Review: The Lost History of Dreams by Kris Waldherr

All love stories are ghost stories in disguise.

When famed Byronesque poet Hugh de Bonne is discovered dead of a heart attack in his bath one morning, his cousin Robert Highstead, a historian turned post-mortem photographer, is charged with a simple task: transport Hugh’s remains for burial in a chapel. This chapel, a stained glass folly set on the moors of Shropshire, was built by de Bonne sixteen years earlier to house the remains of his beloved wife and muse, Ada. Since then, the chapel has been locked and abandoned, a pilgrimage site for the rabid fans of de Bonne’s last book, The Lost History of Dreams.

However, Ada’s grief-stricken niece refuses to open the glass chapel for Robert unless he agrees to her bargain: before he can lay Hugh to rest, Robert must record Isabelle’s story of Ada and Hugh’s ill-fated marriage over the course of five nights.

As the mystery of Ada and Hugh’s relationship unfolds, so does the secret behind Robert’s own marriage—including that of his fragile wife, Sida, who has not been the same since the tragic accident three years ago, and the origins of his own morbid profession that has him seeing things he shouldn’t—things from beyond the grave.

• Product Details:
• Publisher: Atria Books (April 2019)
• Length: 320 pages
• ISBN13: 9781982101015

"I'd like to believe death contains a logic the living cannot comprehend.

That the dead surround us. That those who truly love us never truly leave.

They care for us in their way."

Encompassed within chapters of this gothic debut novel are love poems embodying aspects of Ovid's Metamorphoses as only protagonist and poet, Hugh de Bonne can write. The Lost History of Dreams is a love story or is it? Love is just one of the themes amongst two couples, two sub plots; Ada and Hugh de Bonne as well as Hugh's cousin, Robert Highstead and his wife, Sida. Pay close attention readers as to the many themes found throughout this novel i.e. Death, tragedy, illness, grief and obsession.  When Ada's niece, Isabelle enters the frame it couldn't get more complicated. Reminiscent of one of my favorite novels, Byatt's Possession, I saw a few parallels. 

I could not put this novel down and I rarely say that! Reading The Lost History of Dreams is akin to walking through a labyrinth filled with twists and turns where nothing is as it seems. Author, Kris Waldherr has written a beautiful debut novel filled with all the gothic elements I love: British countryside, house on the moors, family secrets, tragic illness, terrible death and ghostly visits! However, a stroke of genius was the use of daguerreotypes and a relative trying to earn a living as a post mortem photographer. I loved those chapters. The subject matter brought a very interesting viewpoint to the storyline and characters.

If you enjoy the gothic elements found in du Maurier novels and Wilkie Collins's A Woman in White than I have a feeling this is for you. I hope you read it and savor it as much as I have.

Thank you to Kris Waldherr and Touchstone for my review copy.

To pre-order the novel  Amazon