Do you know what makes fiction all the more chilling? When it’s inspired by true events, a real case of young adults vanishing in the East End of London in the 1880s! Mazzola used this case as inspiration, relocated it to the Isle of Skye, and even weaved in a fairy tale of her own.

“Every group of people have their own stories that they create to make sense of their world. Therefore, in folk stories, in fairy tales, we see the reflection of humankind: its strength, flaws, hopes, fears. They tell us what it takes to survive.”

Yes, yes, a million times yes to that quote! Written so perfectly, it explains why children and adults love fairy tales, why folklore is so important, the messages within, let the stories never be forgotten. Hearing snippets of folktales throughout this novel was brilliant, especially the mention of the selkies legend, which is one of my favourites. Not only is The Story Keeper a great title, but the overall premise of this novel is great. It’s so atmospheric, gothic, mysterious and haunting that you can forgive it the relatively slow pacing, because the atmosphere is so strong and all encompassing. The remote landscape, the rich descriptive narration, eerie in places with dark undertones, oh yes, this is one hell of an immersive read. If you enjoy dark fairy tales, and slow burning mysteries, you need to read this one!

The tension, and mystery, slowly build over the course of this novel, you start to suspect everyone! The secretive nature of the people, and their belief in spirits is keeping everyone tight-lipped. Fairies, changelings, girls drowned in the river – but where does the folklore end and murder begin!? Even more interesting than the mystery, for me, was the events surrounding Audrey’s mother’s death; it was fantastic, and the conclusion drawn here blew me away, brilliant plotting by Mazzola.

On this Scottish island, we see the divide between class, the attitudes towards mental illness, and what is and isn’t becoming of a woman, and this creates an almost oppressive atmosphere, which gives this novel its darker edge. But, more than that, it’s what makes you invested in the plot, what makes you care about what is happening to these women, and what makes you root for Audrey.

Overall, The Story Keeper is a slow burner, dark in nature, highly atmospheric, wonderfully written, and the reason I have ordered Mazzola’s previous novel, The Unseeing.

I have to say I loved this gothic story, it is not the typical book I am attracted to, but everything from this book got me intrigued; the plot sounded original and you have to admit that the cover is quite interesting too, but nothing prepared me for loving this book so much, is a must read!
The story may seem simple, a young woman is trying to escape from her family and travels to the Isle of Skye, answering for a job offer, searching for oral folk tales. But this is not the only motive Audrey Hart has to move over there, her mother died at the Isle of Skye a long time ago, and she wants to connect with her, to discover why she fall in love with the island…
This is one of those books that while you are reading it you’ll feel transported inside the story, you’ll be surrounded by dark birds and scary characters and even you’ll be afraid of being alone. Some young girls are disappearing and no one is interested in them, only Audrey, this will put her life at risk, but she is a really brave woman and is ready to fight anything and anyone to discover the truth.
This book has made me re-think the oral stories I’ve always knew, because I think almost all of them have a good ending contrarily to the folk tales told in this book in which all have a dark side!
This is a gripping, intriguing and hunting book that has a sentence that I’ll keep with me forever:
“Words Will Never Break Me”
Ready for The Story Keeper?

I absolutely adored Anna Mazzola's debut, The Unseeing, so wild horses couldn't have stopped me from reading The Story Keeper. As soon as I opened the book, I was instantly transported to 19th century Isle of Skye as Anna Mazzola describes the scenery in such vivid detail that I felt as if I was looking out of our protagonist, Audrey's very own eyes.

A book that gives you goosebumps is always a good sign and boy, did I get goosebumps whilst reading this. I am partial to an odd fairy tale or two but the fairy folklore in this book will give you nightmares rather than sparkly dreams; the little people on the Isle of Skye are BAD! As well as the bad fairies, there are restless spirits and something or someone is causing young girls to disappear. Audrey, following in the footsteps of her mother, came to Skye to collect folklore but she ends up looking into the mysterious disappearances on the island...but what darkness is she about to uncover?

