A party with punch that doesn’t taste quite right, and you can’t find the friend you came with, and the people keep giving you weird looks. Inaccessibility, isolation, fear, have all caught hold in new versions of the gothic genre ( Get Out is prime gothic horror). You’re young and followed by ghosts that you can’t shake, that your family won’t let you shake. You’re a woman in a misogynist world that won’t share its rumors with you. You pull up to a dark mansion, a Mexican woman, the guest of a white British family with their own secrets. In recent years, the gothic genre - once considered the realm of white, Victorian-era protagonists - has had a resurgence as writers use the ideas of isolation and unforgiving communities in new ways. The big twists will be saved for the end, because in the gothic narrative, the whole point is the dread, the certainty that something is wrong - the impossibility of being able to prove it. The main character is usually isolated, either in a mansion or cottage or boarding school, or in a world of characters who have knowledge they can’t access, or both. The perfect next read for fans of Mexican Gothic, Tripping Arcadia is a page-turning and shocking tale with an unforgettable protagonist that explores family legacy and inheritance, the sacrifices we must make to get by in today’s world, and the intoxicating, dangerous power of wealth.What is gothic lit exactly? People are sometimes torn - but there are certain commonalities. But when she stumbles upon the knowledge that the Verdeau patriarch is the one responsible for the ruin of her own family, Lena vows to get revenge-a poison-filled quest that leads her further into this hedonistic world than she ever bargained for, forcing her to decide how much-and who-she's willing to sacrifice for payback. and trying not to fall for Jonathan’s alluring sister, Audrey.

By night, Lena discovers the more sinister side of the family, as she works overtime at their lavish parties, helping to hide their self-destructive tendencies. So when she is offered a position, against all odds, working for one of Boston’s most elite families, the illustrious and secretive Verdeaus, she knows she must accept it-no matter how bizarre the interview or how vague the job description.īy day, she is assistant to the family doctor and his charge, Jonathan, the sickly, poetic, drunken heir to the family empire, who is as difficult as his illness is mysterious.

Med school dropout Lena is desperate for a job, any job, to help her parents, who are approaching bankruptcy after her father was injured and laid off nearly simultaneously. and all the secrets, lies, and darkness that opulence can hide. From debut author Kit Mayquist, a propulsive and atmospheric modern Gothic with all the splendor of The Great Gatsby.

Tripping arcadia kit mayquist