The Undying Monster. A Tale of the Fifth Dimension by Jessie Douglas Kerruish

Book Review

Pauline Morgan

With so many new writers and books readily available, it is very easy to overlook good writing from the past, particularly if the author is no longer alive and their works are not in the forefront of the public mind. Thus the British Library’s series of books is welcome. It brings stories and novels from past masters back into the open and sheds light on some of the predecessors of the work being produced and enjoyed today.

            Jessie Douglas Kerruish was writing during the first part of the twentieth century and this novel, The Undying Monster, was initially published in 1922. Although occult detective stories had been around for decades, this is one of the earliest that featured a woman as the detective. Luna Bartendale describes herself as a ‘supersensitive’ and believes that beyond the fourth dimension that is often acknowledged by her peers, there is a fifth dimension which harbours the monsters of the human mind. In The Undying Monster, Miss Bartendale is sought out by the Hammand family when the inherited curse rears its ugly head.

            Oliver and Swanhild Hammand are the last members of the family who live in Old Dannow Manor on the Sussex Downs. It is soon after the Great War and Swanhild is engaged to Oliver’s friend, Goddard Covert. The characters are plunged straight into the action when Oliver is latte home from visiting Goddard and there are reports of the Monster howling in the Shaw (a stand of pine trees). Swanhild takes her dog to go searching for him. In the Shaw, she finds Oliver unconscious, his dog brutally killed and a local girl, Kate Stringer, very severely injured. The Monster hasn’t manifested for many years but now, without warning, it is back. The next day, Swanhild and Goddard call on Luna Bartendale to request her services to solve the mystery of the Monster and, if possible, to banish it.

            With Miss Bartendale’s encouragement, they follow up clues into the history of their family, and the manifestations of the curse, to the extent of opening the burial mound known as Thunderbarrow.

            While many readers may find elements in this twisting tale familiar, it should be remembered that these are themes that originated over a century ago, and to Kerruish’s contemporaries, they were very fresh. It is also worth remembering that the society of 1922 had different outlooks than the present and both Miss Bartendale and Swanhild were unusual in wanting to direct their own destinies. Despite these, this remains a very readable novel and stands up well against more recent interpretations of the ideas.