The Story Keeper will appeal to many readers as it very cleverly spans so many genres. In addition to the depiction of real historical events, it has dark, gothic and atmospheric scenery, fantasy folklore and a spine-tingling mystery at its heart. Due to the utterly spellbinding and brilliantly peculiar story line, it is one of those books that I found myself racing through but equally didn't want it to end.

The Story Keeper is a deliciously dark, atmospheric tale with real Scottish folklore that gave me goosebumps and made me look over my shoulder a few times. With magic and mystery at play, absolutely anything could happen and this kept me on my toes from start to finish, leaving me wide-eyed in surprise as the story reached its conclusion. With this superb addition to her catalogue, Anna Mazzola has firmly secured a place as one of my favourite authors. A very highly recommended read.

I chose to read an ARC and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

Having thoroughly enjoyed Anna Mazzola’s debut, The Unseeing based on an historical murder case, I was more than intrigued to see what would come next from the author. Suffice to say that this glorious mix of the gothic and the folkloric more than hit the spot…

Once again, the breadth of Mazzola’s historical research is clearly in evidence again, using the backdrop of 19th century Skye to weave this dark and mysterious tale. Melding together the utter poverty wrought by the infamous land clearances of the period, the chasm between rich and poor, and the superstitious belief in folklore, Mazzola paints a vivid picture of the period which has a vivid clarity, and transports the reader effortlessly to this moment in time. I absolutely loved the rendering of the folkloric tales, that Audrey is employed to collect and catalogue, and the natural compulsion displayed by the crofting community to withhold these tales from prying outsiders, leading Audrey to chip away at this reluctance to satisfy her strange and eccentric employer Miss Buchanan. Equally, the interweaving of Gaelic history, and the reduced livelihoods of the local inhabitants adds further colour and context to the story, but there is an even more vital strand to this book concerning Audrey herself.

Audrey has fled from London unchaperoned to take up this position, causing us instantly to wonder at the reasons for such ‘unladylike’ behaviour, and here a very important story arc is revealed. Mazzola uses Audrey’s story, and that of other young women she encounters in Skye, to really cut to the grist of the position of women in this period in society. Without giving too much away, the patriarchal, male oriented society is very much the catalyst for her escape, and her story is poignant and thought provoking, allowing Mazzola to explore the extreme emotional and financial hardship that Audrey and other women experience, and the abuses and indignities they suffer. I found this theme in the book very emotive, and with a modern sensibility felt a righteous anger on their behalf. As the abuses in the local community come to light, Audrey is compelled to intervene and defend the right of these women for justice, placing herself in extreme danger too, and as the sense of peril builds, with a beautifully weighted feel of gothic suspense, there are some extremely dark misdemeanours to reveal.

I thoroughly enjoyed The Story Keeper, and as each layer of the story was peeled back, and different facets of the everyday existence of this community was brought to light there was an enhanced level of interest throughout the book. With it’s curious mix of the ordinary, the strange, the gap between rich and poor, mental illness, and the inherent danger to, and tacit subservience of women in this period, I was held in a state of fascination from beginning to end. Highly recommended.

The Story Keeper is a deliciously dark and gothic tale of the importance of stories in different social groups and what they mean to those groups.  Our leading lady is Audrey Hart who travels from London to Skye to take up the position of assistant to a folklorist, but also to lay some ghosts from her past to rest.  The more time Audrey spends on Skye the more she finds herself believing their stories and myths and questioning her own beliefs and reason; could young girls be taken by bird like creatures called Slaugh, rather than by human hand.

I am a huge fan of historical fiction, especially when I can learn something from the book.  Anna Mazzola sets this book on Skye in 1857, a period of great change for the residents of the island as their land was turned over to the grazing of sheep by the land owners forcing the tenants out of work and out of their homes.  Anna Mazzola captures the desolation of both the land and the people living there, who are poor to begin with and face their communities disappearing, and with them their stories and beliefs.  The stark and bleak landscape mirrors the starkness of the communities and added to that the death of a young woman makes for an atmospheric and at times menacing read.

