A guest on a previous spotlight, I'm pleased to welcome back author Catherine Cavendish to talk about her latest novels, "Matilda's Retreat" and "Ghosts of Canterlands."
Me: Hello and thank you for returning to this! Since last we spoke, you’ve released your new novella, Matilda’s Retreat. What can you tell us about it?
Catherine Cavendish: Matilda’s Retreat is the name of a house that sits, isolated, lonely, and full of dark secrets, on a windswept moor. The story is in two parts – each centering on a female character and what happens to her and those around her when she encounters that house. The evil that has been committed there has infested every fabric of its being, with deadly consequences.
Me: Where did the inspiration for the book come from? Were there any unique stories about its conception?
CC: I grew up in Halifax, in Yorkshire, which is a town in the heart of the Pennines. It is surrounded by moorland and, as a child, I spent hours up on those moors. It’s Brontë country (Haworth is a few short miles away) and it’s always windy. The colors of the landscape are ever-changing, and it is magnificent, bleak, and timeless. You can spend hours there with not a soul in sight, but you can see for miles, and there are isolated houses, many quite ruinous, dotted around. I used to fantasize about those houses, wondering what tumultuous events might have been played out there. Any one of those buildings could have been Matilda’s Retreat – most are certainly old enough.
Me: Was there any special significance to making the characters interact through the alternate timelines in the story?
CC: Matilda’s Retreat started off as a short story I wrote for a fiction collection. Back then, it only told Lynn’s story, and I felt there was more to be told. That’s when I brought in Diana, who brings a different dimension and expands the evil nature of the monk and his mistress, who began it all.
Me: With the book full of traditional Gothic imagery, what type of checks do you do to make sure new releases like this remain at your previous standard of quality? When do you learn to trust your instincts while writing?
CC: First of all, I draft, edit, redraft, and then redraft again. If something doesn’t work, out it comes. I have been known to eliminate whole characters and entire chapters at a stroke. If it doesn’t move the story on, chop! Slice! Out it goes. A lot of it is gut feeling and experience. Then I sent it to Julia Kavan. She is my longtime friend and fellow horror writer who has an uncanny knack for spotting the folly of my ways. She reads a draft that I send when I have reached the stage where I think I have gone as far as I can, but need her insight. I also check facts when it comes to historical detail. There is nothing more annoying for a reader than to pick up on something that simply doesn’t belong in the story’s era. I hate it when you get a character using a modern phrase. I mean, honestly, name me a Victorian who would say, ‘Oops, soz, my bad!’ Yet I have seen similar instances recently. All credibility is lost when that happens, and in my case, I stop reading. right there.
Me: Was there anything while writing the characters that you were surprised by in telling the story?
CC: That’s an interesting question. When I write, the characters take over. What happens to them is then a surprise to me as well as to them. I don’t over-plot my stories. I have an idea of a general theme, location, main characters, and so forth, but not precisely what is going to happen. So if I am surprised or scared, I hope the reader will be too. This is the process I used when writing Matilda’s Retreat. The characters reacted in the ways I thought they would, by and large. I don’t think I would have been as brave as they were, though!
Me: Once it was finally written, what was the process for having it published?
CC: Crossroad Press is my main publisher for reprints of my earlier novels and novellas, and, in addition, published a new novella of mine (The Darkest Veil) a few years ago. When I realized Matilda’s Retreat was going to be a novella, I contacted them and asked if they would be interested. Fortunately for me, they were.
Me: As well, you have another upcoming novel later in the year called “Ghosts of Chanterlands.” What can you tell us about this book?
CC: Ghosts of Chanterlands is a novel that mainly takes place in 1940. Fourteen-year-old Pamela Courtney is evacuated to Chanterlands, where she will live with her two spinster aunts: Jilly, the eccentric one, who dreams of her days as a star of the silver screen, and Bunny, ever practical and down-to-earth. Pamela discovers the long-neglected attic and, as she sorts through the assorted detritus accumulated over generations of her forebears, ghosts stir, and an ancient feud reveals sinister secrets of this once-great house.
But, in the grounds, danger awaits Pamela, and the safety her mother wished for her takes a dark and fatal turn.
Ghosts of Chanterlands is scheduled to be published by Flame Tree Press in August 2026
Me: With the period setting of the book, did you do any extra research to help make the setting more realistic and immersive?
CC: Oh, yes. I always do. I have bookshelves full of history books, so I can check details. Chanterlands – the house itself – is based on a rather lovely and luxurious country house for sale in Country Life magazine. I share the late author, Jilly Cooper’s, addiction to the property pages of this great magazine. It is always so inspirational for locations! As for the otters who feature significantly, my husband and I spent hours in the freezing rain watching the antics of these beautiful creatures at Martin Mere Wetland Centre, a few miles from where we live.
Me: What type of work do you go through to ensure the characters’ personalities and behaviors are unique and different from how you’ve written people in other work?
CC: I prepare mini biographies of each of the central characters and describe them in sufficient detail to make them live. I also use the first draft as a way of fleshing out their personalities, quirks, individual characteristics, foibles, and so forth, including giving them a backstory which may or may not actually appear in the story.
Me: What else are you working on that you'd like to share with our readers?
CC: After Ghosts of Chanterlands, my next novel will be Vienna Hexen, which is coming out from Flame Tree Press in 2027. This one takes place in a favorite haunt of mine – Vienna. This amazing city is magical, mysterious, and full of secrets. It’s the perfect setting for a tale of a coven of witches whose origins go back hundreds of years, but whose influence is felt all too keenly by a group of three friends today.
My current work in progress is set in a tiny English hamlet where, following the death of her husband, a woman moves in only to find she has come to a place where time plays tricks and the line between reality and fantasy is hard to define.
Me: Lastly, being that this is Women in Horror Month, what special message do you have for any women out there looking to join in the industry in any capacity as you are one yourself? Thank you again for your time!
CC: It’s a simple one. Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t do it. You can!
Thank you very much for having me along here today to celebrate Women in Horror Month!
To follow her work, check out her link tree: https://linktr.ee/catcavendish
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