"The Haunting of Las Lágrimas" by W.M. Cleese is a captivating Gothic masterpiece set in South America in the winter of 1913. The story follows Ursula Kelp, a young English gardener who travels to Argentina to restore the gardens of Las Lágrimas, a long-abandoned estate located in the vast and desolate Pampas.

I’m going to be honest: I did took my time to enjoy this one. I had a good reason, though: I was waiting to arrive to Mar del Plata to finally read it. And it was worth it. The first part of the novel happens in this city, so I wanted to have the full experience, and it was delighful. This is like “Mexican gothic”, but more like “Argentinian Gothic”. As an argentinian reader, I loved it so much. I enjoyed every page of the book. It’s creepy and atmosferic, and the very well done research here is evident. You can notice with the foods, the traditions, the culture in general terms.

The Haunting of Las Lágrimas is a gothic horror that thrives on its foreboding atmosphere but falters a little when it comes to the characters. The book starts out well, establishing Ursula's situation and how she ends up as the gardener of an abandoned estate. The setting is evocative and menacing, pulling me in immediately. There's a sense of mystery about the house and its history - of course! - and the people living there.

However, as the story goes on I found Ursula harder to understand. Her motivations change frequently, and it's hard to believe she would feel sympathetic toward a character who was proven to be awful. The plot links the present to the past, with a devastating reveal. But because we spend so much time with Ursula (the book is told via her journal), everything is hearsay and we don't get to hear the other characters' stories from their POV. There are heavy themes here, including sexual assault, child death, and animal cruelty, so if this trouble you proceed with caution. If you enjoyed books like Rebecca and Mexican Gothic, this would be right up your alley.

This was book was really great!! I enjoyed it a lot, loved the characters and the world building. The cover is also so lovely.

felt very juvenile, expected more from it, but it was ok.

- thanks to netgalley and the publisher for providing me with the ARC in exchange for an early review.

A mesmerizing novel that managed to keep me on the edge of my seat for a few hours with an unforgettable
and enthralling blend of Gabriel García Márquez's magic realism and Stephen King's horror fiction, the very frightening and at times otherworldly adventures and sinister misadventures of a young talented and fiercely independent English woman working as a landscape artist in Southern Argentina at the beginning of the 20th century will stay forever engraved in my mind.....

A marvellous fictional tapestry full of colors, dread and pathos led by a small cast of exquisitely drawn characters.

Highly recommended and to be enjoyed
without any moderation whatsoever.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Titan for this terrific ARC

THIS WAS STUNNING! Lush, immersive and haunting, just the kind of story you dive into and even though it sends a shiver up your spine, you can't seem to put down.

There have been so many great books in the first quarter of 2022 that if you blinked you may have missed this little gothic gem - The Haunting of Las Lágrimas by W.M. Cleese. How to describe this deliciously gripping gothic chiller, imagine a cocktail with a dash of du Maurier, mixed with some Henry James Turn of the Screw and topped with a sprinkling of Silvia Moreno-Garcia.
What I loved about this book is the setting, books of this ilk are usually set is some creepy British mansion, however here the action is transported to the wildness of the Argentinean pampas and it works so well. All the tropes you would expect are still here, a mysterious old mansion, dark overgrown gardens and dangerous hidden secrets bubbling below the surface. Like Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s excellent Mexican Gothic which reinvented the haunted house novel, The Haunting of Las Lágrimas triumphs reinterpreting the gothic chiller genre. If you missed this class act of a book then I recommend adding it to your reading list.
Intense, creepy and meticulously detailed gothic thriller. Don’t miss this one Four out of five stars.