Audrey Hart is a young woman running away from a life she doesn't want.  She wants to read and write whereas her father and step-mother want her to conform and give up her books in favour of marriage.  Skye is as far from her life in London as she can get, as is her life at Lanerly Hall working for the reclusive Miss Buchanan.  Skye is a place close to Audrey's heart as she used to visit with her mother, who was a free spirit rather like her, andals loved to collect the stories of locals . Audrey is a strong character, ahead of her time, wanting to break away from convention, lead her own life and earn her own money; all qualities that make her such a wonderful character.  Anna Mazzola's characterisation of the local community bring Skye to life; the old woman who claims to see into the future, the priest who tries to put down the stories as they go against the religion, and the Lord of the Manor who cares only for the money and not his tenants. A real mixed bag that make the whole such a wonderful read.

The Story Keeper is a sublime read, with character, attention to detail, and a story that draws you in and commands your attention.  Anna Mazzola gives us more than just great fiction, she details the period where communities were practically destroyed in the name of money and with them the cultural and social traditions; many went to Canada and America to start new lives.  This is gothic in style, including a dark gothic mansion,  with an undercurrent of menace and danger that add to the atmosphere of this beautiful novel.   I loved this book and cant wait to read more from Anna Mazzola.

I wasn’t sure how to review this book. I read it in two days, mostly snippets of 10 minutes or less in lulls at work and despite the very brief periods in which I could read I was completely transported in that time, so much so that when my attention was called back to work I was momentarily confused and had to remind myself where I was.

This is not going to be a story which appeals to everyone, not everyone will want to read, or will gel with a story about fairies and other tales of folklore. I would never have really said it was my thing either but this book appealed to me and I’m glad I took a chance on it. This is such a mystical and almost ethereal story which is ground in so much truth and history. I’ve visited Skye a few times myself, so was familiar with most of the places mentioned in the book and the descriptions were spot on.

I liked Audrey as a person, trying to find herself and her own way in a world that didn’t want to accommodate her doing something different from the norm. There were some scenes that had me shaking my head at the responses she got from some people, and other scenes which had me wanting to go there and tell some of the other characters that they were talking nonsense, clearly impossible because apart from anything else I can’t time-travel (unfortunately!). This was what made this book as good as it is, it weaves a spell around you and draws you in, like the fairies taking people away from the human world. Everything gets drawn up like a cyclone, all twisting and turning and who do you trust and what’s going to happen next and then, like the sun coming out after a storm, it starts to clear and everything starts to fall into place.

This is a new author for me but one that I will definitely read again and I will go so far as to say this is one of the few books that I am likely to re-read. I would honestly recommend this book if you’re tempted. Be open minded and see where it takes you, stories are meant to transport us, after all.

Goodness, I so enjoyed this one! And I really must stop saying that historical settings aren’t really my thing, because when they’re created this superbly there’s nothing I enjoy more. I loved everything about the vivid and atmospheric backdrop – Skye at a point in its history that I knew little about (but was inspired to research a little), the tradition of oral story-telling slowly dying out, the beliefs in malevolent spirits and elements of the supernatural still unsettlingly close to the surface. This is a book in the very best gothic tradition – the naive incomer encountering the inexplicable – but I loved its depth, the mystery behind the death of Audrey’s mother all tied up with the disappearances of young women from the area.

The pacing is perfect – this is a book that draws you in from the very first pages, sucks you into its depths as the story unfolds, and builds the speed and tension as it approaches conclusion (don’t start reading the last hundred pages in bed, as I did – I was still reading at 3am, unable to put it down until the bitter end). The characters are just wonderful – Audrey at centre stage, uncertain and damaged by her early experiences but brave and tenacious in her pursuit of the truth, supported by a large cast of superbly drawn local characters, sometimes threatening and disconcerting, sometimes unexpectedly supportive.

