More than a novel, a long fairy tale with very dark tones. More than a horror, a historical thriller with a markedly Gothic atmosphere, written in the modern era, but with the taste and style typical of mid-nineteenth century Anglo-Saxon literature. Why Katie by Michael McDowell, published for the first time in Italy in January 2025, is a work written by its author in 1982, but it seems in every way a book from another era. After having introduced McDowell to the Italian public, with the merit of having valorised the very successful saga of Blackwaterand after having printed The golden needlesNeri Pozza continues the project of translating the American writer’s corpus of works, this time with what the author himself had defined as his “cruelest novel”, and which “contains my most disturbing murders”.

Between treasures and murderers

It is 1871. Richard Parrock writes a letter to his niece Philo Drax in which he explains that he fears for his life. The young woman has never met him in her life – the cause is the old man’s conflicting relationship with his daughter who, according to her, was not yet married – but despite everything, she takes it upon herself to go and help him. The old man’s life is in danger because of the Slapes, an unscrupulous family feverishly waiting for the man to kick the bucket to take possession of his fortune. Hannah Jepson, the daughter-in-law, on the death of Richard’s son remarries John Slape, who has a daughter from his first bed named Katie, “who perhaps some would describe as a beautiful brunette, but who in my opinion has something diabolical”, for use Richard’s own words. All three live at Parrock Farm – the old man’s estate – eager to get their hands on his rich loot.

The loot, however, in the man’s intentions, is intended for his niece and her mother. Philo, with a trick, pretends to be looking for work and gets hired as a housekeeper by the Slapes (who in the meantime have full control of the estate). Young Drax soon discovers that her grandfather’s fortune is far greater than she could have ever imagined, capable of settling her, her mother, and the next generation. It is the prelude to a bloody treasure hunt, which quickly turns into a cross-hunt for the woman. A cruel obstacle course made up of brutal murders, escapes from New Jersey to New York, from Boston to Philadelphia, to avoid falling into the traps of justice, and more murders in rapid succession. Most of which have a hammer in common.

The hammer is the favorite and foolproof weapon that Katie uses to dispose of her victims. What transpires between the pages is an almost symbiotic bond between her and her heavy-headed instrument. The script is almost always the same: the young Slape, a sorceress, is able to predict the future. He reinvents himself in this profession, which was quite widespread in America at the end of the 19th century, with a further aim than just earning 25 or 50 cents for each ‘consultancy’. When a woman shows up at his table – the type of customer who most frequently wants to have his hand read – with a large amount of money or precious items hidden among her clothes, he has no qualms about brandishing the hammer to murder her and take possession of his possessions. The murders are quick and end in a few lines of narration: McDowell was not interested in dwelling too much on the cruelty of the single act itself, but rather in stringing together a long series of criminal episodes that could highlight and ‘exalt’ the ferocity , the crude brutality and total lack of mercy of what, in fact, is not the protagonist of his novel.

Katie vs Philo

So Katie is not the main character of the novel to which she gives the title? It might seem incongruous, but it’s true. Please note that Katie, however, is not a secondary character, improperly called, she is a minor co-protagonist, who still deserves to take the cover, and more. In fact, McDowell’s work begins with a short prologue, set in 1863 – and therefore eight years before the entire story -: there are five pages in which (at least for the writer) the ‘cruelest’ and almost gruesome cruelties of the entire novel. And which features 9-year-old Katie and her future stepmother, Hannah Jepson. It is Katie, in all respects, who constitutes the soul of the novel, she is the one who does and undoes, opportunist and bloody, a character who comes out of the pages, so McDowell managed to make her vivid. Yet his presence is much less accentuated within the novel than that of Philo, who is a character in the foreground, present throughout the narrative, a noble soul who grew up in absolute poverty, a candid young woman with sound principles, judicious . Philo is a character with a linear and limited evolution: she pursues her goal from start to finish, is forced to escape, falls in love and makes people fall in love. She also has an adventurous life and is determined, there’s no denying it, but everything about her figure suggests a happy ending. He is a character who floats, but who does not emerge.

But be careful: Philo is not the protagonist the reader deserves, but the one the narrative needs. And since the narrative needs to be supported, but the reader cannot be disappointed, Katie fuels the verve of the story with her ruthless insensitivity and her pleasure in other people’s pain. It is Katie – and with her her family – who leads the reader into a dark and hopeless world, in which evil seems to prevail, inexorably, over good. There are those who could see in Philomela the true strength of the narrative, for her resilience and her ability not to lose hope despite the tragedies that surround her existence. It would be a banal interpretation, faced with a character drawn in words with so much talent that he metaphorically punches a hole in the paper.

A few words should also be said on the construction of the story and on McDowell’s writing, on his mastery. But it is no longer a surprise, and therefore I limit myself to three adjectives: enveloping, pressing, refined.