Review: 'A Thousand Monstrous Forms' by Saratoga Schaefer
Pub. Date: 15 September 2026
Publisher: Crooked Lane Books
Artist Poppy Reed doesn’t care if others think her marriage to Celia Marie Fox, a wealthy art dealer, is impulsive. Sure, they’ve only known each other for six months, and Celia has an infamous romantic reputation, but Poppy is brimming with excitement when she moves across the country to Celia’s home: a formidable, isolated, and art-filled manor called Busirane.
As Poppy tries to celebrate her first weeks of marriage and enjoy her new home, Busirane seems intent on rebuffing her every attempt to settle in. Strange noises and confounding occurrences lead Poppy to believe the house is haunted, a suspicion worsened by Celia’s insistence that Poppy avoid the locked basement.
When Celia leaves for a work trip, Poppy is left alone in the house, then finds herself snowed in. Surrounded by secrets, stalked by faceless statues, and beset by bodiless whispers, she struggles to trust her wife—and her own mind. When Poppy is eventually drawn to the forbidden basement, dark truths shatter everything she thought she knew, throwing her into a desperate bid for survival.
A Thousand Monstrous Forms is a delightful take on a Gothic drama, interwoven with fairytale-motifs and intertextual connections to Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queen (1590). The text that came to mind most strongly, however, was Carmen Maria Machado's In the Dream House. That book is memoir in which Machado details the abusive lesbian relationship she was in, using literary devices and the idea of the house to break down and analyse her experiences. In the Dream House is therefore also a deeply intertextual text, one which makes sense of life through the thoughts and words of others. In this way, for me at least, Machado proves how literature can provide a frame of reference for lived experiences and can also be a way of working through those selfsame experiences. In a very different but for me similar way, Schaefer also finds a way to describe to stress and claustrophobia of an abusive dynamic, the sharp edge of love tinged with fear. This does mean that for readers who think this might be difficult to read about, it is worth checking out the content warnings, but I believe Schaefer treats it in a nuanced and honest way without taking an easy way out. This is not about making one person a monster, but it is also not about letting previous trauma override current behaviour. It's a fine line, but Schaefer walks it confidently.
Poppy is so excited to be moving in with her wife, Celia, even if her wife's ancient mansion Busirane is lowkey creepy. After a whirlwind romance, the two now want to begin enjoying their wedded bliss, except that Busirane seems to have different thoughts. Poppy feels watched and targeted and even her wife seems to be acting differently. Is Poppy making all of it up or is more going on? Are the nerves she's feeling after-effects from her previous, abusive relationship or is Celia really hiding things from her? And what's up with that basement she's not allowed to enter? Crucial to a Gothic novel is a woman just naive or desperate enough to accept a living situation that is verging on deadly and with Poppy, Schaefer nails that balance. While you will wonder why she chooses to stay, you will also come to understand it and witnessing her growth, slowly if surely, is a great part of the reading experience. I also appreciated the various horrors, from moving statues, creepy paintings, and haunting music to the more pedestrian but no less horrifying gaslighting of an abusive relationship. Schaefer weaves it all together in a way that feels natural but nonetheless also surprising. Celia also makes for a complex character that you'll waver about throughout the book. I would have loved a little bit more work on the outside characters, especially Poppy's friend, but I also appreciate that the form of the novel requires isolation.
As I said up top, I have been consistently amazed at Saratoga Schaefer nailing every genre they write in, but for me this is definitely next level. Serial Killer Support Group was a great thriller with some genuinely amazing character work, while Trad Wife was a delightful Gothic take on a psychological thriller and social commentary. In A Thousand Monstrous Forms, Schaefer ramps the Gothic up a notch but deepens it through the connections to fairytale-material and The Faerie Queen. It makes for a fun reading experience where you end up puzzled, wandering through corridors of allusions just like Poppy is wandering through the halls of Busirane. Naturally, if you are familiar with the Bluebeard stories or The Faerie Queen, then the steps will be recognisable, but that doesn't rob them of their impact. There is also a lyricism to Schaefer's writing, especially the imagery, in A Thousand Monstrous Forms which fits this particular story very well. I find it very exciting to watch them develop their craft in this way, nailing different tones and atmospheres with such seeming confidence. I cannot wait to see what Saratoga Schaefer comes up with next!
I give this novel...
5 Universes!
A Thousand Monstrous Forms is a brilliant Gothic novel, full of haunted houses and haunting pasts, betrayal and love, and the feeling of something shattering and being reforged. I can recommend it to anyone with a taste for the Gothic.
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