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The Hair Wreath and Other Stories

by Halli Villegas

Ghosts and other mysterious forces intrude on the characters in the new collection of dark fiction from Toronto-based writer (and Tightrope Books publisher) Halli Villegas.

Several of the stories involve homes – ­especially sterile, charmless ones – haunted by the spectres of previous owners. In “Twenty-First Century Design,” the book’s longest story, a family moves into an immense, state-of-the-art house only to discover that the late musician who had it built is not happy about their plans for redecorating. Suburban conformity is critiqued in “Meadowdene Estates,” in which a couple visits friends who have moved into a brand new development on a street aptly called Utopia Gateway. “How do they know which home to go to when it’s dark,” wonders Sarah, the story’s protagonist, when she sees the neighbourhood children playing outside. The story goes on to show how blending in can cause people to disappear completely.

Not all of the tales have such explicit themes. “In the Grass,” for example, is a two-page snapshot of a man who wakes up in a patch of grass searching for an unnamed, unseen woman. Although Villegas does little more than provide a setting and the suggestion of a story, this vignette ignites the imagination and allows the reader’s mind to wander, wondering what circumstances might have led to this moment and how it might continue to unfold.

Villegas’s stories have a narrative ambiguity that at times can be frustrating, but at other times adds to the unearthly atmosphere. Stories such as “Rites,” in which newlyweds enter into an unexplained ritual on a beach, is cryptic to the point of being alienating; the collection’s title story, however, offers enough description and foreshadowing to make for a satisfying (albeit inconclusive) ending. On the whole, this collection proves that the most effective ghost stories are the ones that leave you with more than just questions.

 

Reviewer: Laura Godfrey

Publisher: ChiZine Publications

DETAILS

Price: $16.95

Page Count: 265 pp

Format: Paper

ISBN: 978-1-92685-102-0

Released: Sept.

Issue Date: 2010-10

Categories: Fiction: Short