Title: Curse of the Dark Shadows: Book 1 A Child Lost
Author: Gloria Marshall
Publisher: XlibrisUS
ISBN: 978-1-5245-0062-7
Pages: 226
Genre: Fiction
Reviewed by: J.W. Bankston
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Pacific Book Review
By combining period details with postmodern sensuality, Gloria Marshall has crafted a love story for our times. Readers comfortable with a novel that is equal parts explosive passion and disturbing secrets will be drawn to “Curse of the Dark Shadows.” Opening in a dank and brutal London slum –– which is described by the author as 18th century but feels Victorian –– our viewpoint is provided by a three-year old. Although Geoffrey Garland is a mere toddler, he is pressed into service wandering dangerous streets for scraps to feed his oversized, impoverished family. If the early depictions of consecutive childbirths and child deaths feels familiar, what follows is anything but.
In short order, young Geoffrey is taken in by Lord Brightwood. Inside the well-appointed mansion, the boy’s life is drastically improved both materially and emotionally. Yet despite the book’s decidedly Dickensian milieu, the plot twists in ways poor Oliver scarcely considered. Nineteenth century readers surely guessed at the horrors forced upon wards and schoolboys, as Marshall describes them. Although the author avoids graphic details with Geoffrey’s sexual exploitation by Brightwood, she spares little when the boy is shipped at age seven to the School for the Poor. Here the brutality and abuse he suffers from both the headmaster and students is clear and disturbing –– as honest as a documentary.
If the first quarter of the book drew inspiration from “Oliver Twist,” the rest owes an honorable debt to Nicholas Nickleby with just a hint of E. M. Forster. Leaving school at 14, Geoffrey spends an angry, starving adolescence on familiar, ugly London streets. Reaching his majority, he goes on a quest for his “Master.” Using his search for Brightwood as a ruse, he gains admittance to the home of Lady Adeline. Left alone for the summer by her husband, Adeline is all sexy guile as she convinces the teen to accompany her to her country house. The sudden shift to bodice ripper is handled with humor and spicy eroticism. After a two-month naked tutorial on becoming a man, Geoffrey renews his quest.
The main character’s passage to India delivers unwelcome news. Lord Brightwood never reached Calcutta. Heartbroken because he could not adopt Geoffrey, the Master fell into the sea. Despite this, Geoffrey makes the most of new circumstances. Well- funded by Adaline, he divides his time between bedding the well-bred ladies of colonial India and pursing teenage boys on Calcutta’s mean streets. Only in the arms of Liam, does Geoffrey at age 20 find a certain peace. It is a serenity that will be short-lived. He knows that married Adaline was carrying his child. How “Curse of the Dark Shadows” resolves this triangle will keep readers guessing.
A bisexual romance is unusual to say the least. The irony is that by depicting a protagonist attracted to both genders, the author may have limited her audience. That’s too bad. With it’s well-handled blend of the erotic and the profane, Marshall provides a thrilling journey for anyone willing to accompany her.
