Book Review: The House of a Thousand Candles by Meredith Nicholson

The House of a Thousand Candles by Meredith Nicholson

It is usually a dim daze and a call to adventure that makes a mystery exciting. The House of a Thousand Candles is a classic mystery thriller that has all the elements of a good, immersive mystery. The book was originally published in 1906 and has been made into movies twice since then. The story of the novel goes like this. A witty young man named Jack Glenarm has squandered all of his father’s money in his travels and wanderings. It is the month of October, when he receives a call through which he is informed that his grandfather had passed away in the month of June.
A lawyer named Arthur Pickering calls Jack to read to him the will of his grandfather John Glenarm, who was a rich man. He tells Jack that his grandfather entrusted him with the will and he was a loyal friend of him. But Jack doesn’t seem to trust Pickering, who was also one of his schooltime friends. According to the will, young Glenarm will receive his inheritance, but there are some tough stipulations attached to it. The main condition is that Jack has to stay in his grandfather’s mansion for an year without travelling away from that area during this time. The other condition is that he is forbidden to marry a young woman named Marian, who lives there. If during the term of this year, he marries this woman, then the entire inheritance will go to a Christian girls school named St. Agatha’s in the village.
His grandpa’s house is a secluded mansion located in rural Indiana, a setting around which the major portion of the novel is set. Jack, who is already short of money, decides to move ahead for his stay in this mansion, thinking that it would be a no big deal. So, Jack proceeds toward the mansion. Upon reaching there, he is welcomed by the housekeeper Bates, who was a loyal servant to his grandfather and who had transmitted the news of his death to Pickering.
Jack’s grandfather was an avid lover of all things architecture and design. He had specially gotten foreign artists and labourers to build this mansion, sculpting the intricate details and designwork. The moment he stepped inside the mansion, he already came across some of the finest architectural details crafted in the interiors as well as outdoors. Towering stone walls, luxurious palatial-style rooms, shimmering colossal crystal chandelier dangling from the high ceiling of the lobby, fireplace crackling with hickory wood logs, a majectic fireplace mantelpiece and a mammoth library full of bookshelves slinging with tons of books on subjects of architecture and design. But the most unusual thing he notices inside the mansion is candles. There are about hundreds and hundreds of candles illuminating the mansion from the inside. From tallow candles to expensive silver candlesticks, there are varied candle sconces tucked everywhere, from the walls to the tables. Bates tells him that his grandfather was highly passionate about collecting different types of candles and so he usually imported them from around the world.
Outside the mansion, Jack experiences sunset skies dripping with the festal colours of red, brown and gold. There is a small lake where some people are paddling in their canoes. As the moon mirrors itself in the glassy lake, Jack tours around the territory, walking through lush woodlands, countryside courtyards blooming with seasonal flowers with a view of a girls school bordering the other side of the lake. Everything is as tranquil as it could be, until, one night, Jack almost gets shot down by a bullet while he is sitting beside an open window reading a book.
From there on, the mansion, as serene and beautiful it appeared to him, turns into a haunted place brimming with creepy secrets. As time goes by, he learns of secret treasures buried in the mansion, he hears ghostlike figures walking behind the wall, he discovers an underground tunnel that leads to a chapel adjoining the school. How many unrevealed passageways are snaking inside this mansion, he wonders.
This mysterious enigma presented in the novel is further enhanced by a romantic subplot that is the cherry on the top. Jack, while taking his daily walks through the countryside, repeatedly comes across a school teacher named Marian who also plays music. He usually spots her wearing a skirt and a red tam o shanter, a type of women’s hat with a bobble attached to it. Gradually, he falls in love with her, forgetting that he is forbidden to marry her, in case he wants to receive his grandfather’s inheritance.
One day, as Marian leaves the village to go to Cincinnati, Jack finds himself tempted to take a train and follow her. And so, he ends up breaking one condition of his grandfather’s will. Pickering, who is already seeking to grab the mansion’s buried treasures, learns about Jack’s disappearance from the mansion. He uses this opportunity to tell Jack that he will now not receive a nugget of his grandfather’s inheritance. But soon enough, Jack’s friend Larry, who is a guest in the mansion, discovers The Door of Bewilderment hidden inside the secret underground tunnel of the mansion, enclosed by loose bricks and lightly plastered cement. Behind the door, is a bundle of papers containing grandpa’s notes, according to which, Pickering had taken a huge debt of $320,000 from Jack’s grandfather. They come to know that Pickering was plotting against Jack. Together with Larry and Stoddard, the village’s chaplain, Jack drives away Pickering and his team, who are all after the buried treasure.
On the flip side, Jack had begun to think that Marian is mixed up with Pickering and she is the one who had told him about his disappearance from the mansion. Jack turns revengeful against her, despite his initial adoration and love for her. Jack even starts doubting Bates. Everybody seems to be involved in the conspiracy against him.
At last, an enormous twist unfolds in the story when through a secret passageway concealed inside the chimneypiece, Jack’s grandfather steps in. He had never died. All this time, he had been living isolated in Egypt. He had actually plotted this entire drama for various reasons. Firstly, he wanted to know who was actually faithful to him. Pickering was not. And second, he wanted Jack to pay attention to his architectural expertise, by uncovering the clues he had hidden inside various places in the mansion. Only two people knew about the truth about his grandfather. One was Bates and the other was Marian. The old man also reveals a box of treasure that he had hidden inside an iron safe tucked behind the chimneypiece.
The novel wraps up with a happy ending with Jack’s love for Marian rekindled into a marriage and he becoming the sole owner of his grandfather’s inheritance.
The novel features elaborate descriptions and classical retro-themed writing style, interesting purpose-driven characters and a plot characterized by a thrilling mystery and tidbits of romance adding to the perfume of the storyline. I totally enjoyed reading it, and so will you if like to read mysteries and adventure thrillers.
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