In 1950s Mexico, socialite Noemí Taboada travels to High Place, a decaying English mansion in the mountains, after receiving a frantic letter from her recently married cousin, Catalina. Noemí finds the Doyle family living under a strict, archaic hierarchy led by the patriarch, Howard, whose obsession with eugenics and silver mining has poisoned the estate. As she experiences vivid hallucinations and discovers the family’s history of strange deaths, she uncovers a biological horror rooted in a sentient fungal organism. This colonial parasite allows the Doyels to extend their lifespans by consuming the vitality of others and maintaining their lineage through forced genetic integration.
Readers who enjoy atmospheric horror and historical settings choose this book for its subversion of traditional Gothic tropes. It appeals to those interested in how colonialism and scientific racism manifest as physical monsters. The reader walks away with a visceral understanding of how ancestral legacies and predatory traditions can trap individuals within a domestic space. It serves as a study of resilience against inherited corruption, offering a resolution where the protagonist must burn down the structures of the past to survive the rot of the present.
Insights from Mexican Gothic
“The house was a heavy, suffocating thing.”
High Place looks grand from the outside. Inside, the walls are literally rotting from the breath of the Doyles.
“She was not a fragile thing.”
Noemí is a socialite who loves parties and pretty dresses. Those same shallow skills help her spot the family's lies.
Howard Doyle is obsessed with keeping his bloodline pure. He uses fungi to physically trap his family in the past.
“The walls, they are talking to me.”
Catalina looked like she was losing her mind. She was actually the only one seeing the house for what it was.
- Published
- 2020
- Publisher
- Nemira
- ISBN
- 9786064311757
- Language
- EN
