Gothic Generations

Author Heather Parry shares the inspiration behind her latest novel as she picks apart the dark side of family relationships

- DAWN GEDDES

HEATHER PARRY has always been fascinated by the Gothic. The Glasgow-based author-whose debut novel, Orpheus Builds A Girl, told the story of a doctor who refused to let death come between him and the object of his romantic obsession - explores the dark side of humanity through her work. Now, she's putting an altogether different type of relationship under the microscope in her latest book, Carrion Crow, which examines the festering bond between a mother and daughter.

"I did a Gothic literature course at university as part of my English degree and I just loved it," says Heather.

"I was already into the genre via books like Wuthering Heights. I like the way the Gothic borders on the satirical and how the genre kind of takes the mick out of itself. I also really enjoy the space it makes for women's emotions - I find that really interesting.

"You can read a Gothic book for the first time, and think the characters are one dimensional, but when you really look into how it's been constructed and you read it over and over again, you realise that it's taking women's emotions and making them material. I love that and the kind of psychological landscape of it. I just love dark fiction because it's a safe place to explore all the things that are difficult about the world."

Carrion Crow centres around Marguerite Périgord, a young woman who has been locked in the attic of her family home by her mother Cécile. For company she has a sewing machine, Mrs Beeton's Book Of Household Management and a carrion crow who has come to nest in the rafters.

Restless, she spends her waning energies on the fascinations of her own body, memorising Mrs Beeton's advice and longing for her life outside.