A Face in the Shadow: A Novel and Its Creation

Abstract

This MA Essay consists of a novel of roughly fifty-two thousand words, A Face in the Shadow, written under the guidance of Dr. Anna Heiða Pálsdóttir, and an exposition on the writing process of the novel of roughly sixteen thousand words. A Face in the Shadow is a Gothic vampire story whose protagonist is the fifteen-year-old orphan, Alys. The setting is Britain in the year 1964, in the remote Rosewood Castle, a castle turned into an orphanage during World War II. Alys has lived there since she was six years old, has no idea how she got there and does not know what happened to her family. The two women running the orphanage, Mrs. Peacock and Nana, are harsh, and life in the orphanage reminds more of life in the century before. Finding a mysterious diary in the attic and a having run-in with one of the girls at the orphanage sets off a plot where Alys’s life is in danger.The exposition contextualizes the writing process of the novel, giving background information and detailing some of the research behind the novel. The exposition is divided into eight chapters: Introduction, Background Theory, Genre, Setting, Characters, Dialogue, Plot, Conclusion, and Works Cited.