This is the first book I’ve read by J.B. Priestley and a great choice for this time of year. Published in 1927, it was filmed as The Old Dark House in 1935, although I don’t think I’ve seen it so can’t comment on how similar or different it is from the book.
The novel begins as married couple Philip and Margaret Waverton, accompanied by their friend Roger Penderel, get caught in a storm as they try to drive home through the Welsh countryside one night. The rain is torrential and with the roads starting to become impassable, they decide to seek shelter in an old, crumbling mansion, the only house they can see for miles around. It doesn’t look very inviting…
It was the house itself that was so quiet. Driving up like this, you expected a bustle, shadows hurrying across the blinds, curtains lifted, doors flung open. But so far this house hadn’t given the slightest sign in spite of its lighted windows. It seemed strangely turned in upon itself, showing nothing but a blank face in the night. You could hardly imagine that great front door ever being opened at all.
The door is eventually opened by a huge, silent butler and as the trio step inside their sense of unease continues to grow. The house is home to the Femms – the strange and nervous Horace and his fanatically religious sister, Rebecca. The Femms reluctantly allow them to stay for the night, but it quickly becomes obvious to the visitors that they’re unlikely to get much sleep in such an eerie, unwelcoming house. After a while, they are joined by two more people looking for shelter – Sir William Porterhouse, a wealthy businessman, and Gladys du Cane, a chorus girl. The rest of the novel describes the unpleasant, frightening experiences the five guests undergo during their night in the Femm household. It seems that there are other members of the Femm family who haven’t made an appearance yet – and when they do, the guests begin to wish they had stayed outside in the storm after all!
Benighted is a short, quick read and one that I enjoyed, with a few reservations. By the standards of modern horror novels it’s quite tame – I would describe it as creepy and unsettling rather than terrifying – but as a book from the 1920s, it has clearly had a huge influence on what Orrin Grey in the introduction describes as the ‘old dark house’ subgenre. There’s nothing supernatural going on in the novel; the creepiness comes entirely from the portrayal of the odd, sinister characters, the descriptions of the dark, desolate house and the mystery surrounding a locked door upstairs and what lies behind it. I was intrigued to learn that the Addams Family creator, Charles Addams, drew the illustrations for the opening sequence of a 1963 remake of The Old Dark House, because there are some unmistakable similarities between the Addams and Femm families!
Perhaps the real horrors being described in Benighted are the effects of the First World War, which ended less than ten years before the book was published. Priestley himself is quoted as saying that the novel’s characters are “forms of postwar pessimism pretending to be people”. This leads to some long passages in which Priestley explores the mental states of the characters and how they are affected by their night in the Femm house, most notably Roger Penderel who has experienced various traumas during the war, including the loss of his brother at the Battle of Passchendaele, and has been left disillusioned and cynical. These passages added depth to the novel, but at the same time I felt that they slowed down the pace of the plot and pulled me out of the story. In the end, this book didn’t quite work for me either as a horror novel or a psychological study, but it was still an interesting read and has definitely piqued my interest in reading more books by Priestley.
She Reads Novels 
I’ve been meaning to read something by J.B. Priestley for a while. Although the fact that the protagonists hab been affected by WWI which I often find an interesting them3 to explore, this may not be the novel to begin my reading adventure of J.B. Priestley with.
I found it enjoyable enough, but I think there are probably better ones I could have started with.
I read some Priestly a *long* time ago – Salt is Leaving (1966) and Found, Lost, Found (1976) I *think* – and remember enjoying them, although I have no memory of what they were about! I might dip my toe back into his collection if I come across them somewhere…
It’s good that you enjoyed them, even if you can’t remember what they were about! I definitely want to read more of his books so will look out for those two titles.
This sounds relatively manageable in terms of scariness. I’m hopeless at ghouls. But your conclusions put me in mind of what I felt about Henry James The Turn of the Screw – that it tried to do too much and ended up not really working on any level.
I didn’t find it as scary as I’d expected – more atmospheric and unsettling. The Turn of the Screw is a good comparison. That one didn’t really work for me either, for the same reasons you’ve mentioned.
Oh, now I’ve seen The Old Dark House but not read this – I’ll have to do something about that!
Definitely! It would be interesting to see how faithful the film is to the book.
I haven’t read anything by Priestley and this does sound good, I can’t manage horror but creepy is ok I think! You made me smile at the old, crumbling mansion – why would you stop there?!
I tend to avoid horror these days as well, although I enjoyed it when I was younger. This book was creepy in places, but not too creepy!
This sounds so familiar to me, but I know I haven’t read the book. Perhaps I saw the movie.
I need to watch it and see how similar it is to the book!
I’ve read The Good Companions, which was pleasant enough but too long-winded in my view. It didn’t put me off Priestley though and this one is a contender for my next attempt.
The Good Companions sounds very different from this book! I would like to read more of Priestley’s work, but maybe not that one.
Having both read the book and seen the film I can report that The Old Dark House is incrediby faithful to Benighted except in one climactic moment that I’ll not spoil.
As for other Priestley books, their quality varies. The Good Companions was his first real success and I think it excellent, as is the much later The Image Men, a sprawling, savage slash as the Sixties, but the one I’d recommend most highly is 1948’s Bright Day, which was written and set post-WW2 but which harks back to and brilliant recreates 1914, with WW1 approaching.
I haven’t got round to watching the film yet, but I’m pleased to hear it’s mostly faithful to the book. Thanks for the other recommendations – I’ll think about trying Bright Day.