Wait for What Will Come

Wait for What Will Come

by Barbara Michaels

first published in 1978

about 280 pages, depending on edition

As I mentioned in an earlier blog entry, one of my favorite authors, Barbara Michaels aka Elizabeth Peters, died this month. The books she wrote under her pseudonym Barbara Michaels are gothic thrillers, usually with a supernatural connection. I want to read many of these over again, some I haven't read since high school. The first I read was Wait for What Will Come because I had it on my nook already.

Carla Tregellas is the last of an old Cornish family. She is tracked down by a lawyer and learns that she has inherited the old family mansion in Cornwall. There is no money with the legacy to take care of the place, and it's in bad shape, but Carla decides to go and spend her summer vacation there learning about her heritage before it has to be sold. It will be an exciting opportunity that this math teacher may never have again!

I imagine the Tregellas mansion on a Cornish cliffside similar to this.

Upon her arrival, the elderly housekeeper shrieks and practically faints. "It is Lady Caroline back from the dead!" Who is Lady Caroline, you might ask? We learn that Lady Caroline Tregellas disappeared 200 years ago and was said to have been kidnapped by a selkie on Midsummer's Night and taken to his watery kingdom, never seen or heard from again. And now it is going to happen again and Carla will be taken away by the selkie, or at least that is what Mrs. Pendennis the housekeeper believes!

I think some of you might not know about the selkies. Mythological creatures found in Faroese, Icelandic, Irish and Scottish folklore, selchies (silkies, selchies) live as seals in the sea but shed their skins on land to become human. In the stories, male selkies kidnap human women to be their wives and take them to sea. This is the legend explored in this book. For more on the selkies, this Wikipedia article will be helpful.

Carla has a lot to put up with in this story. We have Mrs. Pendennis, the elderly housekeeper who can hardly bear to look at Carla because of the curse and Lady Caroline. Then we have Mike, Mrs. Pendennis' grandson who is living in the house and taking care of the garden. Carla thinks he is surly, but she is also attracted to him. Mike used to be a fairly well-known dancer, so why he is here mucking about? He tells Carla that he would like to buy the house with his mysterious friend, Tim, but he hopes she will take payments.

Other love interests are Allan, the suave lawyer who has been entrusted to advise Carla on estate matters. Also Simon, a folklore-loving local doctor who is only too happy to tell Carla all about the selkie story. Then we also have John, the local vicar, who is keen on solving the mystery of Lady Caroline in time to save Carla from a similar fate.

This book has all of the elements of a good gothic thriller: the spooky house of doom, the archetypal hero (although at first we don't quite know which of the four young men is the hero), and the portent of evil. Despite the rather corny possibilities this could lead to, Carla is a very level-headed young lady who is not easily frightened. Although I somewhat doubt that any young woman could receive so many marriage proposals within such a short time, having only met all three men within a couple of months of their declarations, it works in the story, especially when you find out which one(s) are not sincere.

The ending of this story, which I am not going to give away, leaves us wondering if there might not be some truth to the selkie story after all. I heartily approve of Barbara Michaels' leaving us with this possibility. Some things are just better left unexplained.