I won't waste words here as I doubt I could say anything that hasn't been said before. I will say this, though. Rebecca will stand as one of my top ten reads of all time. I absolutely loved every single word and didn't want it to end.
I don't think I've ever connected with a main character as readily as I did here. Her thoughts, her anxieties, everything about her felt as though she was speaking from my subconscious.
It is a truly stunning read. I lost my heart to Manderley.
* 'The greatest psychological thriller of all time' ERIN KELLY * 'One of the most influential novels of the twentieth century' SARAH WATERS * 'It's the book every writer wishes they'd written' CLARE MACKINTOSH
'Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again . . .'
Working as a lady's companion, our heroine's outlook is bleak until, on a trip to the south of France, she meets a handsome widower whose proposal takes her by surprise. She accepts but, whisked from glamorous Monte Carlo to brooding Manderley, the new Mrs de Winter finds Max a changed man. And the memory…
I knew before I finished reading that this novel would jump straight onto my "Best of 2023" shelf. I enjoyed it immensely.
Having previously read The Loney by the same author, I knew what to expect: Folk horror, grief horror, and a smattering of weird. In my opinion, Andrew Michael Hurley is one of the best folk horror writers in the UK.
He captures the dark elements of the countryside like no other, and his flawed characters are so well portrayed.
I devoured each and every page and didn't want it to end.
The worst thing possible has happened. Richard and Juliette Willoughby's son, Ewan, has died suddenly at the age of five. Starve Acre, their house by the moors, was to be full of life, but is now a haunted place.
Juliette, convinced Ewan still lives there in some form, seeks the help of the Beacons, a seemingly benevolent group of occultists. Richard, to try and keep the boy out of his mind, has turned his attention to the field opposite the house, where he patiently digs the barren dirt in search of a legendary oak tree.
The Promise of Plague Wolves is set in 17th century Austria, a time when plague and pestilence ruled the world. But it’s not just smallpox that ravages the countryside here; there’s a second plague, too. One whose origin is occult in nature, a plague that preys on the minds and souls of its victims
Coy Hall manages to set a story deep in the past yet make it accessible to a modern audience, while at the same time retaining the feel of the era in which it is set. Truly admirable!
The historical research is impeccable, too, but that’s not surprising, given that he’s a history professor.
Expect swarms of wasps, a treachery of ravens, morbid and gruesome descriptions of death and decay, misdirection, changelings of the worst imaginable kind, and more, because that is what you’ll get.
Two plagues rage in the countryside. One plague is smallpox, a torturous disease that ravages the body, turning homes into tombs. The other ailment is more mysterious, a scourge of occult origin, a plague that ravages the mind and consumes the soul. Here the deepest horrors are made manifest. Here the dead walk the shadowed wood. Here a spirit and its brood of changelings emerge from the earth to feed. Into this malefic maelstrom enters Dorin Toth, famed occultist and investigator. Accompanied by his faithful greyhound, Vinegar Tom, Toth must find the source of the eldritch epidemic. Will…
Inheriting a family heirloom in the form of an antique clock with a broken moon dial as well as a seaside house in Wales, Grace Morgan mourns the loss of her mother. She dreads the manifestation of a family curse that threatens to lay claim to her and everything she holds dear.
Partly epistolary and laced with Welsh folklore, this tragic gothic tale delves into the prevalent mental health challenges of the era in the face of unrelenting fear and all-consuming trauma, as Grace reckons with the insidious specter of her lingering grief.
