This story is a fantastical meld of folk/fairy tales and magical realism. I have read very little magical realism before so found it a little hard going to begin with but the story itself was captivating and I became so invested in the characters that I couldn't put the book (Kindle) away and had to stay up late to finish it off (within 24 hours).

We follow the Ross family through a tragic accident which affects each family member in a completely different way. We go back in time to the meeting of the boxer and the ballerina, then up to present day, with an 18 year old girl, just discovering who she wants to be, and her meeting with a part-time mermaid!

Kirsty Logan has created a completely believable world with stunning prose - this is a beautiful literary fiction novel. Yes, it's true that some of the characters could be a little more developed or 'fleshed out' - this could easily have been a much longer book and would still have been as captivating but, for me, I loved this read and would recommend it wholeheartedly.

The story of Mara, Pearl and the island her family live on, The Gloaming makes for an unforgettable read. A book that blends magic, fairy tales and incredible scenery written with such elegance, The Gloaming highlights for me the quality of Logan’s world building and her incredible way of writing it so ambigously.

The writing in this book is as enchanting as the story and the characters are so human that it makes this book feel so real that the writing and the characters can contradict in parts. But that’s why I think it works, it feels like it could be happening right now, the magical realism in The Gloaming, is very right now.

A book that covers so much, love, identity and family in a way that is beautifully written, The Gloaming is a story that makes for such an enchanting read, the story growing as the book keeps going.

I've had to give up on this book, over half way through. This is unusual for me, but (for personal reasons) it was making me feel depressed, and I cannot afford to feel that way right now.

In between reality, story-telling and fantasy

An absolutely delightful book packed with stories, otherworldliness, fantasy and a mix of sad and happy reality.

The story of a family unfolds on a mysterious, beautiful island. Signe, a ballerina, and Peter, a boxer, bring their children, Islay, Mara and Bee, to the island away from the busy unrelenting life in town.

However, the island and the sea are unrelenting, mysterious and belong in another world which is part of a real world, or is it? When people’s lives come to an end they walk up a hill on the edge of a cliff followed by their loved ones who watch them slowly turn to stone. Somehow this process of moving on from the world does not feel sad.

The grief and sadness come into the lives of the family from the island and the sea itself. Pearl comes into their lives, is she real or is she from the sea? Pearl also brings mystery, love and grief.

A beautifully written story that includes disappearances, mystery, immense love and the deepest grief.

BonnieK

Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of the book to review.

Kirsty Logan writes a beautifully imagined tale of magic, folklore and fairytales with a strong undertow of darker forces juxtaposed with a gritty realism. Logan achieves the feat with her world building that is sufficiently nebulous and ambiguous in giving the reader the path of seeing and interpreting the novel as they wish. The narrative focuses on the issues of identity, what it is to be a woman, loss, grief and love with Logan drawing us in with her sublime atmospheric prose and descriptions. On a remote Scottish island, the Ross family reside in a ruined home that resists efforts to improve it. The parents, Signe and Peter, have backgrounds respectively in ballet dancing and boxing, both physically demanding and brutal occupations that have left indelible scars on their bodies.

Signe and Peter have three children, Barra (Bee), Mara and Islay, who have grown up on the island where no-one dies, but a person becomes petrified, turned to stone on the cliffs looking out towards the unforgiving sea. The forces of nature are indomitable, uncompromising, making its presence felt on all islanders. Tragedy beckons and in its wake comes a new arrival on the scene. Pearl is a mermaid, both mysterious and alluring to Mara. A love story blossoms, and the two of them leave the island, only to return as Peter and Signe begin to turn into stone. A strong element of dripping sadness pervades the text of this coming of age novel. Providing you take the time to become immersed in the twin of elements of magic and reality, this is a wonderfully imaginative book on the difficulties and challenges of life, folklore, selkies, and being a woman. A powerfully woven spellbinding story from Kirsty Logan. Many thanks to Random House Vintage for an ARC.

Actual rating 4.5/5 stars.

Residing in a mansion, renowned for its once glory but falling daily into further disrepair, and situated on an island overlooked by the stone remains of the deceased is Mara, daughter of a ballerina and a boxer. The arrival of part-time mermaid, Pearl, ignites the ashes of a passion inside Mara. This passion is a desire to see what would happen if she would dare to take a step off the island, and enter the chaos of reality that lies beyond it. But the island has its own particular allure that is harder to shake than she might think.

