Zoe?'s Revenge

A strong tale of the supernatural. Zoe is murdered in a fit of rage by her lover. Her skeleton is disposed of as the basis of an anatomically correct artist manikin. In the fullest extent of the concept, you can't keep a good girl down. Reanimated, she sets out for revenge. Zoe's Revenge is a gruesome fin-de-siecle thriller by the largely-unknown British author M. Y. Halidom (pseud. for Alexander Huth), notable not only for its rarity and the author's pedigree, but for its carefully composed balance of terror and romance. Moreso than in Halidom's The Woman in Black, a similarly-themed supernatural shocker, this novel focuses on the protagonist's budding romance alongside his shaded past in a measured, chapter by chapter interplay. By contrasting an optimistic Edwardian grand tour storyline with the titular gloomy, brooding horror, Halidom manages to concoct a unique brand of beyond-the-grave revenge tale.