Starve Acre was another book that went on my Christmas list this year. Much like The Girl Who Reads on the Métro, the cover caught my eye and from there I was hooked. I wanted some broad reading material and you couldn’t get much more different from these two books!

I would categorise Starve Acre as a brilliant blend of gothic, supernatural and folklore fiction. It has so much to keep you gripped as it darts between the logical, rational known world, and the sinister legendary powers at play. The name, Starve Acre, alone, (which is the name of the house), is just perfect grounds for gothic literature – bleak and isolated.

There is much to unsettle the reader here. A five year old child, Ewan, has died. We learn that prior to his death, he had begun to commit acts of violence and harm to others. His parents, Richard and Juliette, are struggling to come to terms with their grief and guilt. The grand, dark house faces a barren field, once home to an enormous oak tree that was used for hangings. Now, nothing will grow in the slick, black mud.

As Richard becomes obsessed with uncovering the ancient root system of the Stythwaite Oak, he digs up skeletal remains that will become a fascinating obsession. Meanwhile, Juliette is convinced that Ewan remains somehow with them and is determined to reach his spirit using a secret cult called The Beacons.

The neighbours are hostile. Previous inhabitants of the house have gone mad, and time and again the name, Jack Grey, surfaces. As story threads both unravel and intertwine, the atmosphere is inextricably tense. Who is mad? What is real and what is myth?

I found this a superb piece of writing. I was totally engrossed! The creepy, eeriness of it all gets under your skin and won’t leave you alone. It was one of those books that I spent any opportunity I could to read more of it. I even tried to read it in the car at night as we travelled home from visiting family! For anyone who isn’t familiar with the gothic genre, they made find the ending bonkers, but I loved it! It has definitely left me keen to read more by Andrew Michael Hurley.