The interwoven realistic and fantastical elements of this story made this a delightful and whimsical read, throughout. The enchanting elements, rather than detract from the real-world issues and the darker subject matters that were broached, heightened the emotional elements and threw them into stark relief. There was a clever juxtaposition consistently created that saw each scene oscillate between tender embraces and sudden deaths, compassionate moments and fits of passion, delicate features and iron wills.

The almost otherworldly backdrop was another example of Logan's careful creation and seamless blend of the whimsical with the every-day. The setting fitfully grasped at recognisable aspects of contemporary life as well as abstract concepts and fairy-tale imagery to create a landscape I could never fully imagine and yet felt entirely at home in. This was a world that was both known and yet one dually longed for.

The power of this novel also lay in its quiet moments. There is so much said in so few words and so much broadly hinted at with nothing bluntly delivered. Logan has penned a story and yet allowed the reader to become the architect of it. The ungraspable elements that have dogged every part of this makes it feel like a novel created by both reader and author. This element, however, is one that ensures everyone can find exactly what they are looking for in this novel. Just like I did.

I went into this not knowing it was a prequel and I think that ruined it for me. I wish I had read The Gracekeepers first then I think this would of made more sense and I may of enjoyed it more.
I did like the writing style but as it went on I was lost and struggling to connect to any character.

First of all there is the island.

Mara's family live there in a crumbling large house. Her mother , Signe, a ballerina and husband Peter, a former boxer, decide to bring up their family there in safety. However, the island is no protection against the sea or loss In this magic realism story, every person will eventually turn into a stone statue on the cliffs overlooking the sea. Interwoven into the family's stories are folk tales and the unceasing tides of the sea.
Some think they can escape the island like the oldest child, Ismay but are drawn back. Mara, the second daughter also wants to leave, after meeting the mysterious Pearl but can she?
This has the same luminescent quality of her previous book "The Gracekeepers", although the "magic" elements are less "obvious". Logan writes with the fluidity of water.

Lyrical and magical A story of loss and love

The story draws you in like a riptide.

The Ross family decided to move to a remote island with their two daughters to live a more peaceful life. A large, pink-ish and abandoned mansion makes for their new home; however, despite their feigned efforts, it will never be completely renovated. Truthfully, it will never be anything but a house in ruins. Come hell or high water, the Ross family seeks desperately for a place to stay grounded. Mirroring the family's desire, the nameless island fights continuously against the dominant force of the sea. When its residents are about to die, they climb up a hill where they will become statues forever. Finally, they reach stillness, a place where their roots can cling to the earth.

The Gloaming is a story about hope, growing up, love and grief. Angela Carter’s influence in this book speaks volumes, offering that unique twist to fairy tales, those stories that talk of ferocious beasts, maidens with hacked-off toes or mermaids that kill children. Logan explores the real meaning behind these fairy tales; more specifically, gender roles, the oppression of women and the idealized concept of love. A fairy tale does not necessarily suggest a fairy-tale ending. Does happiness mean staying in the same place and fighting for what you love? Is there any happiness in abandoning and getting back to your old self? The Ross sisters had been exposed to sugar-coated fairy tales while growing up, and only their turning point occurs when they finally experience that suffocating feeling from a love that consumes everything, even your own identity. The fisherman snatched the selkie's skin to force her to stay; however, no matter how much you give the selkie in return, she will always long for the sea.

Furthermore, the Ross family is inevitably involved in a constant struggle between stillness and change. This false sense of balance that they are striving to hold can waver as they approach a relentless storm, whose force is strong enough to sweep everything on its way, while also returning everything to its place.

How are these stories different from real life? Read the book to find out. You will be surprised to discover how a story full of fantastical elements conveys such a real message.

There is no doubt that Kirsty Logan has a beautiful writing style and does not hesitate on tackling grief in her evocative style. Scottish folklore is usually incorporated Into her storylines in some form or another. I would have liked a little more insight into one or two of the characters but overall well done .

The Gloaming is a strange, dreamy novel with characters that ebb and flow like the sea around them. This is a story about magic and family and love set on an island off the Scottish coast. Kirsty Logan's writing is lyrical and her descriptions jump out of the page and entwine you.
A fine book to read in one sitting - it will wrap you up in the spell of the island.

