The Haunting of Alejandra by V Castro

I would like to thank Titan Books for an advance copy of this novel in exchange for a fair and honest review

Publisher – Titan Books

Published – 17/10

Price – £8.99 paperback £6.99 kindle eBook

The story of a woman haunted by the Mexican folk demon La Llorona as she unravels the dark secrets of her family history in this ravishing and provocative horror novel from the author of Goddess of Filth.

Alejandra no longer knows who she is. To her husband, she is a wife, and to her children, a mother. But Alejandra is struggling and times of despair, a ghostly vision appears to her, a crying woman in a ragged white gown. When Alejandra begins exploring her family’s history, she learns that tragedy is not the only thing she shares with her ancestors. Because the crying woman was with them, too…

I do like that quote from Gaiman misquoting Chesterton that we need fairy tales to have dragons in order to remind us that dragons need to be beaten (although let’s face it dragons are cool). Battling monsters or demons can very easily be a reminder of the constant struggles we all have to face everyday. Perhaps not against the amassed forces of hell but in many ways things that are more important as they shape our entire lives. In V Castro’s powerful and thoughtful The Haunting of Alejandra we have a tale of a woman who not only is cursed by a strange demonic force but also as with so many of her ancestors battling to survive in an often cruel and uncaring world.

Alejandra is at a point in her life where she is no longer sure who she is. She knows that she has the role of a wife to a rich businessman who expects quiet obedience; she knows she must be the mother to her two children but now those roles are the only thing she is. She has no job, lives no longer in her hometown; far away from her recently discovered mother and the pressures of life are rising fast and increasingly terrifying. At the same time Alejandra finds herself feeling watched by some malevolent presence. Alejandra investigates with the help of her new therapist, and this uncovers a longer family curse linked to the ongoing legend of La Llorona but the spirit may be far more real than a simple legend told to scare children at night.

This is a very smart layered horror tale that on one level has a family curse that the latest generation needs to learn to face but also importantly has something to say about people feeling trapped in their lives within a society that often wants women to be only in roles that meet its needs. We get to witness various generations of Alejandra’s family and watch sexism, violence, depression and attitudes on abortion explored and the outcomes further back in time are very distressing but importantly accurate reflections of those periods – often the women lose and arguably a demonic force isn’t the only factor in this to make their outcomes horrific. What though is really encouraging and unusual is the exploration of having therapy explored. Alejandra meets Melanie who is also familiar with ethe more spiritual/magical side of life and its important that it shows its ok to talk; explore your feelings, look to change your perspective and get better. Watching Alejandra take control not against supernatural forces but also the human barriers in her way gives this tale a real feeling of empowerment which is really refreshing. Castro has done a beautiful approach to balancing these two halves of the tale to tell a compelling story.

This is a intelligent and powerful tale that mixes supernatural and societal threats with a lot to say about the world women face today and also importantly how to tackle it. Castro continues to be an author I’m always intrigued what they’ll have to show us next. Highly recommended!