About the Book:

The secret society everyone’s dying to join …

A case of mistaken identity means Eddie Dontay is hurled into the exclusive world of New Haven School. Pretending to be Bartholomew “Brat” Van Buren III, the sole heir to a rich family, who mysteriously disappeared a year ago, Eddie is sent undercover to expose the dark secrets of the Gloomth society.

But all is not what it seems. Eddie must participate in a series of difficult initiations, which prove his fitness for the club, competing against other students. An increasingly deadly contest culminates in the most dangerous challenge of all at a horror-filled, legendary Gothic house.

Is joining the Gloomth really worth dying for?

Find on Goodreads. Find on Bookshop.org UK (affiliate link).

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About the Author:

M. A. Bennett is half Venetian and was born in Manchester, England, and raised in the Yorkshire Dales. She is a history graduate of Oxford University and the University of Venice, where she specialized in the study of Shakespeare’s plays as a historical source. After university she studied art and has since worked as an illustrator, an actress, and a film reviewer. She also designed tour visuals for rock bands, including U2 and the Rolling Stones. She was married on the Grand Canal in Venice and lives in north London with her husband, son, and daughter.

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Interview:

Pitch Your book in 10 words!

A secret society demands prospective members complete deadly gothic pledges.

A DEADLY PLEDGE, just like your previous three books, is a love letter to the gothic genre. This one goes right back to the beginning and the Godfather of Gothic Horace Walpole and the Castle of Otrano. What drew you to the Gloomth?

I loved the idea of a cult of melancholy and wallowing in gloom. I suppose it was an early version of the goth movement – if you spent your high school years dressing in black and reading Mary Shelley (guilty!) then you definitely have the Gloomth vibe!

The book is littered with references to THE COUNT OF MONTE CHRISTO from the start. There is a lot of debate in reading circles over whether it truly is a gothic novel. Why do you think some people are so against it being one?

I don’t know, but there seems to be quite the resistance to it. A lot of people want to define it as an adventure novel, in the vein of R.L. Stevenson or H. Rider Haggard. But for my money, when you have a book about someone who is framed by his best friend, sent to an island prison for fourteen years, gets schooled by a mysterious priest, escapes by faking his own death, finds a fabulous treasure, then absolutely goes to town on everyone who wrongs him, you’ve got a gothic novel!

The Gothic genre is a very rich mine of novels, novellas, and short stories. If you were shipwrecked and washed ashore upon a dark and gloomy island battered by the rain and the grey salt sea, which one would you race to save before the towering, dark stranger catches you?

It will surprise you to learn it would be THE COUNT OF MONTE CHRISTO. Not just because it is my favourite book, or because it is over a thousand pages long, so it’s kind of like taking three regular books! But also because it is not just a novel but an instruction manual. If I wanted to get off the island, Edmond Dantes would show me the way.

To pledge the Gloomth Society, Eddie has to complete multiple grim and dangerous tasks. Which was your favourite to write, and which would you be most afraid to do yourself?

I think the idea of being alone overnight with a dead body is the stuff of nightmares. But the other big one of course (although it is not strictly speaking one of the challenges) is being buried alive in a coffin. On balance that has to be the worst one of all.

Have you tried any of the courses from the gothic banquet? Which one did you enjoy most, and which one would you least like to try?

Actually no, not yet. I’ve tried components of course, but not as written. Great idea for a launch dinner though!

The story itself tackles the perils and dangers of unchecked privilege and entitlement especially in the hands of those pursuing power. The contrast between Eddie and Ulyesses is not as it might first appear – why did you choose that contrast over the appearance of the initial contrast?

Without giving any spoilers I think I wanted to show the change in Eddie. I think two people can be in similar socio-economic situations and act very differently according to character. Riches and privilege in the hands of some can be misused, and in others can be used for philanthropy and charity.

Please recommend a UKYA book you think readers will love.

HOW TO SURVIVE A HORROR MOVIE*, by Scarlett Dunmore – A very dark Malory Towers!

Thank you, Marina!

*Affiliate link