I've been attracted by the synopsis of this book. It made be think there's so much potential: elements of magic and mythology; nature as a force opposing human invasion and domination; opposites attraction: a ballerina and a boxer; a family's story...
At first the style was so alluring, like the mermaid's song pulling you in..But in the end it turned out to be just a sort of laconic explanation of/for something. Sure that might work good seen that this novel is actually a prequel, but as a potential stand alone is not enough.
I usually avoid reading about the books I am in the process of reading, as to avoid having preconceived ideas about them. Therefore I wasn't aware this is a prequel until after finishing it, and I can certainly say it affected my enjoyment. It is definitely not a book to read on itself, and what's worse is that it actually didn't make me want to read the previous one. It believe it should be mentioned it is a prequel and that for maximizing your enjoyment it might be a good idea to read it after you read The Gracekeepers.

Wonderfully dark, strange, sinister, beautiful. If you enjoy magical realism and the mystery and intrigue of folktales then this book is definitely for you.

Quality Rating: Four Stars
Enjoyment Rating: Five Stars

Oh, for the love of fairytales. This is a story made for lovers of books, of the sea, of fairytales, of love stories and of magic. It's halfway between a fairytale and a literary fiction novel itself, and it sucked me in straight from the start.

It's not exactly what I would call magical realism - at least not in the literal sense. Which is ironic because no one can quite define magical realism. We have mermaids that turn out to not be mermaids, and curses that are more or less imagined, but we also have people turning to stone (or do they?). As much as the genre frustrates a lot of people, I have to say I love the way the interpretations belong to their readers. I read The Gloaming from he magical perspective but I'm sure you can read it more from the realist one and enjoy it just as much.

This is simultaneously a book where not much happens, and yet you're constantly waiting for the next thing. Logan's writing is enchanting in and of itself, but by following four or five interweaving characters, there are patterns and clues that you pick up from each one that connects everything. From what I remember of The Gracekeepers, there was a similar sort of structure; multiple players jumping around the main plot as they travel around together. The Gloaming is more isolated geographically but builds it characters up bigger I think.

It's a beautiful story, but damn it's sad. There's obviously a commentary on modernisation, growing up in general and love. That's not to say it's an unhappy ending. On the contrary, I felt a somewhat cathartic joy when I finished it on the train. I think it's really important we have stories that have tough topics but also representation that end well (the lesbian romance is some of the best representation of its kind I've read). Not all struggles have to end in misery, especially not in fiction.

I almost want to study this book. The recurring symbols, the metaphors, the little retellings. It's as rich as something you'd read in school but so much more creative. I hope Logan continues to receive recognition and will hopefully be able to give us more soon.

The Gloaming is the story of the Ross family: Sidhe, Peter, Islay, Mara and Bee. It’s also about the island where they live which often feels like a character and not just an amazing setting. It has the feeling of a mythical story with a hint of magic always there.

The story is mesmerising and kept me riveted- eager to discover what happens next. The story begins when the girls are in their late teens and the events unfold as they get older. Sometimes we’re taken back into the past, back when Signe and Peter met and other times to the first time that they came to the island, these little snapshots of the past flow seamlessly into the story and allow us to know everything about the family.

The Gloaming is one of those immersive stories, a world that you fall into, like a dream and just like a dream it leaves you wondering. I enjoyed everything about this novel, the characters and their story, the island, the magic and the way the story is told, flowing along with dips into the past. With one exception: the very end chapter entitled: ‘After’ for me this chapter or afterthought spoilt the ending. It presents us with a few ideas of what would happen next, after the story ended. I feel it is unnecessary because with any end we always wonder what happens next. I think the story ends perfectly without this chapter and it feels like an intrusion into the story.

However I’d still recommend this book as I enjoyed every moment of it.

First of all, I'd like to thank Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is the second Kirsty Logan novel I've read, and The Gloaming reminded me of The Gracekeepers in a lot of ways - good and bad.

Let's start with the good: Logan's prose is gorgeously evocative, conjuring up wild landscapes, dreamy tenderness and all-too-human awkwardness with equal ease. This is definitely a fairy tale of sorts, and her writing style is perfectly suited to the task of bringing the strange magic of the island she's created to life.

