Tess

Tess is a gothic suspense novel by Kirsten McDougall featuring Tess, a nineteen-year-old girl on the run from her past, who is “rescued” by an older widower and dentist Lewis Rose. They fall into an unlikely friendship against the backdrop of rural Wairarapa, New Zealand, where Lewis lives in a large historic villa by himself. Tess, who has inherited the power to see flashes of what people around her are thinking and feeling, is curious about Lewis's backstory, ultimately opening up a bizarre and tragic history of his family life. Set in 1999 at the turn of the twenty-first century, the book is part romance, part paranormal, gothic thriller.

The novel begins in 1999. Protagonist Tess is living on the road, with everything she owns in a backpack. She is on the run from something, though at this point it isn't clear what – the only thing that is clear is her strong desire to be far away from home. Tess is nineteen, and life on the road has been hard on her body. She hasn’t been eating enough and is beginning to feel ill when a man passes her on the road into a nearby small town and asks if she'd like a lift. The man is Lewis Rose, a middle-aged dentist. He drives Tess into town and drops her off, but moments later, a gang of street kids harasses Tess, getting more and more aggressive. Lewis sees this and intervenes. He insists that Tess come back to his house to stay for a while; hesitating, she finally acquiesces.

Lewis Rose's home is a large, sweeping villa among the rolling hills of the Wairarapa. It is a beautiful home, with a wild garden that hasn't been tended in what looks like years. Grateful for the hospitality, Tess is aware of the lonely, strange behavior of Lewis. There is also something strange going on in the house's garage, though Tess can't figure out what it is. Tess has a paranormal ability, inherited from her similarly gifted family, to see flashes of people's thoughts and emotions. Lewis, though kind at the outset, has particularly dark and lonesome thoughts. Tess wonders and worries about him.



As Tess stays on with Lewis, the two learn more about each other. Lewis, it seems, has had a difficult life, though what he reveals leaves Tess with more questions than answers. Lewis is a widower, his wife long dead in a horrible accident. His twin daughters, both about the same age as Tess, are not present in the home, and Lewis does not reveal where they are, or why he isn't speaking with them. On an even more bizarre note, Lewis has lost his only profession – nobody in town will let him look at their teeth anymore, and Tess can't figure out why.

Inevitably, Lewis begins to flirt with Tess. She rejects his advances, and they recover from the awkwardness of the situation to become friends. Living out their quiet lives in Wairarapa, Tess and Lewis slowly learn more about each other, seemingly helping each other to heal from the past traumas that have scarred them, leaving them both lonely and confused. Halfway through the book, intrigue is added when one of Lewis's twin daughters appears at the villa. Charismatic and charming, she reveals some loose threads from the family past that paint a clearer picture of the events that led to Lewis's isolation.

The novel ends with a tense revelation on New Year’s Eve, as the century disappears behind each of the troubled characters, including Lewis's daughter, Jean. The book ultimately seeks to portray the complicated and troubled life of a family, and the impact of friendship on those suffering from past pains.



Kirsten McDougall is a New Zealand author from Wellington. She graduated from Victoria College, where she received a Masters in Creative Writing. The author of both short fiction and short non-fiction, she has published two books. Her first book, The Invisible Rider, is a book of connected short stories. Tess, her second book, was published in 2017.