‘The Secret Heiress’ is one of the most ‘twisty, turvy’,’ twinful‘novels I have ever read. As author Luke Devenish says he wanted it so that the reader could not see the end of the corridor till they actually walked it and by doing so walked a winding path of delusion and deceit.
The story about a great gothic mansion and the twin sisters who inhabit it, one who seemingly succumbs to a mysterious end, keeps the reader guessing with as many twists and turns as the steps that in the unexpected dénouement a character and ‘ghost dog’ ascend to put the final piece of the puzzle in place.
I recently spoke to Luke Devenish about the book and his love of Tasmania. Luke last visited in 2012. He calls Tasmania “frighteningly beautiful” and singles out Freycinet, the Hobart environs and Longford’s historic houses as favourite haunts. Luke believes Tasmania has that sense or mood of ‘the lost ghost story’ that inspires imagination, perhaps in part because of its relative isolation in a natural gothic landscape.
With a number of historical novels already in print Luke is forever investigating places and time periods to set his novels in and navigating “a path through the forest of history”. He keeps a notebook to collect as he calls them ‘nuggets’ that might be useful to uncover in a novel.
Luke’s interest in architecture and history meets in the Gothicism of ‘The Secret Heiress’. Luke explains that gothic fiction descends from the architecture of the early 19th century that inspired novelists with its’ gripping sense of’ mood’ and ‘dilemma’.
‘The Secret Heiress’ takes place in an era where, says Luke ‘powerful, brainy, clever and beautiful’ women are stifled by a patriarchal society. These women are epitomised in the twins and the female servants Biddy and Ida who although not credited with being smart continue, albeit through naïve eyes, to demonstrate an ability to question and solve mysteries.
Luke says that the books evolving was not easy and took three drafts before he arrived at the version published. The original draft he thought perhaps was overly complicated in its surprises and so didn’t want to scare the agent!
In the end Devenish delivers us a deviously dark and delightful dramatic tale of tormented twins.
‘The Secret Heiress’ is out now published by Simon and Schuster
Paula Xiberras