However, despite the fact that her writing style seems perfect for this novel, it never really felt like Logan was truly leaning into the story's full potential. While the island's magic and nature's wildness had an undeniable influence on the narrative, they always felt somewhat limited in scope; the themes of family, grief, leaving and returning were constants throughout the book, but it never quite seemed to figure out what it was saying about them; and the scenes between Mara and Pearl were usually beautifully written, but they never actually gave much sense of who they were as individuals (especially Pearl) or how they fit together. In fact, in some ways it felt like the character I understood best at the end of the story was Signe, even though the main character was ostensibly her daughter Mara.

Despite my occasional frustration with it, this is a lovely novel and I quite enjoyed it! I have to say, there was a wonderfully poignant twist at the end which I really liked, and I appreciated the use of stories and folklore (and Scots language!!) throughout. I just always kind of felt like I was waiting for something more - more cohesion, more character development, more enchantment. But I'm certainly glad that there's one more magical novel about women who love women in the world!

A warning: Kirsty Logan’s The Gloaming is another of 2018’s promised mermaid novels that’s a little short on actual mermaids. However, it’s long on atmosphere, imagination, and a charming lesbian love story. Islay, Mara and Barra have grown up on a tiny Scottish island, after their parents, Signe and Peter, brought them there when the two eldest girls were very small. Signe and Peter have compelling backstories of their own; Signe was once a professional ballet dancer, reaching the pinnacle of her career in Swan Lake, while Peter fought as a lightweight boxer. Logan emphasises the physicality and brutality of both these vocations: we might be unsurprised by the depiction of Peter’s damaging fights, but we also read about the physical toll of Signe’s work: ‘On the first day of rehearsals, Signe’s feet were a size 5 1/2. After a few weeks they were down to a size 5… She taped her toes before every show, but it wasn’t enough. The skin on the knuckles of her toes was all sliced off, and she danced too often for it to heal. Most nights she bled right through her pointe shoes.’ Signe’s suffering recalls the original Hans Christian Andersen story ‘The Little Mermaid’, where the little mermaid can only gain human legs through feeling as if she’s walking on knives.

Logan’s first novel, The Gracekeepers, demonstrated that she’s one of the few contemporary writers who understands how to handle folktale, and this talent is on full display in The Gloaming. Whether she’s weaving familiar folktales about selkies and mermaids into the narrative, or writing her own myths about concubines in towers, Logan gets what makes folktales work, and isn’t tempted to distort them. However, she also tells a slight but absorbing plot about the love story between Mara and Pearl, a mixed-race girl who comes to the island and keeps an old bus filled with books. Mara and Pearl leave the island together to perform as mermaids on cruise ships and in other glamorous settings, capitalising on their talent for holding their breath. But they are ultimately pulled back to it when they realise that, like many other islanders, Peter and Signe are gradually turning to stone.

The Gloaming felt more widely resonant to me than The Gracekeepers because it is even less rooted in a particular world – whether that’s the real world or a speculative, parallel version. The island feels figurative in a way that’s difficult to pin down. Is it, as Islay speculates, a place that people go to die, a kind of halfway house between life and death, in the same way as the gloaming is halfway between night and day? Or is it actually the only solid place, which explains why Islay, Mara and Pearl’s adventures in the world outside are deliberately sketchy and unformed? “Things off the island – they’re not real,” Mara tells Pearl. 'All those hours under the water with Pearl,' she thinks. 'Their bright wigs and their shimmering tails… But Mara knew now that they’d stayed under the water too long… “It’s just too hard. It’s too much. I don’t want to drown.”' Mara and Pearl seem to have lived out the bulk of their relationship in the space between one breath and another, and are now coming back to earth.

The slipperiness of the world-building in both Logan’s novels is simultaneously a strength and their weakness. At times, I wished that she would take firmer hold of this world and expand on its possibilities, think about why certain islanders are turned to stone, and if there really are selkies in the sea surrounding Mara’s island. In short, I wonder what would happen if she made her fiction more firmly speculative, rather than staying in folktale territory. I liked some of her short stories in The Rental Heart precisely because they had to have neater edges. But on the other hand, I can see that The Gloaming works partly because there are no clear rules. It’s an eerie and magical book, even if I’d love to see Logan dive off in a new direction for her next. As for the actual mermaids of 2018: we might have to wait for Louise O’Neill’s The Surface Breaks to meet them.

