The Lost History of Dreams is an accomplished debut novel which reminded me of classics such as Wuthering Heights and the more contemporary Possession by A.S. Byatt. Set in Victorian England, the book, rich with Gothic creepiness, layers several love stories into a unified whole. Kris Waldherr blends mystery, grief, and brooding passion into a family history of lost loves and family secrets.
The protagonist, Robert Highstead, is tasked by his family with burying Hugh de Bonne, a famed Byronesque poet and now-dead relative. Highstead, a photographer who specializes in the Victorian tradition of post-mortem photography, must transport the embalmed body (which smells of almonds to disguise the scent of death) to a distant chapel so de Bonne can be married next to his must—and beloved wife—Ada, in a stained-glass folly that has been abandoned since she was interred there. In exchange for permission to accomplish that goal, Highstead agrees to write Ada’s story as dictated by her only living relative. Like Sherazade, this relative does so over five nonconsecutive nights.
Exquisite poetry and prose, fully in keeping with the Byronesque Hugh de Bonne, evoke a dream-like atmosphere that pervades the book and sets the stage for ghosts and labyrinthine twists and turns. The book is spooky enough for those who enjoy ghost stories, gloomy enough for those who like to wallow in books, but surprising joyous and full of enduring love who those who like love stories.
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