This is the absolute perfect book for anyone who's a fan of the 'governess gothic' - with a fascinating new setting provided by the Argentine Pampas and our Head Gardener protagonist, Ursula. If you loved Mexican Gothic or The Whistling, or The Haunting of Bly Manor, you're sure to love this slow-burn, exquisitely detailed look at a run-down Argentine estate and attempts to renovate its sprawling, labyrinthine gardens in the face of what may be a ghost... or may be a curse. The supernatural elements are creepy and well-placed, including the spectre of a mad axeman chopping down trees in the vast, encircling forest (which shouldn't have grown up so quickly), and locations which seem to have a mind of their own, inviting comparisons to The Shining. I absolutely loved Ursula's determination and - often - stubbornness as she balanced this life- and career-transforming position with her growing sense of unease, despair at the scope of the task, and the knowledge that leaving Las Lagrimas will involve a nearly inevitably fatal journey through the open grasslands of South America. While at times there may have been a few too many mysteries (those surrounding the maid Dolores, for example), it all just added up to a pervasive sense of dread surrounding the estate, and I genuinely feared for Ursula at times. Immersive and rich, this book was a luxury experience!

When it comes to the modern gothic, there are certain things that I think you guys already know I love: atmosphere, character development and even more atmosphere. Descriptions are always key to creating one hell of a great gothic whether old or new. One aspect of that description, and a large portion of it, should be dedicated to making the atmosphere as perfect, dark and strange as physically possible. I think that this book does it really well and almost sounds like the modern gothic has been stripped raw. The atmosphere is a blend of old and new and the idea of the 'curse' is something classic alongside the more modern aspects of the narrative. The modern gothic has not only been exemplified here, but it has also been blended with Latin American beliefs and historical ideas which gives it the dark whispery nature of an Isabel Allende novel.
Ursula is a gardener and is applying for a job in a house called Las Lagrimas. One day, she is told by another person that Las Lagrimas, though glamorous and decadent, harbours dangerous and dark secrets within its walls. The house is apparently cursed. By what, Ursula isn't sure and whether it is, she is cynical towards. But, when things start to go bump in the night, people begin to change and the age-old curse of Las Lagrimas comes crashing down around her, Ursula is forced to confront the difference between reality and fiction. In this beautifully written supernatural novel, W.M Cleese brings the Latin Gothic to life with dark and strange happenings whilst keeping the feet of the book firmly in aspects of character development.
In some ways, I liken this book to The Turn of the Screw where a young lady is looking for a job and so takes one up in a place where strange things have been seen to happen with an absent and odd man who runs the show behind the scenes, there is no wonder as to why Ursula feels like she is losing her grip on reality as the nanny did in the Henry James novel. I also liken it to The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson since the atmosphere of the house is absolute madness and always shrouded in dark secrecy. This is something I absolutely adored about The Haunting of Las Lagrimas because it really harkened back to the 20th Century Gothic and made a point of being both old and modern at the same time.
An author that I liken W.M Cleese to in terms of writing atmospheric terror is Daphne Du Maurier because of how light and airy it seems at first and then, it descends into complete darkness in the blink of an eye. The whole 'everything isn't what it seems' and 'look beneath the surface' aspect echoes back to Daphne Du Maurier's Rebecca and Jamaica Inn, and in some respects even My Cousin Rachel. I feel like The Haunting of Las Lagrimas is probably one of the better combinations of the whole aspect of the modern gothic I have seen in a long time.
All in all, I would love to read more by this author in the future and I'm looking forward to what they are going to be publishing next. A grand mixture between Daphne Du Maurier, Shirley Jackson and probably even Susan Hill, this author packs the novel full of dark glamour, sensationalism, madness and whispers. It is truly a work of incredibly atmospheric fiction that needs to be seen to be appreciated. It is something that is well and truly beautiful in a lot of ways.

As a fan of gothic stories this book immediately caught my eye. There has been a resurgence of gothic stories in contemporaneity, and I am all here for it. I do have to mention that the foremost comparison this book brought to my mind was, of course, Mexican Gothic, by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, both her and W.M. Cleese manage to transport the traditional story of gothic hauntings that were set previously on European grounds to a Latino setting, the first with Mexico and the latter with Argentina.

