Ammie, Come Home (1968)


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Listening: Classical Gas 

Georgetown #1

Some houses have a history you don't want to know. Ruth Bennett, mild-mannered widow and civil servant, discovers this when her spirited niece Sara comes to stay in her beautiful old Georgetown house. When a seance they host triggers something dark and old and evil, the two women, Sara's boyfriend Bruce, and his cynical anthropology professor Pat are sent digging through the house's history to try and find a solution. But as Sara sinks farther and farther into possession and Pat's behavior gets mysteriously more aggressive, time seems to be running out...

Spoilers Below


This is the first of MPM's modern-day Gothics (as compared to Victorian-set Master and Sons), and as with her other recent literary departure (The Jackal's Head), she's onto something good...even if she's not there quite yet.

As a ghost-story, it's surprisingly good. Spooky, with an ominous atmosphere (that cellar!!), and a compelling Revolutionary-era mystery to sink one's teeth into. And it's nice, too, to see a slightly more mature character take center stage...particularly when that stage is one MPM is familiar with as well. She lived in Maryland, not too far from where this story is set.

Although perhaps it's too much familiarity for her. Ruth Bennett, an almost rebellious forty-ish woman with an endless array of muted pantsuits, has an exasperated attitude towards pizza, protests, and miniskirts that could only come from a critical forty-ish writer.

Sara, the niece who keeps getting possessed by a remarkably uncommunicative spirit, is appealing without somehow ever being fully fleshed out. Possibly because all the action of the story is driven by her boyfriend Bruce (who makes a particularly disgusting comment about how 'there are girls you seduce and girls you rape') and Ruth's pushy love interest Pat, who is still pushy even when he's not being possessed by an evil ghost.

Neither of these male characters is particularly surprising when considered in comparison with MPM's other '68 romance in The Jackal's Head, which is both paternalistic and violent. MPM will hit a surprisingly progressive romantic sweet spot eventually, writing heroes to make anyone swoon (John Smythe! Ramses!). But it's going to take a little time to grow into that writer.

Lucky for us, the great heroes are coming soon. Meantime, Ammie is worth a read...if you can close your eyes to a touch of toxic patriarchy and some significant condescension.

Favorite Line: "Bruce ate a mouthful of eggs and meditated. 'I wonder how many of the great heroes of history would turn out to be a slow runner, if you ever investigated the circumstances.'

Rating: ***

Notes:
*This is the only novel of MPM's to ever make it to film. Check out The House That Would Not Die (1970), a made-for-TV movie starring Barbara Stanwyck and Richard Egan. It makes some pretty significant changes to the overall story, and MPM hated it so much she refused to sell the rights to any of her books ever again.
*This is also the first of three interconnected books centered around Ruth, her family, their friends, and the Georgetown house. The other two are Shattered Silk and Stitches in Time.

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