A Study in Drowning

How it reads

A Study in Drowning is fantasy (gothic fantasy, specifically), and its dominant mood is eerie. It's atmospheric and uncanny, with a sense that something is wrong. The pace is moderate — neither a page-turner nor a slow burn — so it holds up whether you read it in long sittings or short ones.

It's set in a rural setting, in the historical past, told in the first person by a single narrator. Its central concerns are art and creativity, love and secrets. In weight it sits in the middle: substantial without being heavy going.

It stands alone, so there's nothing else you need to read first or after. The ending is bittersweet: it resolves, but at a price. At 378 pages it's an ordinary novel's length. It's well known, the kind of book most keen readers have heard of.