Forbidden by Eve Bunting (review)

After influenza takes her parents in 1807, sixteen-year-old Josie Ferguson moves from Edinburgh to stay with her aunt and uncle on the Scottish coast. Uncle Caleb and Aunt Minnie are less than welcoming, as are the other residents of Brindle, who are suspicious and sometimes downright hostile toward Josie. She meets Eli Stuart and, despite his initial forwardness (he carries a stockingless Josie to his grandmother’s house after Josie is bitten by her aunt’s vicious dog), she finds him a kind, albeit odd, companion. Several people, including Eli’s grandmother, tell Josie he is “forbidden” but what exactly that means, she does not know. She is certain, however, after witnessing a horrific nighttime scene at the beach, that her aunt and uncle are up to no good and that Eli knows something about it. An innocent heroine, a brooding hero, a gloomy and atmospheric setting—all the elements of a classic gothic are superbly deployed here. Bunting uses the Scottish coast to great effect, making the lashing rain, gloomy fog, and howling wind characters in their own right. The transition of Josie’s opinion of Eli from pearl-clutching how-dare-he to ardent love-of-my-life is a bit sudden, but it’s in keeping with the novel’s overall tone of heightened drama. In the end, Josie and Eli truly cannot be together, but they (and a large number of ghosts) do manage to put a stop to the ghastly and murderous deeds committed by Brindle’s citizens. For young readers not yet ready for the moors of Wuthering Heights (or even Jamaica Inn) and who haven’t yet found Lawrence’s The Wreckers (BCCB 6/98), this would make a fine introduction to gothic tropes.