Changelings, fairies, witches, artists: Carol Goodman's Arcadia Falls

Within the first few chapters of Carol Goodman's 2010 novel Arcadia Falls I knew I was going to love it. The story was crafted with traces of three of my all time favorite books: Donna Tartt's A Secret History (a remote, mysterious school for unique students where pagan rites got practiced, located on the edge of a deep gorge ideal for murder), A. S. Byatt's Possession (a love triangle between two women artists/lovers and the man who comes between them, pregnancy, abandonment, grief), and Clarissa Pinkola Estes' Women Who Run With the Wolves (folklore, myths, changelings, ritual). I settled in for a dark, steamy, luscious read and I was not disappointed until... well, I'll get to that.

The story is simple on the surface. Meg Rosenthal is a recent young widow from New York, mother of an unhappy teen Sally, and broke after discovering that her recently departed husband Jude has left the family in dire financial straits. Meg applies for, and gets, a job at a quirky arts school located in deep forests of upstate New York, Arcadia Falls. The school was originally an artists colony known for its lush, sylvan setting in the deep woods on the edge of a dangerous but beautiful gorge complete with waterfall. In the early part of the twentieth century artists gathered there and, free of the need to make a living, blossomed in their various disciplines. Arcadia Falls was run by the cool, controlling Vera Beecher and her beloved LilyEberhardt. As artists they best known for their exquisitely illustrated books of fairy tales especially one called The Changeling Girl which was a favorite of Meg's early life.

Goodman creates an atmosphere so rich, lush and mysterious it throbs with Gothic intrigue and dark, delicious possibilities. Meg and her daughter arrive at the school in the midst of an autumn ritual about to be held and move into a the cottage that had once been the secluded retreat of Vera and Lily and their life together. A life that ended when Lily's affair with a sculptor who comes to teach at the school ends in her accidental death by falling into the gorge. Or was it an accident?

Within days an autumn Samhain ritual ends in death as a student, Isabel Cheney, meets with the same death Lily did. And the game is afoot. The cast of characters in Arcadia Falls is delicious – the dark, demanding headmistress Ivy St. Clare, a dishy, hunky sheriff in the nearby town, and a number of quirky artists/teachers from the school and local community.

Meg, while exploring her new home, discovers a secret panel behind the fireplace (how can anyone not LOVE a secret panel??) and inside she finds Lily's journal. At this point the book alternates between the present story and entries in Lily's diary, a literary device I happen to love. Meg also discovers that she is powerfully attracted to Cullum, the hunky sheriff.

I loved this story. I loved the atmosphere, the dark, pagan-themed rituals, the intrigue, the mystique. Upstate New York, especially the area of the Adirondacks, has always mesmerized me, so I sunk into this story and genuinely left the world. The writing was beautiful, the characters real, the settings luscious – there is even a segment set in an old convent, and we all know how much I love stories set in old convents.

So when the climax comes and the true story starts to unfold I'll confess I was a little annoyed with the clichés that began popping up (“I wondered how long it would take you to figure it out,” the villain crows, and then, “How do I know you're not lying?” Pretty cliché dialog.) But, okay, it was only a few sentences in an otherwise lovely tale. Then, with the villain vanquished, we come to the denouement, that literary device in which everything is finally made clear. Here I must confess I was sadly disappointed. Goodman, who is a very brilliant writer, concocted a deus ex machina explanation that came so far out of nowhere it was hard to believe she would even do that to her readers. I was crushed.

I love the way Goodman writes and I have ordered two more of her books and look forward to them. I adored this story until the final few chapters and still think it had moments of pure genius but, Ms Goodman, unless I missed something, you need to build a little more foreshadowing into your denouements. That was just weird. I look forward to the books that I ordered and hope you don't pull another stunt like that. But thanks for some great reading anyway.

Thanks for reading.