The Brides of High Hill by Nghi Vo
The Brides of High Hill (2024) is the fifth installment in Nghi Vo’s SINGING HILLS series of novellas. I found it a solid enough of a story if a bit slight, though it’s possible that if, unlike me, you’ve read the others you might have a more positive response.
Cleric Chih is accompanying a young bride, Nhung, and her parents to the estate of Lord Guo, where Nhung is to be wed to her wealthy but far older husband-to-be. Upon their arrival, while everything seems fine on the surface — nice quarters, the usual ritual series of banquets — as Chih and Nhung spend more time there more and more disquieting elements crop up: a son who seems to be suffering from some sort of illness (or curse)that sees him locked away and on occasion sedated; strange containers of foul-smelling herbs, ominous warnings, oddly reticent staff, and hints that something untoward has happened to the estate owner’s prior wives (think a hint of Bluebeard’s Wives).
Vo shows a deftly precise hand in constructing the book’s pace: the story moves smoothly along, opening relatively slowly with quiet conversations, time spent vividly detailing physical settings, clothing, and food (particularly food), all so the reader can settle in comfortably before a creeping sense of dread begins to emerge, disturbing that comfort as the narrative slowly begins to pick up the pace until exploding into action towards the end.
The details/worldbuilding are relatively sparse as accords the novella form, but more than adequate and sharply vivid at all the right points. A gothic sort of atmosphere is nicely conveyed via shadows, an isolated estate, signs of rot and decay, the “crazy in the attic character”, odd dreams, and more. The twist at the end is mostly well handled and set up with enough sign posts that I’d say you can see an idea of what’s coming but not enough so that the close doesn’t come as a surprise in its details.
All in all The Brides of High Hill is a well-crafted, well-constructed tale that shows an author in complete control, even if I can’t say I was emotionally engaged or felt wholly compelled by it. Those with a more long-lasting connection to this world/character may get both the appreciation of the writing and the emotional bonus.
As Chih and the bride-to-be explore empty rooms and desolate courtyards, they are drawn into the mystery of what became of Lord Guo’s previous wives and the dark history of Doi Cao itself. But as the wedding night draws to its close, Chih will learn at their peril that not all monsters are to be found in the shadows; some monsters hide in plain sight.
Not saying that violent revenge hasn’t played a part in previous Singing Hills tales, but this one had by far the bloodiest ending. So definitely more of a horror story than a dark fable, which is more how I would describe the earlier novellas.