St Mary's Academic Publishes Debut Gothic Mystery Novel

Senior Lecturer in Film and Screen Media at St Mary’s University, Twickenham Dr Maria Mellins’ debut novel Returning Eden is available to order today. A gothic ocean mystery, Returning Eden is a grotesquely beautiful tale of love, friendship and transformation set in a world of monsters, sharks, castles, and corpses. The young adult novel tells the story of Eden Hollow, whose dark past follows her to the remote island of Cantillion, where she is due to start college. Before long a body dressed as Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz floats ashore and sets Eden on a series of sinister events. Together with her friends and the handsome but mysterious Dylan, Eden must confront her dark past as they stumble into a sinister plot that stretches the realms of reality. Dr Mellins said of the novel: “Fiction writing has definitely been challenging, but I have enjoyed every minute of it. I wanted to write something that included moments of genuine horror but also had a sense of warmth and tenderness. The inspiration for the novel came from various sources, including fairy tales, point horror novels, creature feature movies and gothic architecture. I am now looking forward to working on the rest of the series.” Dr Mellins teaches and researches on horror film, gothic fashion, and screenwriting at St Mary’s. Dr Mellins first book Vampire Culture was published in 2013, which investigates the recent rise in interest in vampire media. More recently she guest edited a special edition of Clothing Cultures journal, on Subverting Fashion.