That being said I really enjoyed the setting and descriptions. I feel like the author did a great job at making us feel the whole vibe of the place. This book is not the most terrifying, but there are some chills along the way and I appreciate that. It almost feels like the estate is its own character, and I loved the take on the gardening aspect in the novel. There are certain moments that feel really oppressive and suffocating, and the chills were definitely there. I also enjoyed the aspect of the story being told after the events occurred as our main character is writing them down in her journal, this aspect reminded me of a lot of classic stories such as Frankenstein or Dracula where the tale is told to the reader after the facts.

Overall I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it to fans of gothic stories or anyone looking for a spooky read!

The unusual cover of this book caught my eye - I do love pretty book covers! I was hoping for a spooky gothicky historical, and I was not disappointed!

Argentina, 1913: Ursula Kelp developed her love of gardening because of her eccentric grandfather. When he died and left her his estate, she hoped to continue his work but he left lots of debts and her family refused to help her financially, so his house and garden had to be sold. Ursula's parents assumed she'd meekly return home and accept an arranged marriage, but instead she sets off to Argentina, determined to fulfil her dream of becoming a professional gardener. When she's offered the opportunity to become head gardener at the isolated Las Lágrimas, she jumps at the chance. But her new colleagues are distrustful and sexist, the garden is a hopeless jungle and, when Strange Things Happen, she starts to realise that maybe there was a very good reason that no one else wanted the job!

I really enjoyed this supernatural story and the unusual setting of Argentina. The location is brilliantly realised and I loved the character of Ursula, who knows she has taken on too much, but is determined to prove her detractors wrong. The house is deliciously spooky and the staff who work there are strange, eccentric and sometimes downright nasty. Her sleazy boss has problems of his own, and refuses to admit that he also hears the sound of someone chopping down trees in the wood when there is no one there.

I did find the story a little bit too slow burn at times. While I'm a keen gardener, and enjoyed the gardening detail, I can see that a reader hoping for jump shocks and gruesome horror might be disappointed. I loved the scenes from the past, that 'replay' every night, the floating lights and the deft weaving of the house's dark past into the story. However, the supernatural occurrences came a bit too thick and fast towards the end, and I found it hard to get my head around the logic of some of them.

The Haunting of Las Lágrimas is a slow burn supernatural horror story that would appeal to readers looking for a story with an unusual setting, traditional hauntings, and for fans of authors such as Laura Purcell (The Silent Companions).

Warning: Story contains mention of animal cruelty, an off-the-page rape scene and off-the-page BDSM.


Thank you to W.M. Cleese and Titan Books for my copy of this book, which I requested via NetGalley and reviewed voluntarily.

I love a good Gothic ghost story, tales with spooky, remote locations, creepy old houses, and buried history that the hero needs to uncover. These kinds of elements are great even on their own, but when a book has all of these things they just feel extra special. And The Haunting of Las Lágrimas has all of this in spades.

Our story begins after the events of Las Lágrimas, with our protagonist, Ursula, writing about her experiences from the safety of The Hotel Bristol in Mar del Plata. Straight away we know that something terrible is to come in this book. Yes, Ursula herself might be alive, she may get in the end, but we meet her as a woman plagued by nightmares, afraid of leaving her hotel room, and dealing with the trauma of what she went through. This instantly builds tension, before we've even begun to get into the true heart of the book; and is a perfect way to start this kind of slow burn horror novel.

Writing down her experiences, in order to put her thought in order and expel some of her demons, Ursula begins to outline her story. We begin with Ursula, a gardener from England who has travelled across the world to Argentina in order to escape her oppressive family and connect more with her lost grandfather, working as one of the staff for the wealthy Houghton family, and whilst the family treats her well, more like a peer than a member of staff, she wants something more challenging. As such, when she overhears a visitor talking to the head gardener about a job opening she approaches him about it.

