A Moonlit Path of Madness

Inheriting a family heirloom in the form of an antique clock with a broken moon dial as well as a seaside house in Wales, Grace Morgan mourns the loss of her mother and dreads the manifestation of a family curse that threatens to lay claim to her and everything she holds dear.
Set around the turn of the 2oth century, A Moonlit Path of Madness traces Grace's journey from the United States to the distant parish of Newport on the West Wales coast.
Partly epistolary and laced with Welsh folklore, this tragic gothic tale delves into the prevalent mental health challenges of the era in the face of unrelenting fear and all-consuming trauma, as Grace reckons with the insidious specter of her lingering grief.
This was my first read from this author and it won’t be my last. Deliciously dark and gothic with a haunting prose and atmospheric writing style giving us chills and a deeply dark feeling
The story and characters were so beautifully written that I can’t wait to read more from this author

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this arc

I received this from Netgalley.com.

A great Gothic read set around the turn of the 20th century in Vermont then moving the bulk of the story to Wales. Grace is forced to confront her history and is determined to not repeat its mistakes.

4☆

Grace is a spinster that takes care of her mother that is mad along with her maid Lilah. Her mother finally passed and Grace inherits her families home across the seas along with a bunch of hidden skeletons. Grace starts to feel madness taking her over. She wants to uncover her families secrets and also discover if she is cursed to be mad. I enjoyed this book. The mystery is great and all the ghostly maddening aspects held me captive. I really enjoy books that feature making an old abandoned home fresh again, so I very much enjoyed all the homely details in this book. I enjoyed Grace and Lilah's relationship and it was nice to see Grace develop as a person if however briefly we got to experience that. I do however need the author to write a sequel about Graces niece Helene...is the madness really over ??? This reader needs to know because I don't believe it is. Thank you for the advanced copy to read. I thoroughly enjoyed it and I hope my fellow readers read it.

The death of Grace's mother unlocks a chain of events that sends Grace across the Atlantic, from Vermont to her ancestral home in Wales, where she starts to decipher a tragic family mystery. As a fan of Catherine McCarthy's novellas, I was excited to read this novel, and I was not disappointed. A Moonlit Path of Madness is beautifully written, gothic and atmospheric, and the mystery at its centre is compelling. McCarthy's descriptions of life in a 1900s Welsh village and its inhabitants—both friendly and sinister to newcomer Grace—were very reminiscent of Daphne du Maurier's Cornwall. The ending was a total surprise to me, as I thought the book was going in a different direction right up to the very last chapter, but the unexpected conclusion will certainly haunt my memory. This is a book to sink into and enjoy as a perfect spooky fireside read.

Grace Morgan, a wealthy spinster decides to move from Vermont back to her ancestral home in Wales after the death of her mentally ill mother. Grace hopes to find peace and happiness in the old house by the sea, but instead she finds dark family secrets, ghosts and a decline into madness guided by the phases of the Moon.

McCarthy's writing is elegant and beautiful, suitable for this Edwardian tale, filled with gorgeous scenery, creepy houses and horrible nightmares. I sympathized with Grace on her journey and was curious to reveal the family secret. The only problem I had was the pacing - the story was slow in the beginning and the manner of the final reveal felt too abrupt for me.

Overall, this was a beautifully written story, dark and atmospheric.

A young woman inherits a house in Wales and sets forth with her maid. She's been haunted by visions and hopes they will disappear in a new home and country but they only get worse.

This was very good. I had a hard time putting it down Well-written with a dark atmosphere and more original than the basic gothic novel. I loved the main character even though I disagreed with some of her choices. The ending leaves one wondering.

This gothic ghost story is an immersive exploration of three generations of women of Parrog House, in a Welsh seaside village.

Grace is an introspective and sensitive woman, traumatized by caring for her remote and neurotic mother. She learns that her parents have left her the ancestral home across the Atlantic. Grace and her long-time housekeeper Lilah decide to start life anew in Wales.

But Grace cannot escape her family’s secrets and her mother’s influence on her psyche. She slowly descends in her dark distractions and her desperate grasps at fleeting happiness. I loved Grace’s inner voice. I loved her relationship with Lilah.

I typically dislike gothic with all the “tremulous vapors” and the “lip-biting and hand-wringing” but McCarthy keeps Grace logical and open, honest and self aware. Grace researches Darwin and psychology to fully understand her mind and her experiences. Is she going mad? Can she trust herself?

