48 pages • 1 hour read
Charlie N. HolmbergKeeper of Enchanted Rooms
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2022A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Background
Literary Context: Haunted Houses and Ghost Stories
Keeper of Enchanted Rooms belongs to a subgenre of paranormal stories concerning houses that harbor ghosts or possess supernatural abilities. Though ghost stories exist in cultural traditions from around the world, the haunted house developed during the rising popularity of Gothic literature that emerged during the Romantic period in the late 18th and early 19th centuries in popular books like Ann Radcliffe’s The Romance of the Forest (1791) and The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794). The premise of ghosts inhabiting a neglected home and influencing the lives of those within it also appear in classic works like Henry James’s novella The Turn of the Screw (1898) and the short story “A Haunted House” (1921) by Virginia Woolf.
In American literature, classic works like The House of the Seven Gables (1861) by Nathaniel Hawthorne, which also takes place in a remote locale in the northeastern United States, and The Haunting of Hill House (1959) by Shirley Jackson further developed the device of the house that gains inimical influence through the human crimes enacted within it. More recent novels like Mexican Gothic (2020) by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Mapping the Interior (2017) by Stephen Graham Jones, and The Good House (2003) by Tananarive Due all feature characters who are threatened by a house that holds a magical inheritance of mystery, secrets, and danger.
Keeper of Enchanted Rooms draws on this long tradition in both British and American literature but adds a unique twist in that the enchanted house becomes a sort of treasure guarded by an organization calling itself the Institute for the Keeping of Enchanted Rooms, an international organization with offices in London, England, and Boston, Massachusetts. This fictional institute serves as a cultural overseer, preserving the heritage of magical spells embedded within a house and training staff equipped to work in such a specialized environment.
Holmberg’s novel also takes a humorous approach to the often horror-inflected genre by making the spirit inhabiting Whimbrel House that of a mischievous 12-year-old boy indulging in pre-adolescent pranks and tantrums. This has the effect of moving the dread and horror of the book from the house itself to fear of the human entity, the villain, who is out to enact harm. In a subversion of the customary conventions, Holmberg takes a whimsical approach to Owein’s “tantrums,” while it is Silas Hogwood and his plots that contribute to the suspense.
Geographical Context: Narragansett Bay
Narragansett Bay is a large estuary located on the coast of Rhode Island, a tiny state located in the northeastern United States. The bay is formed by the outlet where several rivers make their way into the Atlantic Ocean. Around 30 islands occupy the estuary, though only a few are inhabited. Some of the land in the bay is reserved for use by the US military, and other parts are protected as part of a research preserve. Smaller islands are mostly marshland, home to birds. The area is known for its fishing and recreation opportunities.
None of the islands are named Blaugdone Island, which is an invention for the novel. Barbara Blaugdone, a Quaker minister who lived in England in the 17th century, is a possible inspiration for the name. The town of Portsmouth, which characters in the novel frequent, lies mainly on Aquidneck Island but also covers portions of the surrounding islands. Portsmouth formed one of the founding towns of the Colony of Rhode Island, one of the 13 colonies that later became the United States after the American colonists won their independence from Britain. Boston, Massachusetts, where BIKER has its office, lies about 60 miles north of Portsmouth. In a modern vehicle, the travel time is around an hour and a half; Hulda makes this journey using the kinetic boat and tram, which are also inventions of the novel.
