I found this an interesting read, but was disappointed in how the wife's grief was portrayed as leading to a kind of closed off hysteria- I wish I could have seen more of her internal life and coming to terms with the death of their son, and while I know that this was probably a deliberate narrative choice (heightening their isolation) it was frustrating to have that avenue closed off. Overall, it was slow-burning and creepy, but didn't live up to my expectations from 'The Loney'.

Thanks to John Murray Press and NetGalley for the Advance Review Copy in exchange for an honest review.

I've heard a lot of good things about this author on the Guardian Books Podcast and have some of his books unread on my Kindle. I've also seen Book Twitter raving about it so what better excuse to read a spooky book in the fine month of October.



I was somewhat disappointed straight off the bat when I realised this was another of what I call an 'angsty guy with a dead kid' novel. The last one of these I read was In the Night Wood by Dale Bailey which coincedentally is also about an oblivious academic type who denies everything weird that is happening despite being a first person observer to the supernatural events.

I'm maybe being a bit harsh because I did actually quite enjoy this book. The setting of a parochial, superstitious village was interesting enough but I felt the characters were a little one dimensional and it wasn't quite creepy enough for me. The ending was killer though so that redeemed things for me a bit.

I dunno, I know lots of people loved this book and it's really perfectly fine but it just felt a bit tropey and meh. A nice spooky little read but nothing particularly original or new here. I actually think it might have worked better as a short story rather than a full length novel.

A great story and use of atmospherics. All round good read with engaging characters and narrative structure.

Hmmm.....this was ok...I was expecting a bit more, it felt like it was going somewhere but then it just ended. Not for me, sorry!

I found this book very difficult to both review and give a rating.I’ll do my best to try and break down my thoughts.

Richard and Juliette move to Starve Acre, with their 5 year old son Ewan, an apparently healthy young lad. Over time Ewan begins to show aggressive traits and his behaviour becomes violent.

Ewan tragically passes away, leaving Richard and Juliette to grieve at Starve Acre, but something isn’t right, and Juliette refuses to believe Ewan has gone, that he is still with them at Starve Acre.

A deeply immersive and atmospheric tale, Andrew Michael Hurley deftly draws you into this macabre and darkly morose tale.

Though a relatively short novella in length, this story feels like a slow burn , as you live through the couples devastating and sad journey, culminating in a quite disturbing end.

I felt the locations in this book are at times as important as the story, and they are described with such deep clarity and depth, you could be at Starve Acre, living out this darkly moving tale

It’s a vivid, intense read, emotional and heart breaking, parts of it are a slightly incomprehensible , but it’s a stunning piece of writing, incredibly rich and complex in detail and story.

For me it’s a Recommended read but possibly with some apprehension for this upsetting tale.

4 🔥🔥🔥🔥

This is a short book but not a short read.
I found the prose very well done, beautiful in fact.
I found the story a bit confusing, perhaps packing too much into the novella when certain parts could have been developed to make it stronger. The characters could have been better developed and this too would make the book longer. Not a bad thing perhaps. So on the whole, lovely writing but something was missing to make this really good.

After the death of their son Ewan , who has been prone to acts of violence at school, his parents struggle to come to terms with his death . His mother Juliette has virtually stopped eating and spends most of her time in bed , after a visit from an occult sect called The Beacons spurred on by their friend Gordon she appears to become brighter , but the leader of The Beacons appears to sense something evil in the house and falls ill .
His father Richard has been dealing with his grief in his own way by digging in a field opposite to find the ruins of an historic Oak tree . He finds the bones of a Hare buried and takes them home and lays them out anatomically correct but the Hare gradually returns to its original live form , after being taken to the field and released it gets back to the house and seems to have a spiritual hold over Juliette .
Richard has a library of his father's books and papers which contain many contemporary pictures of the legendary oak and finds that 3 " Sons of the village" had been hanged at the same time on a branch (known as "Old Justice" ) on the tree . He eventually finds this branch buried during his excavations with grooves from the hangings . All these details come together towards the end of the book . A well written psychological and spiritual story .

Starve acre is a mystifying place from the get go, afield where nothing grows, a mysterious legendary tree that is no longer there but that Richard is desperate to find evidence of, a dead child that no-one has come to terns with the loss of and Juliette, the mother, determined that her child is still here and dabbling in the occult to prove herself correct.
The book is powerful and draws you in despite whatever skepticism you may have about the more occult aspects of the story. Ultimately it is a tale of loss, grief and mental fragility with some strange goings on that are inexplicable but the consequences of which are great.

To me this was an odd read, perhaps out of my normal comfort zone, but compelling nonetheless.

A pretty atmospheric read although the characters are not explored in much detail. Unfortunately, I did feel that the ending raised more questions than it answered.

<blockquote>Richard wondered if the hare in some way felt as he did that spring was always bestowed. That it was an invitation to come and watch the world moving and be among its tremors. Here in the field, those first shocks of the season were starting now. [loc. 1005]</blockquote>

Originally published under the nom de plume of Jonathan Buckley, by the <a href="https://edenbooksociety.com/">Eden Book Society</a> [CAUTION: rabbit hole ahead], <i>Starve Acre</i> has been reissued under Hurley's name, with revisions. (I would be fascinated to be able to compare the two editions: <a href="https://endsoftheword.blogspot.com/2019/07/andrew-michael-hurley-starve-acre.html#more">here's a review by someone who has read both</a>.)