This is a heart-breaking story of nature vs nurture, choices vs destiny. Simply lovely.

Catherine McCarthy does a great job in creating a Gothic tale. I enjoyed how good the use of Welsh folklore and was engaged in this story. Grace was a great main character and I enjoyed getting to go on this journey with her. I’m excited to read more from the author.

Is this the year of Catherine McCarthy? I first became aware of the Welsh horror writer through her excellent short story collection Mists and Megaliths, which contains, in its final entry ‘Carreg Samson’, one of the best short stories I’ve ever read – go read it, it’s ok, I’ll wait for you. Done? Great. She also has a previous novel, Immortelle, which I have not read. But as I write this, she has two books coming out around the same time. Mosaic, which I have heard impressive things about, and this. A Moonlit Path of Madness, from Nosetouch Press, released 11 July.

This is a novel that makes you think it is one thing – a very familiar Gothic tome – but then, with the uniquely strong voice that McCarthy has come to be known for, whips the rug out from under you in so many subtle – and in one case astonishing – ways that you are left with the distinct feeling that this is an author doing something rare – taking the Gothic, and moulding it into something new.

Or, to put it more simply, McCarthy is so at the top of her horror game right now that if she was an athlete, she’d be banned for doping.

The plot on the face of it is boilerplate Gothic. At the turn of the century, Vermont-based Grace, whose seemingly mentally ill mother has recently died, starts seeing things. Moving with her loyal servant to the seaside family home in Wales bequeathed to her in the will, she hopes for a new start, but the ghosts – both literal and metaphorical – of her family’s past won’t let her go – and the answers, it seems, can only be found in the phases of the moon.

In this plot, we have all the classic tenets of the good gothic story: the strange house full of secrets, a la Jane Eyre, the complex family past also full of secrets, the dreaded symbolism of Edgar Allen Poe, the mental health issues of novels such as Daphne Du Maurier’s Rebecca. But McCarthy is an author who brings so much to the table that she refuses to simply follow the classic Gothic text. In particular, she’s not afraid to intersperse the standard ‘spooky thing seen in the corridor’ cliché of the Gothic with gloriously disgusting, macabre imagery, often portrayed through Grace’s dreams. Take this brilliantly vile little nugget:

"A horse’s skull, it’s jaw hung open, scraps of flesh and muscle still attached, and the maggots. Maggots that oozed through each and every crevice. Maggots that buried themselves in the crown of molars before wriggling themselves to sleep."

This flourish – Gothic gross, I call it ­– is used sparingly but effectively throughout. Another twist McCarthy has for this seemingly most traditional of stories is to focus on the mental health aspect. While always prevalent in such stories, modern Gothic tales must examine this from modern perspectives, and McCarthy does so with aplomb. In one awkward and infuriating scene, a doctor patronises Grace’s description of her symptoms, concluding that she is hysterical and resorting to questions about her menstruation.

McCarthy also has a longstanding fascination with the sea, and with Wales, and with folklore, and all these are given due attention as she slowly builds the creeping atmosphere of beauty but also dread around Grace’s new Welsh seaside home. This is helped in no small part by the descriptive knack for portraying nature McCarthy has:

"The sea is a distant sheet of grey, but the water in the estuary bubbles and broils in the easterly wind, displaying its mighty cross-currents as a threat to those who dare venture across. Patches of iron-grey cloud scud across the sky, and the air is filled with the whistling wind and the tinkling of anchor chains."

But for all the beauty, it is the ultimately creeping dread that wins out here; through a drip feed of bizarre clues found around the house, followed by a slow unrevealing of devastating family secret after devastating family secret, we feel ourselves being taken down the path – the moonlit path you might almost say – with something dreadful at the end. McCarthy has a gift for writing warm scenes and loving characters – the relationship between Grace and her Lithuanian maid are touching, as are her letters with her niece who adores her – so for a time you forget what is inevitably coming down the road.

But soon the storm clouds start to gather, and when the denouement comes… well, the less said the better, but it is stunning, revelatory. The kind of ending that adds a star to a book and resides in your mind for weeks. The kind of ending where you realise that every step has been building towards this, and that the book you hold in your hands was never the one you thought it was.

My god, that ending.

All in all, McCarthy has added her own unique touch to the Gothic genre, and, when the final sinister puzzle piece descends, the result is astonishing. This novel will live in your head rent-free for days after reading. So read it. Just not when the moon is full.

