Weep, Woman, Weep: A Gothic Fairytale about Ancestral Hauntings by Maria DeBlassie – Review by Roxsanne Lesieur.

Weep, Woman, Weep by Maria DeBlassie
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Mercy is a woman, a woman both haunted by her past and trapped by it, she lives in Sueño, New Mexico, she is stuck between the Rio Grande river and the Shadow Lands which are haunted by the spirit of the Weeping Woman, or La Llorona as she is also known. La Llorona roams the riverside and weeps and wails at night for the husband she lost to another and the children she drowned to spite him, however, when she realised what she had done, she herself drowned in the river which is where she now draws unsuspecting female victims to drown and join her in a watery grave. All the women and girls in Sueño are taught from a young age to fear her and avoid the river banks at night as well as keep their sadness in check, for it is when they are at their most vulnerable that the Weeping Woman will come to take them away, for she has marked their families in the past and although the mark dilutes over time, it still exists and makes anyone with that mark a stronger connection and a destined target for La Llorona.

Mercy had learned from a young age not to count on anyone but herself and that her only future was with a man to whom she will bear children, with the hope of them being sons and not daughters and keep whatever happens between them behind closed doors, however, she and her best friend have bigger dreams, dreams of leaving Sueño behind and all the sorrows which dwell there. However, this was not to be when shortly before they could enact their plans to leave, her best friend is taken and Mercy’s life is forever changed as she battles not to become the next victim, so Mercy works hard and builds up the money so that she can finally accomplish the dreams of a childhood lost to sadness and heartache.

As the years pass and Mercy works her land, she cannot escape the call and one day finds herself at the riverbank just before sunrise and after a fierce storm, where she is dragged into the muddy, unclean waters of the marshy riverbank, but she is saved by a man in more ways than one that day and again, her life changes. Mercy soon realises that she has not escaped unscathed from the attack and now she has been given a gift thanks to the Weeping Woman, but will Mercy find a way to live with the changes, or will this gift turn into a curse stronger than she can break? This is a twisted fairy-tale melded with gothic horror in a town where nothing is as it seems and people sweep things under the carpet so they can try to forget and avoid the haunting events surrounding them.

Reviewed by @roxsannel

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