The family's unofficial governess, Maggie Evans, and Carolyn Collins, find an old cameo with the inscription "From Barnabas to Roxanna, 1895" on it. The girls questioned Carolyn's mother, Elizabeth, about this Roxanna, wanting to know more about her. This sets up the flashback, in which we readers journey to 1895 to meet Barnabas Collin's long-distant cousin—Roxanna.
After getting into some difficulty in New York, Roxanna swiftly left for Collinsport, Maine, where she met her half-sister Ariel, and cousin Barnabas, who took a liking to her. Yes, a little thing called DNA won't prevent the cursed vampire from finding love—again.
To make a long story short, several gypsies are camping nearby, and one of them, the "gypsy witch," issues a dire warning that death is approaching. Soon after, several murders happen, and everyone blames Barnabas Collins.
Although the whole drinking blood thing is gross, a part of me envies the fictitious character Barnabas Collins, an immortal who can make any young, attractive lady fall passionately in love with him. In this novel, he has two ladies in love with him: Roxanna and a New Yorker named Molly. Molly is deeply in love with Barnabas, but he doesn't want to pursue a relationship with her any further, especially since Roxanna has suddenly entered the scene.
The Dark Shadows books seemed a little repetitious, and while somewhat campy and formulaic, I ended up liking Barnabas Collins and the Gypsy Witch.╌★★★★✰
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"The family's unofficial governess, Maggie Evans"
ReplyDeleteHow is she unofficial? She was the official governess.
The books took a different direction from the television series. A notable plotline involved Victoria Winer, the governess, which was left unresolved after the author had to remove the character due to the departure of the actress, Alexandra Moltke. As a result, Victoria was written out of the television series, and the governess role eventually went to Maggie Evans. In the books, Victoria's disappearance occurs suddenly and without any explanation. When the author needed a governess—more like a babysitter—he turned to Maggie. However, the continuity in the book series lacks any scene depicting her being hired for the role. Victoria's last appearance is in "The Foe of Barnabas Collins," but she is replaced by Maggie in the subsequent book, "The Phantom of Barnabas Collins," again without any explanation. For this reason, I refer to Maggie as the "unofficial governess."
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