Richard and Juliette have left the city to live in Starve Acre, Richard's family home, out in the Yorkshire Dales. They'd dreamt of an idyllic country childhood for their son Ewan, and for the other children they planned to have: but now Ewan is dead. Juliette feels that Ewan is still with them in the house: through a friend, she has arranged for a spiritualist to visit. Richard, a lecturer in History, believes that 'the sum of human existence [is] collagen and calcium phosphate' [loc. 559]: he is haunted only by memories. True, Ewan was ... disturbed in his last months of life. He heard a voice in the dark, and sometimes did its bidding. But really, Richard thinks, he was only five. It was just a difficult patch.

Richard is excavating the field after which Starve Acre is named, a field where nothing grows. Local lore has it that this is because it was the site of the Stythwaite Oak, a place of execution. In parallel he's performing a kind of excavation in his late father's study, a jumble of books and papers, where he finds old woodcuts depicting young men hanged from a bough labelled Olde Justice.

Then he finds the skeleton of a hare, and brings it home to Starve Acre: and something starts to happen that he has no framework for thinking about.

This is an unsettling short novel, told from the viewpoint of a character who dismisses the experiences of those around him, while revising his own memories to a kinder shape. It gradually becomes clear that Ewan was not simply going through a difficult patch; that something may be altering Richard's perceptions; and that Mrs Forde's warning -- 'whatever it is you've brought into your home, get rid of it' -- was not the 'consummate performance' that Richard mocked.

Hurley's descriptions of the changing seasons are exceptional, especially his evocations of the advent of spring after a long winter: the damp smell of ferns, the 'flinty noise' of sparrows in the hedgerows, the astonishment of birdsong. It's all the more powerful when set against the disintegration of Richard and Juliette's home, and the shocking final image is like a nail driven home.

I read this because <a href="http://tamaranth.blogspot.com/2019/08/201994-loney-andrew-michael-hurley.html"><i>The Loney</i></a> resonated with me. <i>Starve Acre</i> is a simpler story, more traditionally Gothic, but Hurley's prose elevates what might be a straightforward horror story into something mythic.

Thanks to NetGalley for a free advance review copy, in exchange for this honest review.

This is beautifully written with some wonderful prose. However, I’m afraid I just found it to be hard work after a while.
It’s an interesting idea, a young couple move to the Yorkshire Dales, they are both grieving for their son and are dealing very differently with his death. Unfortunately though, neither instilled sympathy with me, rather, irritation and there was insufficient plot to maintain my interest.
A ghostly, strange read, with an ending you won't forget in a hurry.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the opportunity to preview.

An OK 2* from me.

Given this is a Novella I could have read this a lot quicker, but I struggled a little with this.

Having taking the time to read other reviews, a lot found this to be chilling and quite scary, but it just didn’t cut the mustard for me. Don’t get me wrong, this was centred around a serious subject matter and taking this into account I feel this should have deserved more than just the 256 pages allotted! Maybe had this been the case the characters who appeared quite weak and the horror element that was only touched on could have been developed more.

The ending was so abrupt which has bothered me some as there really wasn’t any closure and also left me thinking what the hell just happened there and why? It was an odd ending to say the least without giving anything a way but it was a WTF moment. Not to mention leaving me to second guess what actually happened to Ewan, what was in the house and the whys and wherefore’s of Jack.

I did however love Andrews writing style, he is very adept at setting the scene and I would not deter anyone from reading this. It is beautifully written and you may get more out of this than me.

Thank you Netgalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review

Synopsis
The worst thing possible has happened. Richard and Juliette Willoughby's son, Ewan, has died suddenly at the age of five. Starve Acre, their house by the moors, was to be full of life, but is now a haunted place.

Juliette, convinced Ewan still lives there in some form, seeks the help of the Beacons, a seemingly benevolent group of occultists. Richard, to try and keep the boy out of his mind, has turned his attention to the field opposite the house, where he patiently digs the barren dirt in search of a legendary oak tree.

Starve Acre is a devastating new novel by the author of the prize-winning bestseller The Loney. It is a novel about the way in which grief splits the world in two and how, in searching for hope, we can so easily unearth horror.

Starve Acre is a folk horror tale full of menace and fuelled by guilt. Richard and Juliette Willoughby, and their young son Ewan moved to Richard’s family home in the Yorkshire Dales following the death of his parents. The house known as Starve Acre has unhappy memories for Richard as he recalls his father’s mental breakdown. The unfriendliness of the house and the surrounding fields haven’t changed and the main field that folklore tells of homing the legendary Stythwaite Oak sees nothing ever grow there. The barren field of dirt is vividly drawn and the huge Oak tree is imagined as it may once have dominated the landscape. The tree carries a supernatural history that radiates evil where it was once used as a hanging tree. Although it no longer exists above ground, Richard is convinced its root system is still there and infecting the surrounding area. As he digs to discover any evidence he uncovers wooden carvings and the untouched skeleton of a hare.