The man, named Moyano, turns out to be the estate manager for the distant Las Lágrimas, a home built in the wilderness of the pampas, that is in the process of being restored and rebuilt before the owner, Don Paquito Agramonte, and his family move in. He tells Ursula that the estate is extremely remote, and the garden in huge disrepair. It's a task that no other gardener will take on, and that will test her skills and resolve to the limit. Desperate for a chance to prove herself, Ursula jumps at the offer and immediately sets out for Las Lágrimas.

After a two day journey via train and horseback ride, Usrula finally arrives at the remote estate. Moyano, it seems, was underselling the enormity of the work, and Usula finds herself in charge of two young workers, facing a huge walled garden that is full of weeds and brambles. Knowing that clearing the garden alone could take weeks, but that she has to have something worthy of showing Don Agramonte when he arrives, she sets out to do what she can.

However, as the days begin to go by Urusla starts to experience strange things at Las Lágrimas. The old house feels strange and oppressive, and the nights alone in her room are long and frightening. The few staff that are there whisper stories about hauntings, and refuse to divulge their secrets. She feels like she's constantly being watched, and starts to hear the sound of someone chopping down trees in the surrounding woodland. But strangest of all, parts of the garden seem to change on their own, reverting back to their original, restored state overnight, without anyone having done the work.

Despite being determined to make the garden ready, and knowing that it will take all of her tie, Ursula begins to find herself being drawn deeper into the mystery of Las Lágrimas, searching for an explanation for the strange events. But will her efforts stir up further trouble for her from both her living employers, and the spirits that make Las Lágrimas their home?

One of the ways in which The Haunting of Las Lágrimas really excels is in atmosphere. As soon as Ursula sets out for Las Lágrimas things start to take a turn, and you find yourself on edge. On her journey to the estate we learn some of the history of the place, the rumours of the hauntings, and we begin to understand the remoteness of the location. The estate itself seems to sit in the middle of nowhere, days journey from the nearest settlement, surrounded by endless grassland, dark forest, and ominous skies. The way Ursula describes it in her journal really does transport you there, and you can begin to see why it soon starts to prey upon her mind.

The estate itself is as much a character as any of the principal players in this story too, and its dark and draughty halls and overgrown gardens feel both vast and lonely, and overwhelmingly oppressive at the same time. Ursula often finds herself walking through the halls of the estate alone, listening to the silence around her, feeling the cold creeping in. Her one place of solace, her bedroom, often seems to be the focus of a strange, unseen visitor too, with strange noises just outside her door, and a horrible chill trying to get inside. It feels like there's nowhere for Ursula to get away from the dark forces always lying just out of sight.

Even the garden, a place where she can pour all of her focus and energy, a place that should make her feel at peace shifts and changes over time. It seems to slowly turn upon her, with unseen eyes on her back, strange sounds coming from round the corner, and even in the middle of the day it can feel like one of the most frightening places on earth.

W.M. Cleese seems to know how to build this tension throughout the book, and does so masterfully. Las Lágrimas is unsettling at first, but only because its an old building, a place in disrepair and in a remote location. But as the story progresses it starts to change, to become sinister in its own right. Cleese is able to increase the unease at such a slow rate that you don't even realise that it's being done, until both Ursula and the reader reach such a point that you never feel like you can let your guard down, and that nowhere in Las Lágrimas can provide safe shelter.

The fact that Las Lágrimas is so remote, and that Ursula doesn't know the way back to civilisation, means that this is one of those kinds of stories where you're not left shouting 'why don't you just leave?' at the protagonist. Usula has no choice but to stay and face the haunting. As such, she's forced to call upon wells of personal strength that she doesn't even know she has, forging ahead even when she wants to do the exact opposite. Because of this she comes across as a very strong and capable woman, doubly so due to the time the book's set. This is a time and place where women aren't treated with respect or given positions of authority, and Ursula is used to having to prove herself to others. She has a level of inner strength and confidence that not many others in the book possess.

