The Witch Behind the Washbasin by Genevieve Carroll

This review first appeared on Reader Views. Read the Reader Views version here.

Annemarie has recurring nightmares. One features a terrifying witch. Another, nearly drowning with her brother in a pool. However, her own waking life is plagued by her mother who favors one of her brothers. Her family is never filled with physical affection, and she notices that the most contact she has is kissing her father on the cheek once a day. But she loses even that small bit of affection with his untimely and ill-acknowledged death. She finds joy in a childhood friend. However, after an incident with him, Annemarie is sent to a strict Catholic school where she encounters the witch.

Told nonlinearly in a combination of short stories and poems, The Witch Behind the Washbasin is elegant, poignant, and the right dose of dark. Author Genevieve Carroll comes at immense issues from the side, often hitting you with meaningful prose when you thought you had been lulled into pleasant narration. Yet, somewhere in your reading experience, you could sense that piquant passion lurking just out of sight.

Although brief, The Witch Behind the Washbasin explores heavy themes of emotional manipulation, abuse, and death. Yet delving into these issues, the book is not voyeuristic nor overly dark. In many cases, the examination of these issues is cerebral or, at least, reflective. This allows readers to tread as delicately or headlong as they like into these themes.

This is especially done in the poems that close out each section of the book. They will give the reader pause in the best way—asking them to take time and search for connections and meaning between the prose and the poem as well as the overall narrative. Lovely is perhaps not the best word to describe the reading experience, but that is the sensation that comes to mind for how it feels to be honored with participation in this book’s journey.

The Witch Behind the Washbasin is masterful. Tackling heavy themes deftly, Carroll invites readers into the world, dreams, and life of the troubled Annemarie. With the thoughtful poems that close out each section of this slim book, Carroll allows readers to ponder meaning and reality. Elegant, poignant, and reflective, The Witch Behind the Washbasin, intended for teens 12+ as well as adults, is well worth a read.

The Witch Behind the Washbasin by Genevieve Carroll, Rosemary Ellen Tingley