The writing is exceptional – there are scenes and images in this book that have seared themselves into my memory, and the story-telling, in keeping with its context, is quite wonderful. The tangling of the threads, the stories of the losses of Audrey’s mother and of the local girls, is so intricately done – the final untangling wholly unexpected, but credible and well handled. And meanwhile the spirits swirl in the sky with their portent of doom, Murdo nails bodies of birds to his gibbet, and the crofters do what they must to protect themselves… magnificent and unforgettable.

A spellbindingly atmospheric tale full of magic and mystery!

A beautifully told historical story that will transport you to 19th century Scotland... this story had a bit of a creepy gothic vibe, chocked full of mysticism and folklore.... Scotland is a country with a rich history that definitely shown through in this book... I loved all the lores, myths, and superstitions...

Audrey is in need of work, so she heads to the Isle of Skye to record this small closed community’s folklore and traditions... while there she discovers that there are some young girls that have gone missing and when one of them turns up dead Audrey is determined to find out what is really happening... is there some truth behind the stories of the fae and fairies, or is there something more sinister at work?

Audrey was a likable character with a lot of strength and heart... I found her to be very brave not only did she travel to this isolated location on her own, but she also stood up for these missing girls that she didn’t even know... The story had so much atmosphere I could feel the cold of this Scottish isle, Damp and chilly with the fog rolling in! This was a well told well researched story that I was lucky enough to have the privilege of reading...

An enchanting historical fiction book with an engaging mystery and a generous sprinkling of magic! Absolutely recommend!

*** Big thanks to the publisher for my copy of this book ***

After the death of her mother and her father's remarriage Audrey moves to London where her family tries to make a lady out of her. When she witnesses abuse in her voluntary work she finds that she is not believed and takes a job on the Isle of Skye working with a folklorist. This is Audrey's real passion and she finds an escape in the stories. However when girls start disappearing and links are made with folk tales Audrey finds fact and fiction blurring.

I loved Anna Mazzola's first novel and this one is even better. there is a wonderful passion to the setting on Skye, and a genuine love of the old tales. The story mixes in the same streak of social conscious that the previous book (The Unseeing) had, here about the role of women in Victorian society and also the unjust nature of the Highlands Clearance. Add in the supernatural element, which is often overplayed in writing but here is judged perfectly, and a gripping tale - it is clear that this is a writer who is progressing in leaps and bounds and I look forward to more.

A little odd but compelling story of the tales and mysteries of the Scottish Highlands and Islands. Set in Skye, this atmospheric and dark tale has glimmers of hope to rationalise mysterious happenings. Local people are afraid.

The cast of characters is intriguing, each with back stories that are hinted at but not fully fleshed out, leaving the reader to fill in the gaps. In some books this is irritating, but here it adds to the intrigue and leaves the reader feeling a little unsettled too.

A good tale where the different strands come together and unlikely outcomes play out. A little far fetched in places but this is about faeries so that is likely to be expected.

All in all a good read (though I did put it down at 30% and came back to it two weeks later, reading the remainder in one sitting)

4* an interesting and unusual read

Audrey Hart has left her home in London to work on Skye as a collector of folk stories. Her background is, from the outside, comfortable and middle-class which is not such a bad thing to be in Victorian England but it not what Audrey wants. Her mother died when she was young and her father and his second wife wish for Audrey to marry, settle down and be normal – she, however, feels a strong connection to her mother’s past in Scotland. She is also running from work she was doing in London, helping young orphan girls, and from the discovery she made there that one of the orphanage trustees was abusing the girls in his care. She throws herself into her work, collecting folk tales, for Miss Buchanan – the sister of a local landowner – but finds that the locals are reluctant to speak out. Girls have gone missing and they fear that speaking of the faery folk will lead to more disappearances. As Audrey delves deeper into these mysteries she faces resistance, danger and the secrets of her own past. And it seems that it is not just in London that young women are seen as fair game to men who should be their protectors. The reality of their lives is the darkest fairy tale of all…