I finished this late last night and am still kind of in awe. Catherine McCarthy has written such a marvelous book with A Moonlit Path of Madness. I love gothic stories so much so that was already a plus for me.

The whole setting and vibe of this was so stunning. I’ve never been out of the US but just reading her descriptions of the Welsh seaside home made me feel like I was there and could actually see it. To me, there’s nothing spookier than a seaside setting. Especially for a ghost story. I was intrigued from the very beginning and and invested in the story and main character. The mysteriousness of the illness of Grace’s mother was fascinating and when she begins piecing everything together I was just so amazed.

There is truly nothing more terrifying than being considered mad and having the threat of being institutionalized hanging above your head. Especially back in that time. It makes me shutter to think about it.

McCarthy did such a wonderful job of slowly building up that feeling of “is this just all in my head?”

The bond between Grace and Lilah is so beautiful. How wonderful it is to have someone so close and that you would do anything for each other.

I reallyyyyyy loved this.

A Moonlit Path of Madness is the latest book from Catherine McCarthy and is a gothic horror tale set on the coast of Wales.
The story begins in Vermont, 1902, where we are introduced to Grace Morgan and the Morgan family as a whole. The beginning of the story sets the tone for the rest of the book where we discover that Grace is caring for her ailing mother who is beset by visions and hallucinations. Alongside Grace, is Lilah, the Lithuanian help that has been with the family since they made the arduous move to the Americas.
Tortured by her visions, Grace’s mother passes away, leaving Grace in a precarious position of what to do next. The family home is passed on to her brother, Johnathon. However, she is left the ancestral home of Parrog House in Wales, and the family heirloom of a grandfather clock which was transported with the family. Shortly after the death of her mother, and with the weight of her grief, Grace, along with Lilah embarks on a journey to move to the family home in Wales and sets about rebuilding her life in a new place. However, it is not long before the past resurges, and secrets long thought dead come back to haunt the living.
I first became aware of Catherine McCarthy after reading her short story collection, Mists and Megaliths and thoroughly enjoyed the range of stories that she showcased in this book. This is the first story of considerable length that I have read of hers and I have to say that I was quite impressed.
Gothic fiction as a whole is steeped in atmosphere, and with her prose, Catherine McCarthy sets about building the atmosphere from the beginning. Her prose is beautifully written, and I think that this totally belies the horror that lies beneath. However, when it comes to the fore, it can totally blindside you and send your senses reeling. She does this quite admirably, particularly at the beginning when she jars the reader with the visions and nightmarish scenes that are effectively small vignettes of grotesquery, creating a claustrophobic mosaic of hallucinatory terror following the death of Grace’s mother, illustrating the fragility of the lead character’s state of mind.
The tone subtly shifts when she moves to Wales, and she attempts to find some semblance of belonging in her ancestral home and tries to build her life. Unfortunately, this small convalescence of domestic bliss with Lilah is shattered when secrets from the past resurge to the forefront, and subsequently Grace learns of the secrets brooding beneath the domesticity.
Throughout the novel, Catherine McCarthy uses these shifts in tone subtly to portray the unnerving horror that is just below the surface and when things begin to emerge, the revelations come as a jarring juxtaposition that shows illustrates how disturbing these sequences are.
McCarthy successfully uses the tones and tropes of the gothic novel and moulds them into something that seems fresh and modern, despite the fact that the tale is set in the early twentieth century, carefully crafting a tale of love and friendship, particularly between Grace and Lilah, who has effectively been Grace’s mother during the decline of her mother’s physical and mental wellbeing, and it was delightful to watch their relationship blossom past the confines of employer and employee.
With A Moonlit Path of Madness, Catherine McCarthy has crafted a darkly delicious tale of tragedy and obsession that she paints using a canvas of words.

I was fortunate enough to receive an ARC of this novella from Netgalley, I’d looked forward to having it since its almost-Dave McKean-ian cover made its first debut on the social media platforms. Eye candy, indeed, and with McCarthy at the helm, I was pretty sure the contents would be spellbinding. I was not disappointed.

I’m an unabashed fan of Catherine’s prose, her voice lulling me into a sensuous calm from any of the numerous worlds she has taken me. Her books present elements of mysteries, puzzles to be solved with an underlying horror creating tension, and deadlines that rush alarmingly toward the reader, in their attempts to understand the danger before it is too late.

