Harvest Home by Thomas Tryon

Harvest Home, Thomas Tryon, 1973

My favorite quote: “You can’t negate the ingrained imagination of a whole culture.” (Ain’t that the truth?)

Notable characters: Ned Constantine, the main character; Bethany, his wife; Mary Fortune, aka, “Widow,” the local herbalist; Robert Dodd, the former college professor who rarely leaves the house; Justin Hooke, the current Harvest Lord; Sophie Hooke, his wife and chosen Corn Maiden

Most memorable scene: Sophie’s, ahem, choice on the day of the big festival. The choice itself isn’t the memorable part exactly, but what becomes of it. That said, Harvest Home — like all of Thomas Tryon’s books — brims with eerie unforgettable moments making it very hard to narrow down to a single scene

Greatest strengths: Thomas Tryon is no slouch in the writing department, and Harvest Home bring out the best in him, showing off pretty much all of his skills: setting, character development, pacing (although some will consider Harvest Home a slow book) and of, course, the fear factor, which Thomas Tryon famously excels at

Standout achievements: In Harvest Home, you can see the seeds of horror to come. It would come as no surprise to me if I learned that such authors as Stephen King and Robert McCammon were inspired by the work of Thomas Tryon

Other media: Harvest Home is the basis of the 1978 mini-series, The Dark Secret of Harvest Home, starring Bette Davis, David Ackroyd, and Rosanna Arquette. I’ve never seen it, but it sounds pretty awesome. Despite the killer cast, however, I daresay it’s time for a Harvest Home remake. I know a lot of folks are death on remakes these days (hating on remakes seems to be the latest trend) but to me it’s a matter of how well it’s done — and given the recent quality works I’ve seen from new horror-movie directors and producers the last few years, I think someone do a bang-up job with Harvest Home. Or Thomas Tryon’s other book, The Other

What it taught me about writing: In Harvest Home, Thomas Tryon uses setting to its fullest capacity. The fictional town of Cornwall Coombe in Harvest Home is as much a character as any of its inhabitants. Not to mention, it’s creepy and weird — also like many of its inhabitants

Disclaimer: Harvest Home is a slow-burn … emphasis on the ‘slow.’ For that reason, it has a very polarizing effect on readers. Chances are good you’ll either love it or loathe it. Personally, I dig it — and everything else by Thomas Tryon, whether his plot moves super-quick or nice and slow like it does in Harvest Home

Haunt me: alistaircross.com

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