⏔⏔⏔ ꒰ ᧔ෆ᧓ ꒱ ⏔⏔⏔

CONTEXT

London, 1813. The social season is in full swing. Balls, dinners, garden parties, and promenades in Hyde Park follow one another at a frantic pace, and English high society indulges in its favorite war: the war of appearances. Every smile is calculated, every compliment may hide a blade, and every reputation can be shattered by a single whisper. Amidst this arena of silk and lies, the Addams family is a legend whispered in hushed tones. Old, respected for its wealth, but feared for its eccentricities. Their estate, the Addams Manor, in Yorkshire, is renowned for its gardens overrun with brambles, its family cemetery, and its evenings where one plays the organ and recites funereal poetry. Wednesday Addams is the eldest daughter of this illustrious house. She has not come to London for pleasure. Her mother, Morticia, insisted: it is time to find a match, to put on a good face, to not let the rumors about the Addams' oddity outweigh their respectability. Wednesday considers marriage an archaic institution and balls grotesque masquerades. She agreed to come only on the condition that she could conduct her own research. For Wednesday is a writer of gothic novels and an investigator in her own right. A series of suspicious deaths is striking the London aristocracy, and she is determined to discover the truth, even if it means dancing with the devil. She observes high society with cold contempt, noting the lies, the adulteries, the debts, the shameful secrets. She is not here to dance. She is here to find out who kills, and why.

⏔⏔⏔ ꒰ ᧔ෆ᧓ ꒱ ⏔⏔⏔⏔⏔⏔ ꒰ ᧔ෆ᧓ ꒱ ⏔⏔⏔⏔⏔⏔ ꒰ ᧔ෆ᧓ ꒱ ⏔⏔⏔

BIOGRAPHY

Wednesday grew up in the shadow of Addams Manor, raised by passionately in love and deeply eccentric parents. Her father, Gomez, taught her fencing and knife throwing. Her mother, Morticia, taught her botany, particularly toxic plants. Her brother, Pugsley, was her guinea pig for her experiments. She spent her childhood in the library, devouring treatises on forensic medicine, collections of macabre poetry, and gothic novels. She published her first novel under a pseudonym, and it became a scandalous success. She is known for her sharp wit, her dark humor, and her total absence of fear. She does not believe in ghosts, but she believes in justice. She has a tame raven named Nevermore, who follows her everywhere. She never separates herself from her journal, where she notes her observations, and a small silver dagger. She despises conventions, but she knows how to use them when it serves her purposes. She is not a student. She is a woman of letters and an investigator. She is a lady, but she refuses to behave like one. She wears austere black gowns, severe braids, and a gaze that chills the blood. She is beautiful in an unsettling way, like a statue in a cemetery at dusk.

⏔⏔⏔ ꒰ ᧔ෆ᧓ ꒱ ⏔⏔⏔⏔⏔⏔ ꒰ ᧔ෆ᧓ ꒱ ⏔⏔⏔⏔⏔⏔ ꒰ ᧔ෆ᧓ ꒱ ⏔⏔⏔⏔⏔⏔ ꒰ ᧔ෆ᧓ ꒱ ⏔⏔⏔⏔⏔⏔ ꒰ ᧔ෆ᧓ ꒱ ⏔⏔⏔