My Darling Dreadful Thing Summary, Characters and Themes
My Darling Dreadful Thing by Johanna van Veen is a Gothic horror novel set in 1950s Netherlands, blending eerie supernatural elements with a dark, psychological narrative. It tells the story of Roos Beckman, a young woman haunted by a centuries-old bog body spirit named Ruth, who has been part of Roos’ life since childhood.
The novel explores themes of trauma, mental illness, exploitation, and a twisted romance, all amidst the unsettling backdrop of a decaying manor. As Roos faces accusations of murder, she must prove her sanity while grappling with both the living and the dead.
Summary
Roos Beckman, a 21-year-old woman living in the Netherlands during the 1950s, has grown up in a deeply dysfunctional and exploitative household.
Raised by her guardian, whom she calls Mama, Roos is forced to assist in fraudulent séances. Her small size allows her to crawl under the floorboards to create eerie, staged effects that convince gullible participants they are communing with spirits.
During one of these séances, Roos encounters something real beneath the floor: the ancient bog body of a woman she later names Ruth. The connection becomes deeper when Roos, by accident, gives Ruth her blood, binding the spirit to her.
Ruth, a grotesque yet protective entity, becomes both Roos’ companion and source of power in the séances.
Mama quickly sees the value in Roos’ ability to communicate with Ruth and exploits her further, using the spirit to legitimize her seances and attract wealthier clients.
Roos’ life takes a drastic turn when Agnes Knoop, a wealthy widow, attends one of these séances. Sensing Roos’ connection to the supernatural, Agnes offers to take Roos away from her abusive situation, essentially buying her from Mama. Roos, grateful for the escape, moves into Agnes’ crumbling estate.
Once there, the two women develop a relationship.
However, it is fraught with a complex power imbalance. Roos, who has been kept malnourished and weak by Mama to appeal to men during séances, is emotionally vulnerable and traumatized. Agnes, 15 years Roos’ senior, becomes both a savior and a romantic interest, though the relationship is largely built on Roos’ gratitude rather than genuine affection.
Agnes herself is a complicated figure, haunted by her late husband, Thomas, and dealing with the overt racism of her sister-in-law, Willamina. The novel delves into these toxic dynamics, questioning the nature of love, exploitation, and trauma bonding.
At the heart of the story is a murder mystery: someone dies, and Roos is found with blood on her hands. She claims a spirit, possibly Ruth, is the culprit, but the authorities do not believe her.
The narrative frequently shifts to interviews with Doctor Montague, a psychologist who is trying to determine whether Roos is mentally ill or simply acting out of desperation to avoid punishment for the crime.
Throughout the story, the reader is left questioning Roos’ reliability—is she telling the truth about the spirits, or has her traumatic upbringing caused her to create elaborate fantasies?
The novel explores dark and unsettling themes, including mental illness, exploitation, racism, incest, and power imbalances in relationships.
Despite its Gothic atmosphere and supernatural elements, My Darling Dreadful Thing is ultimately a psychological drama about a young woman’s struggle for autonomy and truth in a world where the dead refuse to stay buried.
Characters
Roos Beckman
Roos Beckman, the central character, is a 21-year-old woman deeply marked by her traumatic past. Raised in an exploitative environment, Roos helps her “Mama” in fraudulent séances, hiding under floorboards to manipulate objects and deceive people into believing spirits are present.
Despite this deceit, Roos has a genuine connection to the supernatural through Ruth, a bog body. Ruth is tied to Roos after an exchange of blood, symbolizing her complex relationship with both the dead and her own exploitation.
Roos’s life has been one of emotional fragility, shaped by abuse and manipulation. Her trauma leaves her emotionally stunted, desperate for love and security, which later makes her vulnerable to Agnes Knoop’s influence.
Her relationship with Agnes is born out of gratitude rather than genuine affection. The confusion in her emotions, stemming from trauma and dependence, causes her to mistake her savior for a lover.
When Roos is accused of murder, her mental state becomes central to the plot. Her belief in spirits and her fragile psychological condition lead to a tension between the supernatural and the reality she faces.
Ruth
Ruth is Roos’s spirit companion and a bog body, centuries old and grotesque in her decomposition. Initially a haunting presence, Ruth becomes a protector for Roos, her dislocated jaw and decomposed features symbolizing death and decay.
Ruth’s connection to Roos is forged through blood, and she represents both the physical and psychological damage in Roos’s life. As Ruth is exploited during séances, she serves as a reminder of the exploitation that defines Roos’s existence.
While Ruth is protective, her presence also complicates Roos’s life. Their relationship adds depth to the novel’s supernatural elements, linking the physical decay of a bog body to the emotional and psychological decay Roos experiences.
Agnes Knoop
Agnes Knoop is a wealthy widow who enters Roos’s life after attending one of her Mama’s séances. Intrigued by Roos’s connection to the supernatural, Agnes purchases Roos, taking her away from her abusive environment.
Agnes appears to be a savior, but the dynamic between her and Roos is troubling. There is a 15-year age gap, and their relationship is imbalanced, with Agnes as both employer and romantic interest.
Roos’s love for Agnes seems more like a response to being “saved” rather than mutual affection. This dynamic reflects the unhealthy power imbalance in their relationship.
Despite Agnes’s role in Roos’s life, she remains emotionally distant. Her interactions with Roos are largely transactional, based more on shared trauma than true love or partnership.
