Barbara Comyns

In a vicious tale of horror, a veterinarian moves into a London suburb after his wife dies, hires a bizarre new housekeeper, and discovers his daughter has new, terrifying powers. Original.

The Vet's Daughter

hessensitive

The terrible feet came, and no air at all could reach me. I couldn’t even cry still hear Rosa screaming as they trampled and fell on me, and there was the indescribable pain. Then I could feel nothing. I simply thought, ‘This is it; this is how one dies’. Rosa had ceased to scream, and for the first time in my life I was not afraid. 

‘Married, my foot!’ She exclaimed. ‘Who would marry such a half-witted deaf and dumb creature? No, that’s a bastard brat, and I’m telling you now: your father won’t have you seeing that Lucy anymore.’

There was Father kneeling on the floor, almost as if he were praying. His eyes had rolled back so far that they were all white, with no pupils showing, and he was drooling at the mouth. Then in a thin, whining voice, he called, ‘Alice, I won’t hurt you. I was drunk and didn’t know what I was doing. Come down, there’s a good girl! Forgive me, Alice!’

I was crying when he left, and he thought it was because I would not see him for a week. Even humble men are conceited sometimes. 

I ran outside to the caravan and lay there listening to the sandpipers and an occasional sea-gull. I couldn’t even cry because I hated myself so much.

I awoke with a great weight on my mind. I went straight to Mrs Peebles’s room to see if she needed anything. She lay there very quiet and remote, and in her strange way, rather beautiful. 

So I left her there writing, and on my way to the frozen waste land even remembered to buy some stamps. I felt so grateful for my freedom. 

The day was nearly over and it was like most of the days I could remember: overshadowed by my father and cleaning the cats’ cages and the smell of cabbage, escaping gas and my father’s scent. There were moments of peace, and sometimes sunlight outside. It was like that all the time. 

Growing up in Edwardian south London, Alice Rowlands longs for romance and excitement, for a release from a life that is dreary, restrictive and lonely. Her father, a vet, is harsh and domineering; his new girlfriend brash and lascivious. Alice seeks refuge in memories and fantasies, in her rapturous longing for Nicholas, a handsome young sailor, and in the blossoming of what she perceives as her occult powers. A series of strange events unfolds that leads her, dressed in bridal white, to a scene of ecstatic triumph and disaster among the crowds on Clapham Common. The Vet's Daughter is a uniquely vivid, witty and touching story of love and mystery.

A Virago Modern Classic

really liked this ! finished it in one day hehe

Nica

really liked this ! finished it in one day hehe

read so much like king’s writing to me

rory

Such a good read, definitely didn’t expect the magical realism. 

I think this was a metaphor that I'm a lil too dumb to understand but ripped nonetheless 

Regan Martin

marlisa

Gabe Cortez

Dennis Jacob Rosenfeld

Aaron McCollough

Elizabeth 

Nadia Bailey

Deborah Meades

Living with her cruel father and ailing mother, Alice Rowland discovers she has the power to levitate

The Vet's Daughter

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