Anticipate a Ghostly Tale

The 131 Preview Review presents Author Lynette Sofras' Unworkers

      Ahh, the world of women’s fiction. Strangely, this is not a genera that I have been particularly exposed to over the years. To say that I stay far away from it would be an understatement likened to “The Atlantic is a big pond.” My reasoning is simple, I am not a woman concerned with marriage and children. I don’t have either as a concern in my life so there is no draw for me, to the concerns of its dramas and woes. But as a reviewer, I must leave my preferences at the door, and put on my Professional Reader Hat. I’m rather glad that I did.

       The book is a work in progress, a tale from Lynette Sofras, which she herself calls, “deeply personal.”

       The story opens with taking us back to 1838 and sucks us into a twisted world, where we meet Alice and Ellen, orphans and under-maids to a house run by the Stern Lady Eleanor and her husband. The house seems to take on a life of its own as Alice makes her way through its darkened halls to find her friend. Only to find herself having to hide as a Mister Edward locks himself in with Ellen. Alice hears her friend’s distress and in a frenzy tries to help, only to find herself at the mercy of the terrible Mister Edwards.

Jump to the present, the house, known now as Chichester Court still stands, and its previous owners are still the talk of many, although none can pinpoint the reasoning for the rumors of unscrupulous misdeeds. It has been sectioned off, the interior redesigned into apartments rented by the government to single women and their children.

       This Ghostly tale focuses on the residents, of the tenement. Gemma has two children, three year old Sam who is at once proved to be precocious, and something of a brat, and six year old Amy, slated with the quiet responsibility of being the big sister... Anne Baron and her six year old son Oliver who are the newest additions and Seventeen year old Paige who is a victim of her youth. Saddled with an 18 month old daughter, Courtney. Paige unhappily lives in one of the smallest apartments, on the upper floor.

Although the women do not know much of each other, they share similar problems. The elder are divorced and troubled in their own right. Gemma is haunted by dreams, which leave her feeling drained and consumed in a fog. Anne is still in the middle of her messy divorce and her son has not been well, seemingly plagued by dreams much like Gemma, so much, so that Anne is desperate to get her and Oliver out as soon as possible... The women have friends who try to sway their moods, but both prove to do little to comfort the women.

       The house continues to spook the women and Paige has blamed it for her mishap on the stairs which has left her rather lame. No one can quite put their finger on it, but there seems to be an air of the sinister all the same. But Anne’s friend Joanna tries to shed some much needed light. The house in her words is:

“…one huge, voracious parasite for the wrong kind of energy."

     Once the women meet officially the strangeness of the house begins to reveal it’s self in the form of a Mysterious woman in grey, who’s presence is immediately found by Gemma’s son, and soon even Anne catches a glimpse of her, leaving her with a chill.

It seems each of the women is touched in some way by the woman in grey, some feel her, others see her, but it is little Oliver who is most affected. The poor boy is tormented by nightmares of the terrible happenings in the houses’ past and is terrified that the man from his dreams is going to hurt his mum. He doesn’t want to sleep in his room anymore.

     Now there has been a break in to Paige’s little apartment, and the authorities think it was an inside job, but no one can seem to pin point the motive or cause of the apparent violence wreaked upon the apartment and Paige’s daughters belongings, which were the only things truly damaged in the vandalism. The women are trying to help each other through their turmoil, but at every turn, they seem to be heading down deeper into the rabbit hole.  

      Over all I think that “Unworkers” is a tale that will keep you guessing, and wondering just how far the hole goes. Keep your eyes peeled, as you never know what’s going to be darting in your peripheral. 

Until next time, dear readers of the Wee hours.... Take a gander at the other places you can find Lynette and her works. And click here to be taken to the Preview Review Interview.

Happy Writing!

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