The Shortest Shortcut to Spooky: The New Daughter

Article by Jordan S.

The Shortest Shortcut to Spooky looks at short story collections by noted horror writers story-by-story and seeing if they are 1) scary and 2) interesting. We’ll be starting with John Connolly’s Nocturnes, his first short story collection. Last time, we looked at the short story the Erlking and it's terrifying eponymous monster. This time around, we’re reading the next short story in the collection, “The New Daughter.” I’ve included a Bookshop link for the collection here if you are interested in following along. Or check your local library. Our local libraries are one of the greatest resources for battling the horrors of the world like vampires, book banning, creeping fascism and other slumbering eldritch abominations so definitely get books and other resources from them. They also have free ebook apps like Libby and Hoopla. 

The New Daughter

A Short Summary

Our protagonist and his two children, Louisa (his daughter) and Sam (his son), move to the countryside after a divorce and a rough few months. He’s purchased a five-bedroom old rectory, hoping it will provide a positive change of pace for the family. Since this is a horror column, it’s obvious that this was a mistake. The biggest problem with the rectory? The “fairy mounds” on the property. While Louisa thinks they’re cool, Sam and the protagonist are less enthused.

Louisa soon starts acting strangely. The first sign something’s off involves mysterious noises in the house, an open window, and Louisa claiming the voices in the “fort” are talking to her. During this time, the protagonist notices Louisa’s prized doll has been replaced with a stitched-together twig doll.

As the story progresses, Louisa becomes more and more unlike herself. She even tells her father she’s not his daughter but his “new daughter.” Sam, too, becomes afraid of her, claiming Louisa keeps asking him to play on the mounds. When another stuffed animal goes missing, the protagonist investigates the mound, finding it destroyed and realizing Not-Louisa is watching him. Now, he sleeps in the same room as Sam, knowing that if he leaves his son’s side, Not-Louisa will take him—and replace him, too.

Conundrums of Canonicity 

Welcome to the section of this column where I try to connect this story with other John Connolly works in a probably misguided attempt to create a Grand Unified Theory of the Connollyverse. (John, if you ever read this, feel free to use that term yourself.)

Similar to “The Erlking,” “The New Daughter” presents a dark fairy tale. This is a realm Connolly excels in, giving us many examples across his books. The story also exemplifies the recurring theme of forests and underground settings as places where monsters originate. Here, we get a two-for-one: Not-Louisa seems to have emerged from the mound, making her both an underground and a forest monster. For previous examples of these themes in Connolly’s work, check out my articles on Mr. Pettinger’s Daemon (underground monsters) and “The Erlking” (dark fairy tale/forest monsters).

But the most compelling cross-over isn’t the dark fairy tale or the setting. It’s the idea of the Not-Daughter. In Connolly’s long-running (and absolutely brilliant) Charlie Parker series, we meet Jennifer’s ghost—except it’s not exactly Jennifer. It might be a manifestation of her rage at being murdered, or something far older. Sorta-Jennifer is a force to be reckoned with, and even Charlie’s living daughter, Sam, fears her power. Sorta-Jennifer has racked up a decent body count and even adopted a vampire to live with her in a strange purgatorial lake. (It’s a wild series, my friends, and I love every minute.)

While Not-Louisa and Sorta-Jennifer aren’t the same, their existence suggests there may be a place in the Connollyverse where Not-children come from. That said, I think Sorta-Jennifer would side with Real-Louisa over Not-Louisa, which likely wouldn’t end well for the latter.

Ultimately, our protagonist’s best option is to grab Sam, drive to the nearest airport, and fly across the Pond to meet Charlie Parker at the Bear. Charlie might not have dealt with a fairy-mound Not-Daughter, but this feels like his kind of case.

Gnome Thoughts

Let’s do this fast because obviously we need to get to the Kevin Costner shaped elephant in the room. I really liked this story. It was quick, didn’t pull its punches and didn’t overstay its welcome. It’s not my favorite story but it’s not my least favorite either. If I was to give my current rankings of the stories in this collection, I’d probably say,1. Mr. Pettinger’s Daemon2. The New Daughter3. The Erlking

None of been bad but there was something really cool about the Mr. Pettinger’s story that I just keep coming back to. Now…Some of you may or may not have said early on this article, “Hey, wasn’t this short story made into a straight-to-DVD film starring Kevin Costner?” And my response would be, “NO! There was a limited theatrical run of which the box office gross was not easily found!” It is a movie. Kevin Costner is obviously Kevin Costner and the movie really surfs on his charisma. The plot mostly follows that of the short story while adding goblin monsters and a possible love interest for the protagonist. Oh, and we also get a name for our protagonist. 

DRUM ROLL, PLEASE! 

It’s……

……John James. 

On a more serious note, it’s a fine movie. I watched it on a Saturday morning and,  if I wasn’t John Connolly’s biggest fan, I probably would have found it a fine Saturday movie. Except, I’m the kind of John Connolly fan that has a column trying to figure out how to fit a bunch of short stories into the canon of his Charlie Parker series so this movie was always going to be a reach. Kevin Costner is fine casting and does his best with the inflated short story plot. Also the goblin creatures are pretty cool for being made with the most 2009 CGI imaginable. Overall, the short story is pretty good and the movie is pretty meh. I’ve long felt that the Charlie Parker series could make a pretty great longform television show but this movie made me pretty glad that it hasn’t been. I guess we’ll see if any other stories in this collection seem like a better fit for the big screen. That’ll give us a new quest alongside trying to find John Connolly’s scariest villains and trying to find a short story that my Mom would maybe read. Oh on that note; on the “Would My Mother Like this Story?” scale the answer is “No, but I think she would like it more than the Erlking.” It’s not a yes but is progress and isn’t that what life is all about? That and not having our children get replaced by weird mound-children. 

If you’ve read a long and have your own opinions on “The New Daughter”, please let us know either in the comments or via an email to mailing us at gnome@kaijuandgnome.com or messaging us over on Bluesky @kaijuandgnome.bsky.social or @roamingbookgnome.bsky.social. Next time we’ll move on to the next installment in Connolly's inaugural short fiction collection and read “The Ritual of the Bones.” Will it be scary? Can I figure out a way to get Kevin Costner to star in a movie based on it? Would it be a story that my mom would like? Find out next time!