As God knows me

How God Knows Me is a revisionist historical narrative drawing on the gothic literary tradition and its critique of patriarchal and imperial projects. These 118 pages are the beginning of my novel inspired by Pearl Conner, the little girl reportedly poisoned by serial killer H. H. Holmes in his ‘Murder Castle’ in the 1890s. The widely popularized case of Holmes’ many murders became a sensational account of dehumanization and the mysteries of cruelty in late 19th century Chicago, and has repercussions for how popular culture depicts psychic and physical violence today as well. My novel speculates about the possibility of life after such violence for Pearl: what if she had been able to get away, and what would a “real” life look like for her after living in such close proximity to a man like that? My answer for this comes in the form of Julie Baudelaire, the protagonist of my story and Pearl’s great granddaughter. Using both of their narratives, as well as theoretical understandings of generational trauma, white masculinity, and the fetishization of spectacular violence, I aim to give back an element of humanity to the forgotten victims of time.