The year is 1857 and a young woman has escaped her father’s home in London to travel alone to the Isle of Skye. With fond memories of holidays spent on the Scottish island with her late mother, Audrey Hart has applied for the position of assistant to an elderly woman who collects and documents the folk tales of the local people. Very quickly Audrey starts to encounter strange happenings on Skye as several young women disappear in extraordinary circumstances, which local people link to folklore tales and beliefs. The fear and suspicions of the people prevent them from speaking honestly with Audrey, but she is drawn to uncovering what has happened to these girls and also to explore her own mother’s death nearly 20 years ago. Unwittingly Audrey is about to wade into an intricate web of secrets, lies and human stories.


Anna Mazzola is a new name to me, but the description of this historic novel and the beautiful cover picture drew me to it. I should know better right – judging a book by its cover?! But from the outset this novel did not disappoint.

The style of writing is descriptive and atmospheric giving a real feeling of the extremities of an isolated, windswept Scottish isle in the nineteenth century. The landscapes are bleak, the weather tough and at times I could both feel and taste the surroundings. For a Londoner like Audrey the Isle of Skye is both a shock and yet invitingly different in its isolation – she wanted to embrace the huge changes in her surroundings and learn to understand how to live so far from mainland civilization.

Bubbling beneath the surface of the novel is an undercurrent of dark, Gothic suspense. In true Victorian style there are sinister brooding characters and an old, ghostly mansion where the elderly folklore collector resides. The story would not be complete without some paranormal incidents and inexplicable events which seem to be deeply entwined with the old folklore. But alongside this the author writes with historical knowledge and integrity as she describes the consequences of the Highland Clearances of the 18th and 19th centuries – absentee landlords, the poverty of the crofting communities, the disease and a failing economy.

Ms Mazzola gave the lead roles to strong women, despite the era being patriarchal, and the main character Audrey grows in strength and stature throughout the novel. She knows her own mind – she is not deterred by the initial reluctance of the locals to accept her nor by the difficulties she encounters in trying to solve some mysteries surrounding the death of her own mother on Skye years before. Audrey fights against the constraints of Victorian society from the time she escapes London and the reasons for running, to the inaccurate assumptions made about her by the men on Skye.

Initially I wasn’t sure that I could get into the book, but within several chapters and the brewing of mystery, I was hooked. There are twists and turns throughout, some directly linked to local folklore and others to the characters and location, and enough suspense to drive the novel forward to some surprising conclusions.

If you enjoy a historical, atmospheric thriller then this is the book for you. I will be looking for the author’s other novels and this novel comes highly recommended.

4.5 stars!

I was fortunate to be given a copy of this book through TBC on Facebook and Netgalley in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.

This is such a fabulous story. I love folklore and was really intrigued all the way through. Thanks for the ARC.

Audrey has always been fascinated by folk tales,something that she shared with her late mother. Her mother's tales of Scotland keep her going struggling like a fish out of water in the London of 1857. When she sees an advertisement for an assistant to a folklorist on the Isle of Skye it seems heaven sent.

She finds it difficult to get the people to talk to her although the maid in the house, Mhairi, makes things a little easier. She soon begins to regard her as a friend. But girls have gone missing & nobody seems to care. Audrey tries to overcome the mistrust of the locals and the overbearing attitude of the local minister and doctor to find out what has happened & when Mhairi disappears she becomes more intent on solving the mystery

Anna Mazzola captures the atmosphere of the era of the Clearances. The Isle of Skye becomes almost a character in the story. This book is beautifully written & I loved it.

Thanks to Netgalley, te publisher & TBC Reviewers Request Group for letting me read this book.

This book proved to be sheer reading PERFECTION for me, beautifully written and descriptive it enchanted me from the very start to the wonderful end.

I loved the setting on the isle of Skye, the historical details following the Highland clearances, the wealth of richly painted characters and the themes of folklore, fairy stories and myth. With the main character of Audrey, a determined young woman whom I could admire and empathise with.