I had a lot of fun reading The Haunting of Las Lágrimas, times where I couldn't put the book down because I was desperate to find out what would happen next, what piece of the mystery that Urusla was going to uncover; but there were also times where I found myself drawing my blanket in close and casting nervous glances towards the darkened corners of the room because the sense of horror was getting to me so much. I'm sure that there will be some people who will say that the book is a little slow, that there isn't enough 'in-your-face' horror going on to be scary, but the constant building dread, the sense of unease and fear that just went on and on were so much more frightening than I was expecting. If you enjoy scary mysteries, strong female protagonists, remote, Gothic locations, and spooky happenings, this is a book you're definitely going to want to read.

This is a strange one to try and review. It delivers what it promises, yet it somehow doesn't at the same time. The writing style is intentionally odd, it's jarring, it's meant to be - and it ALMOST pulls it off - but there are times when it looses its grip on what its trying to achieve and it becomes momentarily off-putting.

The gothic vibe is there (although I think the comparison to Du Maurier sets the reader up with unreasonable expectations), and the 'mood' is enticing throughout. The plot is enjoyable on the whole, though I do feel trigger warnings are needed for animal cruelty as some will find that upsetting.

Overall a good book; perhaps not the most impactful or rememberable book I'll read this year, but I enjoyed the time I spent with it.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Titan Books for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

https://lynns-books.com/2022/01/31/the-haunting-of-las-lagrimas-by-wm-cleese/
My Five Word TL:DR Review : Gothic haunting on cursed estate
My rating 4 of 5 stars

I enjoyed The Haunting of Las Lagrimas. It delivers plenty of gothic-y goodness, is told in journal style via a very pragmatic narrator and the style is a winning mix of old-style yet accessible writing, not enough to be off-putting but enough to set the scene and deliver a feeling of authenticity.

As we make Ursula’s acquaintance she is writing her diary, October 1913, The Hotel Bristol, Mar del Plata. This is not a pleasurable stay but one of necessity as we soon find out. Ursula is troubled by terrifying memories of the time she spent at Las Lagrimas and experiences intense fear and sleepless nights. She eventually lands on the idea to write down her experience in a journal to try and purge her fears and this is where the story begins.

We track back to August. Ursula is employed by the Houghtons to help with the garden of their property in Buenos Aires but she has greater aspirations and so when she learns that a head gardener is being sought for the Estancia Las Lagrimas, probably the grandest and largest estate on the Pampas, she jumps at the chance. Now you may wonder why Ursula would be accepted into such a prestigious role during such a period in history – basically, the estate has lain empty for many years following family tragedy, the new owner Don Paquito Agramonte, wishes to return his family to his ancestral home and unfortunately, due to the terrible rumours and superstitions that surround the estate, quite literally, nobody else will entertain the notion of working there.

The setting is perfect for such a tale. The house and gardens are remote indeed with a two day journey being necessary to reach the nearest small town. The gardens are overgrown and the house cold and draughty. There are few staff and only a couple of labourers to assist Ursula with her task, a task so monumental that she initially fears she may have been over enthusiastic in believing she could attempt it. The place itself is frequently weighed down with an oppressive air leaving Ursula and the others overwhelmed with despair.

The garden itself was the creation of a famous designer but now bears little resemblance to his original concept. Outbuildings lay hidden under masses of weeds and nettles, the forest has grown excessively and on top of this a huge wall has been built between the house and garden that is both puzzling and ominous in nature. I have to say that Cleese has definitely nailed down the gothic feel here. On top of which there are no shortage of spooky occurences, creeping footsteps and inexplicable noises in the night, the sound of a woodsman chopping down trees during the day and the inexplicable way that little progress seems to be made in spite of much furious hacking and chopping together with the overnight reinstatement of certain elements that having been removed or improved during the day seem to have reverted to their former state once the morning comes round again.

There are few characters. Moyano is the building manager. There is a cook, a maid, a couple of workmen and a general handyman. Of course, there are other appearances but I won’t elaborate on those here other than to say they are definitely not friendly.

In terms of the plot. I thought the story surrounding the curse was well thought out. I really enjoyed the writer’s style which was really evocative of the period providing descriptions that added to the darkness of the tale. This isn’t a fast paced story but the momentum increases slowly but surely until all hell is eventually let loose.

