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** I received an ARC for an honest review **
Description
I am always there.
Perhaps I always have been?
Perhaps there is no end for me …
1910
The mentally unwell are considered dangerous and a blight to be kept hidden from family and society. The recently opened Kenmore Asylum is bursting at the seams. Amidst the churn, Nurse Harriet tries to make a real impact on her charges. But one of them, Alice, seems beyond anyone’s help…
1950s
Bonnie is a fresh, determined nurse trainee, out to prove herself and make her way into the world. But nothing is as she expected when the shadows are rife with the spirits of those who haven’t walked the halls of Kenmore in a very long time.
2021
The notoriously haunted Kenmore Asylum stands abandoned behind an easily circumnavigated fence. YouTube ghost hunters Aiden and Devin seek fame and fortune behind its walls—but something else just might find them first.
Inspired by true events and factual accounts of life at Kenmore Asylum, Goulburn, Australia.
Summary
I read The Haunting of Kenmore Asylum by fellow Australian horror author JJ Carpenter.
Review
Carpenter weaves together the three timelines, creating an atmosphere that maintains dread, suspense, and paranormal threat which is what makes good horror. The Haunting of Kenmore Asylum has three different narratives lines was written well and revealed much about the characters and historical . It did leave me wanting more from these snippets of the past.
The horror here is not just about ghosts or paranormal exuberance, it is the very real suffering patients at the asylum and the lingering imprint of their lives and deaths which formed a greater haunting itself: Kenmore Asylum breathed with the pain, anger, sorrow and despair which became a force of its own – an awareness of its own.
Conclusion
This is an evocative novella blending the historical depth with chilling paranormal themes. The Haunting of Kenmore Asylum is a recommended read for fans of gothic horror, especially Australian gothic horror and horror with a narrative rooted in history. A recommended read who those who a enjoy ghost story that is as fascinating as it unsettling.
** This is my personal opinion and does not reflect any judging decisions **
Leanbh Pearson 