The Story Keeper has all the ingredients for an atmospheric read: a mysterious house (Lanerly Hall) partly shut up and furnished with cabinets full of ghoulish looking objects and curios; a family in which there are secrets and things that can’t be spoken of; a sinister factor/land agent; the puzzle of why Audrey’s employer, Miss Buchanan, is confined to the house; and villagers fearful that evil stalks their communities. It’s all set against the backdrop of the wind and waves that pound the shores of the island. ‘A dank mist had settled over the island and the sea was steel-grey, angry.’

The remote and windswept location creates an atmosphere where stories of fairies, ‘the little people’, and changelings seem credible. The privation experienced by the islanders, the legacy of clearances and the decline of crafting as a viable livelihood, mean that not only are the stories Audrey is tasked with collecting coming to an end but a way of life as well.

I really enjoyed the sense of mystery and claustrophobia the author creates as Audrey’s fears seem in danger of being realised. ‘No matter how much she tried to remain rational, she could feel things closing in, growing nearer. The day after tomorrow, Samhein would begin, the festival that marked the beginning of the dark months. It was the luminal time, the people said, the time when the boundary between this world and the other-world could more easily be crossed.’ Spooky, eh?

Who can Audrey trust when those in positions of authority refuse to believe her, perhaps for their own reasons? I found myself compelled to keep reading in order to find out the resolution of the mystery of the missing girls and will happily admit the author sent me in the wrong direction when it came to identifying the culprit.

The Story Keeper is sure to delight historical fiction fans who enjoy an intriguing mystery, an interesting period setting and an atmospheric location.

It's 1857 and Audrey leaves her home in London and her controlling father to take up a job with Lady Buchanan on the Isle of Skye collecting folk tales. It's the time of the Highland Clearances and the crofters are more suspicious of strangers.

One of the reasons she was drawn back to Skye was to find out more about her mother's death many years before and to follow in her mother's footsteps as she too collected the stories.

She finds a dead girl on the beach and other girls go missing. She's determined to find out what happened and where they are. An enjoyable, if slow read.

I really enjoyed this venture into gothic suspense - it's dark, atmospheric and engaging!

The writing is excellent, despite the era there are strong females in lead roles, the setting and descriptions are captivating and the mystery and intrigue keep you turning the pages. I loved the obvious historical research that had been done to retell the impact of the highland clearances, the abject poverty suffered and the folklores told and believed in by the people of Skye.

Rife with tension, suspicion and lies - both in Skye and in Audrey's back story. What started off as an intriguing slow burner quickly gathered pace and I was blindsided by the dramatic conclusion.

Highly recommended 4 - 4.5 stars

Many thanks to NetGalley and Headline for the opportunity to read The Story Keeper - this review is, as always my honest opinion and thoughts about the book.

I may have mentioned (once or twice) that earlier this year a book I contributed to was nominated for an Edgar award, and that I went to New York for the ceremony. (TL:DR take – we didn’t win but I had the best time ever). Oh I have mentioned it before? Anyway, this is a different take on it.

At the reception before the ceremony I was talking to an American publisher, whose British author Anna Mazzola had been nominated in a different category: her book, The Unseeing, won the paperback original award. Anna couldn’t be there, but obviously I was cheering her on and was delighted when she won. And then I read that book, which was an excellent atmospheric story about an incomprehensible crime in London in the 1830s - it’s described as a ‘twisting tale of family secrets’, which is an excellent tagline. I enjoyed it hugely, and then moved on to this one, which is just out.

And The Story Keeper is even better. Audrey Hart, whose family background is unhappy, takes a job on the Scottish island of Skye, near where her dead mother came from, and a place she visited as a child. She is taken on by one of the local gentry – a woman who lives in a big house – to collect traditional folklore: songs and stories. She lives in the house, gets to know people locally, and realizes that young women are disappearing – and that no-one is taking it very seriously.

