think it’s such a great idea. These places blur the edges of past and present. Everything you do while in that attraction tries to be as it was in the past. If you were a ghost from 100 years ago, at least you’d recognise the surroundings here and the way people looked. And if a ghost was going to try to communicate with someone, surely they would select someone that they felt they had something in common with.
Setting is such a crucial element in a story. When writing, I often ask myself “Why is this story set here?” considering both time and place. When there is a very solid reason, I believe it’s much easier for a reader to connect to a story, and Catherine Cavendish does these really well in The Haunting of Henderson Close.