So it is with “Moonlit”, where the mortal danger the MC finds herself confronted with has a finite deadline, and I use the word well – (it has its origins in the American civil war, where lines were painted on the floor around prisons, and prisoners who crossed or stood on the line were shot) the painted line in this book is extended time, beautifully symbolized by a grandfather clock under restoration and the defining horror that rushes Grace - our troubled MC – towards her fate is Madness.

As is standard (and is anything but standard) in McCarthy’s books, the beauty of her world is enriched by her characters and their history. She is the kind of writer that, upon introducing characters, you know automatically that you are going to love, hate, sympathize, or detest them. Her character work is exemplary, shown lovingly here through Grace’s interactions with her maid, Lilah, and the budding possible soul mate character of Gruff (and how cool is that name? Gruff by name, gruff by nature).

My experience of Moonlit could best be summarized as “enchanted”. It has that Jane Austin/ Bronte sisters feel to it, the innocence and rigid gender-roled backdrop to a slow, creeping horror that begs to be understood. Illustrated against a background tale of house renovation, antique clock restoration, and re-location to another land (the three R’s), Moonlit achieves both authenticity and a pervading gothic sense of unease and disquiet.

It’s glorious.

The one thorn comes at the close, a reveal which ties together most of the plot threads, information withheld from one character to another, and decides the fate of the MC. There were enough hints throughout the novella before that reveal that I had figured out 80% of the theme, enough that the revelation didn’t feel like an info dump, and as I mentioned in my last review of Catherine’s work, presently her endings have a bite of cruelness to them, the rip of possibility cut short, clean and sudden, to head where we were always meant to go and drag us down with the character(s) we have come to love.

Pretty much like life, it hurts more when it means something to you.

Another 5 ⭐ ‘s. Keep them coming, Catherine.

In Vermont 1902, Grace is busy taking care of her invalid “mad” mother who cries out in fear and despair. She wants to tell Grace something but dies before she can. Grace notifies her brother Jonathan who helps Grace with the funeral. He tells her not to worry about anything. When Jonathan does read the will, her mother has given Jonathan the house and Grace has inherit her beloved father’s home in Wales — Parrog House. Lilah the maid will go with Grace to Wales as her mother made no mention of her in the will. Jonathan and his family have their own maid so he has no desire for another maid. The journey that Grace and Lilah take is arduous. When they open the door to the house, it is dusty and has some furniture they can use. Will Grace go mad due to the family’s curse?

A gothic novel that is beautifully written. The descriptions of life in the Welsh village and the characters both friendly and sinister to newcomer Grace is well explained. The mystery of the curse is compelling. I was fascinated withe finding out about the curse. The prevalent mental health challenges of the era in the face of unrelenting fear and trauma, as Grace reckons with her lingering grief.

I really loved this atmospheric tale of Grace travelling across the Atlantic to return to her childhood home in Wales. I felt for Grace as she struggled to make a fresh start in Wales, yet family ghosts appear to have followed her as she uncovers one chilling family secret after the next.. As she endeavours to understand the past, she appears doomed to repeat it (Grace trying to understand the numbers scribbled by her mother is brilliantly done).
With exquisite prose, the little details enhanced the story so much - Grace's desire for a sewing room overlooking the sea, the blocked access to the creepy attic, the broken doll, the moon phases on the clock... I smiled at Grace turning to Darwin for answers, in a little nod to the time period. I loved her relationship with her niece and her friendship with Lilah. Despite the darkness of the story, there is a warmth and kindness that shines through the story.
A highlight of the book for me was the setting, the house and the people, and I really want to visit Parrog next time I am in Wales. I would have liked the ending to have gone in a different direction, but what happens is totally in keeping with the tone of the book and Grace's character.
Overall, I highly recommend this compelling story!

I really enjoyed this book! It has a great gothic tone and is beautifully written. I would reccomend this book to anyone who enjoys gothic stories. 10/10 would highly reccomend! Special 'thank you' to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for allowing me to read an advanced reader copy.

It's 1902 and at the beginning of the Book. 28 year old Grace Morgan lives with her widowed mother Marta and their maid Lilah at their home Woodleigh House in Fair Haven, Vermont.
Soon enough grace inherits her beloved grandfather clock and the family's home in their ancestral home lands.