I received a free proof copy of this novel from the publisher for review.

To Be Published on 20th February

I am so, so excited that I was able to receive an ARC of this from NetGalley in exchange for a review. The Gloaming will be published by Harvill Secker on April 19th - and I'm going to urge anyone reading this to pick it up because it is gorgeous. Much like with all Kirsty's previous books it focuses on Scottish folklore and queer themes - lesbian mermaids. Need I say any more? But it has been one of my most anticipated books of 2018, it didn't let me down, it didn't suffer with Second Novel Syndrome - if anything I may love this just a little bit more than The Gracekeepers.

I had very high hopes for this book ever since I saw Kirsty talking about it on Twitter and it didn't disappoint. It focuses around the Scottish myth of Selkies and deals with it in a much more tasteful way than my last encounter with a book which revolved around the myth. I've loved everything about it, and while it wasn't what I was expecting it was still absolutely gorgeous.

The book follows the story of Mara Ross and her family. They live on a small, unnamed island off the coast of Scotland and it's a magical, but dark place. Her family are haunted by many things, in a house that's not quite right on an island which just seems to be filled with ghosts. It felt a lot more grown up, a lot more rounded than her previous novel - the characters were more real and the relationships between them also felt very believable. The relationships between parents and children, sisters, lovers; all of them felt real.

Something else I loved about this book is the nod to her short stories. I loved how she wove things like The Rental Heart in to this so seamlessly, and how that in this slightly fantastical reality it was believable. It also made me want to go back and reread her entire back catalogue - so keep an eye out for reviews of me rereading her books!

Honestly, I cannot praise this book enough. It was absolutely gorgeous and I cannot wait to get my hands on a physical copy in April. If you have a chance to get your hands on this, do, and let it wash over you because it's beautiful. I read it in one sitting, on a rainy Saturday afternoon, and come the end I wanted to read it all over again. I feel so lucky that I was able to read this 2 months before release, and it's genuinely one of the books I have been most excited for this year. I can't wait to share it with my friends.

On the island where Mara and her family live people don’t die, the go to the cliff where they remain, gazing out to sea with the waves crashing beneath, their presence a haunting reminder of what is to come for the islanders. And Mara’s family is haunted by many things, long-ago decisions, new desires and a devastating loss that has scarred Mara inside and out. A new arrival seems to finally offer the chance to move on but the budding relationship brings challenges of its own.

I’ve been waiting for this book from Kirsty Logan. So far I have read everything she’s published and so far I’ve always felt that there was some essential element missing so that, despite the boundless potential I could see in her writing, I was always left dissatisfied. Here her bewitching prose and wicked humour finally fully combine with the grim(m) fairy-tale properties to create something rich and dark and emotionally resonant. I think the difference is in the characters. In her previous work I felt a distance to her characters that couldn’t be overcome by the gloriously dark imagery but Mara and her family felt less like props for Logan’s imagined world and more like real people occupying real (if fantastic) space.

Themes of transformation, transience and permanence are perfectly modeled by the overriding medium of water which is a constant, inescapable presence within the family – selkies, mermaids, the ocean as a constant force that outlasts all else – the power of nature to give and to take. The double-edged sword that is feeling connected to your home that comforts and stifles at the same time.

This book had an air of magical realism that made the prose liquid & free-flowing.
I want sure what to expect while reading this book and it's a very different experience to reading a thriller, YA, children's or even another type of fantasy book. You float through the writing and the story of Mara, her siblings, the strange house she lives in with her parents and "The Island" were they have at one time all resided.
It's beautiful in a dark & eerie way, with nothing really being what it appears.
I wouldn't recommend this book to someone who just want an straight & solid story like a mystery as I could see it becoming quite frustrating for them. There were times when I was desperate for something just 'to happen' but that's not what this book is about.
This is a story that softly and slowly envelopes you into its world, to let you feel what Mara feels and you have to decide for yourself what's magic & what's not.
The Scottish theme running through the book is enjoyable too & I loved how each chapter is given an old Scottish word as it's title.
Lots of mentions of selkies/mermaids, etc which I love!
Great read for fantasy fans who aren't in a hurry.