Rustication by Charles Palliser

Rustication

Charles Palliser

Although graphic and explicit at times this is nevertheless a compelling Victorian gothic style novel. A gloomy winter countryside is the atmospheric setting for a story of increasing intrigue and suspicions with lurid letters and gruesome acts culminating in a particularly nasty murder.

Extract
To my horror I saw a sheep lying on its side with blood spattered across its body and over the grass around it. It was feebly kicking its legs in what looked like a mild protest at what was happening. I now realised that the boy was not just hitting it but stabbing it with a knife - raising his arm and thrusting it down into its belly with all his strength. There was a long slash from its neck down its front from which unimaginable things were bulging. I felt dizzy with the horror of it.
Parallels
  • The English Monster by Lloyd Shepherd
  • The Mysteries of Glass by Susan Gee
  • The Quick by Lauren Owen
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Violence
Explicit sexual Content