Synopsis
Five unnerving tales of the weird and uncanny from award-winning author Victoria Williamson.
A room full of screaming butterflies.
An unsettling smile on the face of a carved sarcophagus.
A painting that draws its viewer into the disturbing past.
A stuffed bear that growls in the dead of night.
And a shell that whispers more sinister sounds than the sigh of the sea…
Dare you cross the threshold of the old Museum and view its eerie exhibits?
Review
A butterfly, a sarcophagus, a painting, a bear, and a conch shell. Five horror stories linked by the different exhibits in a museum. Award winning children’s author Victoria Williamson tackles adult horror with her new collection and boy does it deliver!
Linked by the museum that houses them, these stories detail five dark, haunting exhibits and the consequences for the unfortunate people who interact with them.
In ‘The Screaming Room’, Jeremy experiences a purgatorial vision when he visits the butterfly room as a young boy. The connection of butterflies to the souls of the dead becomes personal and haunts him into adult life.
Neglected, emotionally abused Amy longs for kindness from her neurotic father in ‘The Grinning Man’. She should be careful what she wishes for when she visits the museum.
‘Et Arcadia Ego Sum’ deals with perspective, which is fitting in a story about art. Dave, a security guard working the night shift, is drawn to a magical painting, but not all is as it seems.
Miserable Thelma is inspired to change her life when she develops a kinship with the taxidermized bear in ‘The Shape of the Beast’.
The final story, ‘The Whispering Shell’, cleverly combines the water cycle with death when a cursed conch shell in an interactive display infects those who listen to it with a lethal idea.
Williamson knows how to write complex characters. She gets under the skin and shows what it means to be human. It is no surprise that the characters in this collection are as equally nuanced as those in her novels. Each story puts forth a different aspect of humanity for examination, as if the characters were the exhibits for the readers to study in this collection.
The language is lush, with a poetic lyricism that adds a beautiful musical rhythm to the prose.
The horror of these stories is in the characters and the choices they make. I would call it quiet horror or literary horror. It stays with you and haunts your thoughts, but it is more chilling than terrifying, so don’t expect lots of blood and gore.
The theme of loss and grief runs through each story. Some of the characters are mourning the loss of loved ones, while others are grieving for what might have been and missed opportunities. This provides a strong emotional core to the collection. The characters are sympathetic and relatable. Even their horrific actions are understandable, if not commendable.
The setting of the museum is an integral part of each story and links the narratives into a cohesive whole. Some of the stories take place at different times and it is interesting to read how the museum changes with the years. The museum also comes with a cast of supporting characters, including the security staff and interns. I enjoyed finding out about the journey of one of the interns throughout the course of the book. It was nice to read about exhibits from one story being mentioned in another, or the strange events of one story being referenced in the next.
The stories are well paced for the most part. ‘Et in Arcadia Ego’ was the only story that felt a little long for its premise. Everything was set in place quite early in the story, and the paced lagged in the middle before getting to the expected denouement.
Beautiful prose, dark plots and in-depth characters are also in Williamson’s other books from Silver Thistle Press. Her novella “The Haunting Scent of Poppies” follows a book thief after the First World War, and her novel “Red Runs the Witch’s Thread” about the child accuser of the Paisley witch trials.
“Eerie Exhibits” will appeal to those who enjoy literary horror, unreliable narrators, and layered stories that make you think.
‘The Screaming Room’ is my favorite story in the collection because it features moths or butterflies as representations of the human soul. It deals with this idea in a spooky and original way.
This is an entertaining collection of short stories that will ignite your childhood wonder of the weird and the strange and inspire you to look at things differently. You might even visit a museum after reading this book. The stories will linger with you, making you think about what’s going on inside the heads of others and whether you should avoid touching that old thing on the shelf.
At the end of the book, the author shares some photographs of herself visiting a museum as a child. The pictures are very cute. It was a lovely touch to include them.
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