Starve Acre

A brilliantly written gothic folk horror focusing on Richard and Juliette, a couple whose troubled young son Ewan has died. Living in the remote house of Starve Acre, near a village called Sythwaite, grief has cast a pall over their relationship. Juliette is convinced Ewan is still in the house somehow, while Richard, and archeologist, digs in the field for the legendary Sythwaite Oak, a massive tree now vanished into legend and folklore.

Going through his father's books he find a series of woodblock prints describing a tale of three men who were hung from the Oak for crimes they said were the work of “Jack Grey”, a folk terror in the shape of a large Hare....

All these elements are woven into a claustrophobic story that builds tension all the way through. Flashbacks tell of the troubled, violent son. Juliette invites a group called The Beacons into the house, against Richard's wishes, to perhaps “release” the spirit of Ewan.... but is something more sinister at work? Richard has found the bones of a large hare buried by the Oak tree remains and then something strange happens to the bones....

Hurley ramps up the tension as the book progresses, Juliette retreating into some kind of madness, her sister Harrie trying to talk sense, while Richard, caught between the two is fascinated by what he's uncovered. The very last scenes are the epitome of folk horror. It's a book rooted in the English landscape, in English folklore and all it's bloody history.

Great book, well worth your time.

The plot is interesting enough to read until the end. But overall not maybe for me.

Ominous, chilling and downright frightful.