Before Thanksgiving arrives Grace and Lilah travel to the old World, to live at the seaside facing Parrog House in Wales.
𝓒𝓻𝓸𝓮𝓼𝓸 𝓲 𝓖𝔂𝓶𝓻𝓾
Grace yearns for a fresh start with her confidante Lilah, but soon enough things change for Grace as she sees, hears and even smells things that she shouldn't be able to.

Before long we meet different people in this little welsh town and everyone, above a certain age, seems to know Grace's family far better than she ever did herself.

But what about the silver trinket Box, which Grace finds in her late mother's posssesions?
And the moon phases on her grandfather clock? Why did they stop working?
Is Grace reading too much into the town's tattle or is she onto something?

¦ ߹ ¦ · ¦ ߹ ¦ · ¦ ߹ ¦ · ¦ ߹ ¦ · ¦ ߹ ¦ · ¦ ߹ ¦ · ¦ ߹ ¦ · ¦ ߹ ¦

I am so very happy I was able to read an advance copy of this.
To descend with Grace into, that which would become a sad yet eerie gothic piece… it was hauntingly beautiful.

The writing was fitting of the time and it kept me turning the pages.
I lay in bed late at night and could not put this away, because I really needed to read another page… and another, and yet another one!

The Author, Catherine McCarthy, had me wrapped me around her little Finger with each word and unfortunately all too soon it ended.

And HOW it ended!? Silently, timidly… yet indescribably satisfying yet somehow unsatisfying.
I wanted more, and more. Though, at the same time I just knew I got served my share.

Thanks to the Author's description and Google Maps I felt as if I knew where this story might have taken place. ;)
As a Mediengestalter I love³ the design of the Book. The typefaces and illustrations. It gave off the feeling of reading a Book set around the late Victorian Era! Well done!

I give this a well deserved 4.7 which I will put to a full 5 Star Rating here on GR!!!

𝑰 𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒆 𝒂𝒕𝒎𝒐𝒔𝒑𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒂 𝒏𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝑮𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒄 𝑯𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒐𝒓!

A glorious and melancholy gothic tale of a family home by the sea in Wales, familial madness and secrets from the past. Poetic, atmospheric and haunting, I was drawn into the world of Grace Morgan and her curious grandfather clock with its moon phase dials. Familiar but fresh, this was a satisfying read (in a gory Gothic way).

Such a great, atmospheric Gothic read! I really enjoyed the Welsh setting, all my favorite Gothic tropes (the ancestral home, the secrets, the madness!), and McCarthy's beautiful (and sometimes macabre) prose.

Grace Morgan, freshly reeling from the death of her mother, is booted from her Vermont family home by her older brother. Luckily, Grace has inherited another family home, all the way in Wales. So, with her faithful maid, Lilah, she sets off to Newport for a new life. However, an array of tragic family secrets drag Grace into the past.

McCarthy’s writing style is full of warmth, even in the most terrifying of moments (and there are quite a few). Grace is a wonderful character, instantly compelling, and her relationship with Lilah is perfect. As an immigrant (though I went the other way, from the UK to the USA), I could appreciate the sections outlining Grace’s culture shock when she arrives in Wales.

The world McCarthy has created feels authentic; I genuinely did not want to leave these characters behind.

A gorgeous gothic novel with real heart.

I overall enjoyed this book. In my opinion, it felt like a cozy book, which I now realize is strong gothic and paranormal elements. Being that I discovered it in the horror genre I am disappointed; I thought it was going to have strong horror elements.

As I’ve been discovering what I enjoy reading, I overall had a great time with this one. This story knew exactly what direction it wanted to go in and achieved it well. The title and cover do an excellent job of describing this story!

Another great book by Catherine McCarthy here. Dark, gothic, and all you could want. Beautiful writing, sharp characterization and a beautiful epistolary story that steadily unfolds.

I've read a fair amount of fiction from the pen or perhaps I should say in this instance the virtual quill of Catherine McCarthy- and this has to be both one of my faves and one of her best. It ticks all my boxes - eerie supernatural happenings, genteel and gentle prose which builds reader anticipation, a tragic back story, a multi-dimensional strong femme protagonist, Grace Morgan, Welsh-born, American raised, and tucked in there some serious questions raised about mental illness, inheritance and family and legacies. This is a thought provoking and chilling read.

A deceased mother, a lost heirloom, and a ghost to haunt her in the present. A woman is being driven mad by her mothers death, the moon and the past that dares to haunt her. Wonderful read.