The Crossed Keys Chronicle

The Children

Cover

Thanks to the prevalence of the summerween trend on TikTok and the smash success of the amazing show Widow's Bay, I've been in the mood for a spooky summer read. It just so happens that a few weeks ago The Children by Melissa Albert was released to rave reviews as the Gothic thriller of the summer, so I was very excited to dig into it.

The protagonist of our story is Guinevere Sharpe, who as we begin the book is getting ready for a morning show interview about her soon-to-be-released memoir. Guin, as she's usually called, is the daughter of the late Edith Sharpe, a massively successful fantasy novelist. Beyond just being the daughter of a famous author, Guin is also famous due to the detail that the main protagonists in her mother's books were based directly on her and her brother Ennis. We also quickly discover that Edith, Guin's father, and a number of their acquaintances were all killed in a horrific fire when the children were younger. This led to the children getting split up for the rest of their childhood, and the final book in the fantasy series was also never released.

During the interview, Guin is blindsided by the news that her estranged brother announced, that morning, an upcoming art show entitled "Mother." This news thus kicks off the start of an ever-escalating series of not great events for Guin and her life as she knows it. The story from that point on alternates between the countdown to her brother's art installation opening and a number of flashbacks to the siblings' childhood together in an atmospheric and creepy Vermont backwoods house.

While I thought Albert's actual prose was great, I don't share the consensus of reviews that say this is a great book. Without going too deeply into spoilers, I think it's pretty clear from early on what the supernatural element is going to entail. I don't think it's meant to be a twist at all since it is very well telegraphed, but my main objection is just how long it takes to get to the actual exposition of that element and how perfunctory the rest of the book is after that.

There is a lot of nice story-telling between the siblings in the flashbacks, so if you're looking for a bit of a summer sibling coming-of-age story, with just some occasional hints of vaguely unsettling unexplained events, then I think this is worth checking out. If you are instead more in the mood for a spookier Summerween selection, I think I would go elsewhere, maybe the next Martha's Vineyard?