This short novel, published after Lovecraft’s death, has many of the author’s familiar trappings. It is told mostly in flashbacks as the Ward family’s doctor, Marinus Bicknell Willett, tries to understand the madness that seems to have befallen the young Charles Dexter Ward. It appears that the young Ward learned that he had a descendent by the name of Joseph Curwen who practiced black magic and perished in a raid on his property by locals who had had enough of his evil doings. (He had lived there for over 100 years). Finding Curwen’s notes and documents, Ward feverishly tries to find his grave and resurrect him. Ward and Curwen closely resemble one another, so you can probably imagine where this story goes....