The setting is the time of the Highland Clearances, and the horrors of that time are not underplayed. The superstitions and local tales are seen as a valuable resource to be saved (especially as families are being forced overseas), but there are two sides to that: the local minister says
‘the whole thing is madness. Pure havers. This is exactly why I’ve been warning folk against the old beliefs: they’re not just wrong, they’re dangerous. They’ve near killed the poor lass and for what? For their wretched fairies?’
He is shown as having bigoted views and ruling his flock unreasonably, but at this particular moment in the book, he does have a point.

The Story Keeper is very atmospheric, and very tense: the final section is unputdownable. It is very well-written, and Audrey is a great heroine – intelligent and brave and real, with a compelling sadness about her: she wants more from life than seems on offer for a woman in her position.

The history and the details of the folklore seem impeccable (I mean, I wouldn’t know, but they have the ring of truth) and are fascinating, and then the Gothic thriller plot is excellent. The book reminded me of the early Sarah Waters book Affinity – very much a compliment in my eyes, I think it’s Waters’ best book.

I have high hopes that Anna Mazzola is just at the start of a long career of writing great books of the kind we're all looking for - books that are entertaining and well-written, contain interesting ideas, and don't insult your intelligence.

The pictures are from some 30 years later, which is a bit of a cheat, but I found a book online at the British Library about a cycling tour of Scotland (including Skye) – a humorous recital, just pre-dating Jerome K Jerome’s Three Men in a Boat but perhaps similar – and the pictures seemed to fit various scenes in The Story Keeper.

This is Anna Mazzola’s second novel, following her debut, The Unseeing, which I read last year. There are some similarities between the two – they are both set in the 19th century and they are both inspired by true crimes – but the stories are very different and, of the two, I found this new one much more enjoyable.

It’s 1857 and Audrey Hart is desperate to get away from London following a traumatic experience at the orphanage where she has been volunteering. Audrey’s mother, who disappeared while out walking many years earlier, had an interest in folklore, so when Audrey sees a job advertised for a collector of folk tales on the Isle of Skye, she applies at once. After arriving on the island and meeting her new employer, Miss Buchanan, she becomes aware that her task is going to be much more difficult than she had expected…

During the recent Highland Clearances, many of the crofters have been forced to leave Skye, taking their stories with them, and those who remain are reluctant to speak to Audrey. Some of this reluctance could simply be due to the fact that Audrey is from England and therefore an outsider, but she senses that there is more to it than that – the islanders seem to be afraid to share their stories and to have them written down. Then Audrey finds the body of a girl washed up on the beach – and when another girl also goes missing, she begins to wonder whether the people of Skye are right to be afraid.

The Story Keeper is a wonderfully atmospheric novel set in a small, remote Scottish community where people’s daily lives are influenced by the old superstitions and traditions in which they still believe. Throughout the novel, as one strange occurrence follows another, we are kept wondering whether there are supernatural forces at work on Skye or whether there is another explanation for what is happening. It all feels quite sinister, and genuinely eerie in places. Some of the superstitions and beliefs Audrey encounters are dark, disturbing and even dangerous. The novel reminded me in that respect of The Good People by Hannah Kent.

As well as the mystery unfolding on the Isle of Skye, there are also hints of other mysteries in Audrey’s past. Why did she leave her home in London without telling her father and stepmother where she was going? What really happened while she was visiting the orphanage? And what was the true story behind her mother’s disappearance, all those years ago? These things are all explained, but the truth only emerges very slowly, meaning that there is plenty of suspense from the beginning of the book until the end.

If I have a criticism, it is that some of the developments towards the end of the book, especially where one particular character is concerned, feel a bit too dramatic and far-fetched. I liked the final twist, though, as it was something I hadn’t worked out for myself. I also enjoyed the fairy tale extracts at the start of some of the chapters and the lines from the poem Kilmeny by James Hogg, which I had to look up and read in its entirety after finishing the book.

Although I couldn’t help thinking The Story Keeper would have been better suited to a cold, dark winter’s night, I still enjoyed reading it during our current summer heatwave and I’m looking forward to whatever Anna Mazzola writes next.