In terms of criticisms. I don’t really have any criticisms for myself but I think some may find this a little slow. I actually really liked the pacing and the descriptions but just wanted to mention that this isn’t necessarily a book that you will speed through – that being said I read this in maybe two or three sittings because I was definitely in the right mood for a spooky and eerie tale. I would also point out that there are two dogs in the story and a little bit of cruel treatment – although I didn’t think this was gratuitous at all, just a small warning.

Overall I enjoyed this. It’s dark and foreboding and deliciously creepy. It has a feeling of yesteryear and for me it gave me Haunting of Hill House or the Woman in Black type vibes (although I would stress that it in no way mimics either of those stories).

I received a copy through Netgalley, courtesy of the publishers, for which my thanks. The above is my own opinion.

I wanted to love this book based on the premise and the cover... Unfortunately, I couldn't finish it. I think I DNF'd it after around 20%. Not really sure what else to say. Didn't enjoy it.

This will go live on 22 February:

There’s no denying it was love at first sight. It was the magnificent cover that drew my eye (the skull! the flowers!), the title that sparked my interest further (haunting! the promise of a Spanish / Latin American setting!) and the blurb that sealed the deal.

Was The Haunting of Las Lágrimas everything I’d hoped it would be? Well, perhaps not quite…

The Haunting of Las Lágrimas tells the tale of a young English woman who has been deeply let down by her family back in England and is still mourning the loss of her beloved grandfather with whom she shared her love of gardening. Travelling to Argentina, she thought there wouldn’t be an Englishman for miles and the weather would be nice and warm. Highly disappointed on both counts, she is working as part of a gardening team for an English family, until she manages to procure herself a job as head gardener on an abandoned estate in the middle of nowhere. As it turns out every other available gardener in the vicinity turned down the job because the estate is supposedly maldita – cursed.

Not one to believe in ghost stories and old wives’ tales, Ursula settles herself in the estate ominously called Las Lágrimas, the tears, determined to do a good job, to prove she can do it just as good or even better than any man. But before long, she starts noticing things, weird things, creepy things and the situation goes from bad to worse.

I was intrigued from the start, the opening chapter being a diary post from Ursula who clearly escaped something bad and is looking back at it, still quite traumatised. Similar in tone to my favourite classic, Rebecca, I expected a gothic tale in a gothic setting and The Haunting of Las Lágrimas delivered. The estate is a perfect setting, and so are the Pampas, the desolate Argentinian grasslands.

The Haunting of Las Lágrimas is a mix of historical fiction, thriller and horror. It always kept me interested and eager for more, and there are some magnificent spooky scenes in there that chilled me to the bone.

However, there was one element that bothered me, and I think many other readers will feel the same: there are quite a few instances of animal cruelty, and what’s worse: they felt very gratuitous and completely unnecessary (we know we’re dealing with maleficence here, we don’t need it spelled out in animal blood) and moreover some of it just doesn’t make sense, or at least it didn’t to me. I feel that telling you more would be spoiling, among other things, the main theme of the story, which you find out along the way and is too important a reveal for me to just tell you, so I’ll leave it at that, just beware if animal cruelty is difficult for you to read about.

Overall, The Haunting of Las Lágrimas was an entertaining and delightfully gothic haunted house story and I had a good time with it, bar a few scenes that unfortunately did affect my overall reading experience.

The Haunting of Las Lágrimas is out now in digital formats and paperback.

Thanks to Titan Books and NetGalley for the eARC. All opinions are my own.

Not one of the best horror books I've read but it definitely had its moments. Honestly, I'd recommend this to anyone trying to get into horror.

DNF at 25%.

I sadly could not get into this book. At first I requested this as it was sold as giving a bit of “Rebecca” and “Mexican Gothic” and I was super excited to read it.

However the MC is rather jarring/grating to read and this wasn’t giving me the gothic elements that I loved from the above two books.