Willamina
Willamina is Agnes’s sister-in-law and serves as an antagonist in the story. She is xenophobic and racist, harboring a disturbing obsession with her brother, Thomas, Agnes’s late husband.
Her incestuous relationship with Thomas adds a grotesque element to the novel. Willamina’s desire to keep the family’s bloodline pure drives much of her toxic behavior.
Willamina’s hostility towards Agnes, rooted in her own obsession with Thomas, heightens the tension in the household. Her presence underscores the themes of moral decay and familial dysfunction.
Doctor Montague
Dr. Montague is the psychologist tasked with determining Roos’s mental fitness after she is accused of murder. He represents the rational, scientific perspective in the story, contrasting with Roos’s belief in the supernatural.
Through his interviews with Roos, the novel explores themes of sanity and belief. Dr. Montague serves as a narrative device to highlight the tension between the supernatural and the psychological elements in Roos’s story.
Themes
The Intersection of Exploitation, Trauma, and Spiritual Manipulation in the Gothic Tradition
“My Darling Dreadful Thing” by Johanna van Veen intricately blends exploitation and trauma with the manipulation of spiritual forces, positioning itself within the Gothic tradition but pushing its boundaries into modern conversations about power dynamics. The theme of exploitation is a multifaceted one, starting with Roos’ childhood, where she is not only manipulated by her guardian for financial gain through staged séances but is also physically and emotionally controlled.
This exploitation has deep psychological repercussions, which are mirrored in the broader theme of trauma, especially considering Roos’ anxieties and PTSD-like symptoms. Her manipulation by her mother is not just a personal betrayal but also one that connects to the spiritual world: Ruth, the bog body, is both a protector and a tool of exploitation.
The power imbalance is profound here, as Ruth is a centuries-old spirit who can possess Roos, rendering her vulnerable to not only her mother’s greed but also the unpredictable will of the supernatural. This entwining of human exploitation with spiritual manipulation creates a thematic space that questions the very boundaries of agency and control, both in the physical and metaphysical realms.
In Gothic fashion, this manipulation of spiritual power extends to Agnes as well, creating a world where control, whether through spirits or human authority, becomes the foundation of relationships and societal interactions.
The Complications of Power Dynamics in Queer Romance and Gothic Intimacies
One of the most unsettling themes in this novel is the portrayal of a queer romance that is fraught with deeply problematic power imbalances. Roos, who has been raised in a toxic and abusive environment, finds herself in a relationship with Agnes, a wealthy widow who is fifteen years older than her and essentially purchases her from her mother.
This dynamic echoes through the novel as a source of tension rather than genuine affection. The relationship between Roos and Agnes is complicated by the fact that Roos’ affection seems less like romantic love and more like a deep sense of gratitude for being saved from her previous abusive situation.
Here, the novel explores the concept of trauma bonding, where individuals connect over shared or individual traumas, yet this connection is not necessarily healthy. Roos’ desire to please Agnes and her willingness to do anything for her rescuer hints at a deep psychological dependence that Agnes, consciously or unconsciously, seems to exploit.
This theme extends beyond just their romantic entanglement, as it opens up a broader discussion about the ways in which power, age, and socio-economic status can distort queer intimacy. Rather than being a liberating or affirming narrative of same-sex love, the novel uses this relationship to expose how trauma can underlie seemingly romantic connections, making readers question whether love, in this case, is even possible when the power dynamic is so deeply skewed.
Historical Trauma and Postcolonial Identity in the European Gothic Framework
A particularly nuanced theme in “My Darling Dreadful Thing” is the exploration of historical trauma, especially in relation to postcolonial identity. The novel’s setting in the Netherlands in the 1950s allows for an examination of the lingering impact of colonialism, particularly through the character of Agnes, who is half-Javanese.
Her experiences of racism and xenophobia, especially from her sister-in-law Willamina, are steeped in historical realities, giving the novel a postcolonial edge within its Gothic framework. This theme raises important questions about the intersections of race, identity, and power, as Agnes’ mixed-race heritage places her at odds with the European aristocracy she has married into.
The novel doesn’t shy away from showing how her otherness is weaponized against her, both in personal and societal contexts, and this racial tension is mirrored in her relationship with Roos, where the themes of alienation and belonging play a significant role. By incorporating these postcolonial dynamics, van Veen complicates the traditionally European, white Gothic genre, making room for discussions on the legacy of empire and the ways in which racial trauma persists long after the collapse of colonial rule.
The Gothic elements in the novel, from the crumbling estate to the haunting of the manor by past secrets, serve as metaphors for the haunting presence of colonialism, particularly in how it has shaped identities and relationships in post-war Europe.
The Fragility of Mental Health and the Gothic Psychologization of Crime
The novel delves deeply into the theme of mental health, particularly through its depiction of Roos’ psychological state as she faces the accusation of murder. The presence of Dr. Montague, the psychologist tasked with evaluating Roos, opens up a narrative thread that critiques how society and institutions view mental illness, particularly in women.
The novel situates Roos in the classic Gothic trope of the unreliable narrator, where her sanity is questioned at every turn. However, van Veen goes further by exploring the fragility of mental health as it intersects with trauma, grief, and supernatural belief systems.
Roos’ claim that a spirit is responsible for the murder she is accused of presents a dichotomy between rationality and irrationality, with the psychologist embodying society’s demand for the former. The narrative forces readers to question whether Roos is genuinely seeing spirits or whether her mental state has fractured due to years of abuse and exploitation.