I’ll admit that I came to this book with a healthy dose of scepticism. I’m not usually wholly sold on ghost stories – I prefer my sinister goings-on with distinctly human causes!
However, I was won over by this beautifully written tale of eerie occurences on the remote Scottish island of Skelthsea. This truly is a cleverly-plotted and vividly-imagined story with some moments of genuine horror.
The story opens in 1860 with the arrival of a new nanny, Elspeth Swansome, who has been hired to look after Mary, a child who has lost her twin brother and who does not speak. The previous nanny has left in mysterious circumstances and the formerly grand family house is a place of shadows and secrets, of closed-off rooms patrolled by a sinister servant. An unnerving whistling noise can often be heard at night – all very creepy, even before the island is cut off from the mainland in the winter conditions.
The story follows Elspeth as she starts to unravel the secrets of Skelthsea – a mission that is fraught with danger and terror.
It was easy to warm to the character of Elspeth; she is probably the most relatable and realistic character among a cast of strange and untrustworthy people. Her isolation adds to the sense of creepiness as she seems to be alone in facing the horrors of Skelthsea and unsure who might be an ally.
The setting is evoked vividly to create a sense of natural beauty amidst the bleakness and grimness. The island is sometimes majestic, sometimes scary…and always dangerous for Elspeth as she navigates the creepy house, the graveyard and the rocky cliffs which have claimed lives in the past. The house itself is terrifying – a place of grief and empty rooms devoid of life, yet also seemingly harbouring something malicious.
It isn’t often that I’m scared by a book, but there were some moments of real horror in this story – probably my fault for reading it late at night as I became compelled to find out what happened! Elspeth’s nightmares were particularly vivid and often a little gruesome; this is a book in which death and the grave are never far away.
Although I did occasionally find the book a little repetitive, I would say this is a compelling and engaging read. It kept me reading compulsively and I thought that the plot strands were cleverly brought together in the end. It also had a lot more heart than I originally expected – there is a lot about grief and processing trauma – which the author has woven seamlessly into the fabric of the novel. Ultimately, this is a satisfyingly chilling novel for this time of year when the nights draw in – but with a story that will stay with you beyond Halloween season.
Thanks to NetGalley for my copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
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Header photo by Joshua Bartell on Unsplash.
The setting of this book sounds utterly amazing and spooky.