The shadows live just on the other side of the wall.… Gallant is a delightfully Gothic YA fantasy novel by V. E. Schwab that centers on a family cursed to guard the border between the human world and its shadowed mirror realm. It came out just last month, and is an excellent place to start if you haven’t read any V. E. Schwab before.
Orphaned at a young age, Olivia Prior knows nothing about her past except for what’s written in the pages of her mother’s journal. They seem to chronicle a woman’s descent into madness and end with an ominous warning to stay away from “Gallant.” But what could be worse than Merilance School for girls, where Olivia is bullied for her inability to speak and her only friends are the ghouls that she alone can see? When a letter from a relative arrives inviting Olivia to return to her family estate—which happens to be named Gallant—not even her mother’s final written words can stop her from seeking out answers … and maybe even a sense of home and belonging. When she arrives, however, her cousin Matthew greets her with hostility and seems devastated to learn that he is not the last of the Prior line. Matthew says the family is cursed, caught in a battle against an encroaching shadow world. Everyone seems to be hiding a dark secret for Olivia, but she knows that the answers lay just beyond the ruined stone wall at the edge of the garden. Once she crosses the boundary, she is faced with a choice: Will she make her home in the ruined mansion of the Priors or in its shadowed reflection on the other side?
Gallant is chock-full of Gothic tropes! The most obvious of these is the one that’s in the title: an ancestral home as the setting. When Olivia arrives at Gallant, she learns that she has not just a cousin, but also a home where her family has lived for generations and left a tangible legacy behind. Gallant has many of the classic hallmarks of a Gothic home: a portrait gallery showcasing Olivia’s ancestors, secret passages galore, a history of tragedy and death, and even ghosts! It also has strict rules and a forbidden zone—doors and windows are shut tightly at night and Olivia is warned to stay away from the garden’s wall. Matthew believes that this home and the line of Priors suffer under another Gothic trope: a family curse. But Olivia comes to find that the duty of the Priors to guard the wall against what lies beyond is not so much a curse but a solemn responsibility.
The novel puts a unique spin on another Gothic element in the story with its depiction of ghosts, or as Olivia calls them, ghouls. There’s an atmospherically spooky quality to these spirits, which appear to Olivia in bits and pieces—a limb here, half a face there. Though suddenly seeing a disembodied eye staring at you out of the darkness or a pair of hands rushing toward you can be alarming, the ghosts in this story are portrayed mainly as benign and helpful rather than scary. While at Merilance, Olivia finds more comfort and companionship among the ghouls than she ever does with her peers—even if they do stare at her creepily and occasionally hide under the bed. But at Gallant, the ghouls are more than just silent companions—they’re the spirits of her family members that she never got to meet in life. They care for her, warning her of danger and showing her affection. Olivia also soon learns that she can call on the ghosts for help in her fight against the Master of the shadow world.
If you like friendly ghosts, Gothic horror, and heartfelt stories about home and family, definitely check out Gallant! You can find it on shelves now at your favorite local retailer or buy it online and support The Gothic Library in the process by using this Bookshop.org affiliate link. If you’ve read it, let me know your thoughts in the comments!