Amber Samsel: Outside Reading (Req. 2) - Blog 2

 I recently finished an amazing novel called Craven Manor written by Darcy Coates. In summary, this novel is about this man named Daniel who essentially is nearly homeless and receives a random job opportunity as a gardener for this old, abandoned manor. He takes it and finds out that his employer is technically dead and that there is a major secret living on the property with them. All good things in the end though! :)

Anyway, I wanted to connect this book to the Heroes' Journey. The first step of the journey would be the departure, yes? So, Daniel departed from his cousin's home and went to take the job at Craven Manor. The job opportunity itself was his calling. Of course, once he got there and found out it was haunted, he started to refuse the calling. For a little while he was not sure if he would be able to work there with a ghost as his neighbor. But eventually he stayed and therefore received supernatural aid from the little girl who's tomb is next to his gardener's cottage. This sets him into the fourth step of the departure: crossing into the first threshold. At this point he has now accepted that he is friends with a ghost and is now working with the unknown forces that still resided in the old manor. 

A bit later, it is clear that there are some trials that he must surpass in order to keep his job, and his new home. One trial would be his irritating cousin (hate that guy) who attempts to sneak onto the property and steal some of the possessions. Another trial would be attempting to learn the history about the manor and what happened to it's owners. His most dangerous trial would be the village. Fast forward into the middle of the novel, he must travel through the wilderness to find this abandoned and decrepit village to figure out what had happened to it's inhabitants, and how it's destruction related to the manor. 

Eventually, he is misinformed and assumes that there is a woman locked in the tower. She can be seen as the temptress in the journey of the hero. Danial works hard and comes up with a plan to help her escape, but unfortunately that does not go well because she is the reason the village in the wilderness had lost its inhabitants. The end of the story is an epic battle against the woman and at his side are the ghost and his employer. Luckily they win, and Daniel is able to keep his job and home. This is the return of the hero, who is now filled with newfound knowledge of what happened at Craven Manor. He shares this information with a select few of people that he trusts and all ends well. 

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