when darkness loves us by elizabeth engstrom

Despite hints of creepy imagination here and there: an awkward debut. But when the nasty doings of some evil young-folk flash Martha back to her father's greatest cruelties, there's a violent fadeout-straining for horrific pathos, winding up only as ludicrous grossness. Meanwhile, the middle-aged Martha is becoming un-retarded-thanks largely to the affectionate, sexual attentions of her kind young handyman. Flashbacks fill in the Mannes family-history: the faith-healer powers of Martha's mother Fern (resented by husband Harry) the birth of nose-less Martha, with only semi-successful attempts at plastic surgery Harry's cruel rejection of little Martha, soon regarded as brain-damaged.

''Beauty Is'' is more coherent, if only slightly more satisfying, as it centers on Martha Mannes-middle-aged, homely (with a misshapen nose), retarded but fairly self-sufficient, living alone on the family farm now that her prosperous parents have both died. Is all this the dead or dying Sally Ann's dream? Is it sci-fi-ish fantasy? Or meant to be read as a realistic ordeal-drama? Engstrom herself doesn't seem quite sure-and the story is too earthbound for Twilight Zoning, much too thinly developed for anything like Wells-ian fantasy, merely silly in realistic terms. In this cave-world, Sally Ann communes with the ghost of a dead sweetheart, gives birth to baby Clint, and supposedly lives contentedly for 20 years then she returns to the upper world, learns that her husband has remarried (Sally Ann's vile sister), and steals a girl-child to become son Clint's underworld bride and finally, after a doomed attempt to introduce her old husband to cave-life, Sally Ann gives up on reconciling the two worlds. Buy a discounted Paperback of When Darkness Loves Us (Paperbacks from.

''When Darkness Loves Us'' is the shorter effort-about Sally Hixson, a pregnant farm-bride at 16 who is accidentally trapped in an underground cave. Booktopia has When Darkness Loves Us (Paperbacks from Hell) by Elizabeth Engstrom. Two unshapely, often-amateurish horror tales-one a longish short-shory with vaguely supernatural touches, the other a crude novella-length study of psychosexual mania.

When darkness loves us by elizabeth engstrom