Your House is on Fire, Your Children All Gone

by | Apr 30, 2013 | Reviews

Kiesbye’s atmospheric novella brings to life the tale of the four youths—Christian, Anke, Martin and Linde–raised within the confines of the German village of Hemmersmoor, a community purported to be along the region of Germany known as the Devil’s Moor.  As personified by its regional designation, the remote village of Hemmersmoor is shrouded in malevolence; it is also a place inhabited by superstition.  Furthermore, the rustic German location and the extremity of violence and cruelty committed amongst loved ones makes the stories recounted within the novella reminiscent of some of the Brothers Grimm’s grisliest fairy tales.  Without revealing too much of the surprising brutality within the novella, I will divulge a few of the choicest bits:  there is incest, rape, and even murder–all conveyed with an almost otherworldly straightforwardness that makes the reader believe the events are perfectly natural to these villagers.  For example, a woman is penalized in a remarkably harsh manner simply because her cooking is just too good; however, the shocks do not stop there…

Though Your House is on Fire, Your Children All Gone is packaged as a novella, it really consists of the four main characters taking turns relating stories from their perspectives.  While the conflicting viewpoints are intriguing—especially because there are two male and two female voices–it makes the novella come across as a bit disjointed.  That said, Kiesbye tries to rectify the inconsistencies within the narratives by occasionally mentioning and/or featuring events and characters from one tale in another; this helps, but only to a certain extent, which may turn some readers off.  However, as someone who is particularly fond of plots featuring seemingly paganistic societies and quasi-sacrificial incidents –films like The Wicker Man and Wake Wood, as well as stories like Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” and Stephen King’s “Children of the Corn” come to mind–I was personally not able to put this book down.  If you like your violence and terror cloaked under the guise of small town legends and superstitions, then Your House is on Fire, Your Children All Gone  might just be a read for you.