Wintstead Farm- Synopsis- Homework

When Horace Wintstead accidentally digs up the remains of his young, pregnant step mother, Stella, and older sister, Sally, on the family farm he turns the old house upside down in search of clues and answers and is faced with the knowledge that his late abusive father, Nathan, was also a murderer in love with his own daughter, Clara, who was not just an accomplice but also the evil mind behind the killings.1

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Eva Wintstead’s hatred for her, normally hardworking and quiet, husband, Horace, drives her to kill his beloved, old dog for spite and after an especially violent argument that causes Horace’s to worry that he may have a bit of his father in him, he retreats to dig the dog’s grave. In the process he discovers the decayed remains of his step mother, seven months pregnant, and sister, Sally, who had disappeared in a blizzard when he was young; or so he had been told by his father, Nathan, and oldest sister, Clara. 3

In reality they meet a cruel fate when Clara’s envy of the servant-like Stella mounts and as she slips passed her 14th birthday decides she can bear it no longer. She insists to her (much too) doting father that something must be done with the pregnant girl or Clara will leave the farm and never return. The ultimatum wears on Nathan, causing more beatings for all except Clara who watches with satisfaction, especially when her father’s wrath is heaped on Stella or her only ally, Sally. Finally the plan is hatched between Clara and Nathan to arrange a riding ‘accident’ and rid the family of Stella and her baby for good.4

When Sally finds Clara’s diary detailing her jealousy and the horrible plan to kill Stella she confronts her sister which inflames Clara’s anger and incites her to plot a triple murder instead that will, unwittingly, cause the death of her father also when, during the wild struggle to bludgeon the two girls with his sickle in the barn Nathan falls, from the loft, head first, to his death, leaving all three dead. Clara enlists the help of the sickly brother, Stanley, to bury the girls threatening to name him as accomplice which drives him to leave the farm for good. Nathan is buried in the cemetery beside his first wife and Clara passes away shortly after leaving her journals behind. Horace leaves the contents of her room locked and untouched until he digs up the tell tale corpses and is driven to find out the answers to the secrets he has lived with all his life. 5

As the seams of the family secrets unravel through retrieved letters, buried memories and decades old evidence Horace finally pieces together the sordid past that lay hidden beneath the farm’s surface and he must face the monster his father really was, the unfeeling woman/child that his sister had grown into and the bizarre love between the two. Amidst this turmoil Horace suppresses deepening resentments for his barren, bitter wife who openly pines for a better life and blames him for the poverty and endless work that she must endure daily. She looks for ways to 'repay' him and discovers her own demon within that makes her lust for his suffering.6

The arguments between the couple escalate until Horace’s worst fear becomes reality. Though he has prided himself on his quiet nature that was far removed from the hard, evil man his father was now he becomes increasingly physical towards his wife and seems to be losing a grip on his anger more and more until one day he thinks he sees his father's reflection glaring back from him in the mirror.7

When Eva finally finds Clara’s diaries beneath the floor boards of the locked upstairs room revealing the unhealthy love that she had for her father and her resentment of Stella‘s pregnancy and position as his wife she uses the knowledge as a vehicle of her bitterness towards Horace in one final verbal lashing that ends in her death and burial with the other family corpses that reside on Wintstead farm.8