Ewan dies at 5 years of age after a period where the community witnessed episodes of his cruelty to animals and other children. The story deals with switchbacks in time to Ewan’s activities and he insisted that it was Jack Grey telling him to do those evil things. Richard and Juliette are dealing with the bereavement of their son in different ways but Juliette is riddled with guilt and we wonder what may be the source of those emotions.

“It seemed to Richard sometimes that Juliette had actually brought twins into the world: Ewan and Guilt. The latter had always been the stronger of the two. It fed more, weighed more, demanded more of their attention. When it had outlived Ewan, it had grown larger still.”

Juliette insists she can still feel Ewan’s presence in the house but his spirit is drifting away. She calls in the Beacons as mediums to communicate with Ewan and identify what she is feeling. The Beacons leave abruptly, shaken and frightened, and advise the Willoughbys to move house immediately.

The ability to start the story with the suspicion of evil, introduce paranormal folklore, and continuously ramp up the horror and dark content to a shocking aberrant conclusion, is convincingly achieved in this novel. The suspense of lurking peril adding to an evil foreboding atmosphere is masterfully crafted by Andrew Michael Hurley. The location is vividly portrayed with an air of warning hanging on every scene and the well-drawn characters fit the story perfectly. I enjoyed the mix of the guilty parents, Juliette, whose mind is slowly slipping into madness or compliance with the supernatural, while Richard feels the frustration and despair of not accepting paranormal signs and being unable to convince his wife that her behaviour is irrational and they need to get away from this abnormal environment.

If I had one issue it is that I expected a bit more horror or trauma from this story even though I appreciate the threat of horror is often greater than the horror itself.

I recommend reading this book and I’d like to thank John Murray Press and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC version in return for an honest review.

This is not the type of book that I normally chose to read and perhaps the title should have given me a clue about the genre. It is a story of loss and mental instability as well as being a chilling mystery story that borders on supernatural. Juliette and Richard have moved to the country to live in Richards family home. In the countryside, as we know, there are suspicious locals and strange goings-on at the bottom of the garden. Or in this case, in the field where nothing grows, starve acre as it is called.

I had no trouble reading it through and it was as dark and bleak as the title suggests. Cold Comfort Farm without the humour. I finished it with relief and a sense that it had cast a shadow over my psyche. But for those who like this genre, I believe it would be very enjoyable. It ends on a very surreal note and I hope to forget that image very soon.

Its not fair to dislike a book because it’s not what you like to read and I have no issue with the writing nor the story line which was depressing but interesting. However I would say, read Starve Acre if you like mysterious bleak ghost stories with startling moments of magical realism but avoid it if you prefer some light in the gloom.

This is a dark book. I liked parts of it but feel totally creeped out by the ending.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

A child's death hits a family hard and what was a house full of life at Starve Acre has become empty and unhappy. To get away from the oppressive atmosphere, Richard is digging in the fields opposite the house to find a legendary oak tree but what he finds is something very different...

I am not sure about this book so I've given it three stars. I think it starts off well, the atmosphere is brilliantly set and the family's trauma heartbreaking but it then just seems to descend very quickly into a completely different sort of novel and I'm not sure the two are blended well enough.

As always with Andrew Michael Hurley's work, the prose is beautiful and therefore so easy to read and his previous novels have been pretty dark so I did know what to expect here. Nevertheless, I don't think the ending here was explained clearly enough and I think perhaps it was too short for the story it ought to contain.

Sorry, too scary for me. A well written, well spaced book which gets darker and darker as the book goes on. The field of Starve Acre grows nothing - not even grass. It's where there used to be a gallows tree. There's a local bogey man too - is it his fault, or is just that so many people around there are psychotic - and go that way more than one at a time.

This book scared me - especially the ending.

I read a free advance review copy. This review is voluntary, honest and my own opinion.

Well, that was terrifying on a variety of levels… Wow.

Richard and Juliette are mourning the recent death of their young son. He’s grieving, but presumably healing, and she languishing in agony and guilt – while still hearing and seeing the dead boy. As Richard uses his enforced sabbatical to babysit his wife and research a historical hanging tree on his property, he reflects on Ewan’s troubled childhood. The action starts after a pseudo séance one evening. The tone of this escalates from the quiet desolation of midwinter (when the narrative starts) to the anticipation of Spring (when it concludes) – but its an anticipation born out of dread and rebirth isn’t as uplifting as it sounds.

This took some dark twists and turns and I only suspected a few of them along the way. I definitely don’t know what to make of the ending – but it was wow. Well-written and thoughtful and certainly very enthralling – this one will stick with me for a while – even if there is no way of saying I enjoyed it. Nonetheless, I’m very impressed with it!

A tale that will be close to home for many readers soon takes off on a twisted and malevolent path. Dark, creepy and sinister. Very good indeed!

Anther great book from Mr
Hurley.
Partly a tale of demonic haunting, partly a study in grief, above all once again a cast of believable characters caught up in extraordinary events. Like all true artists he makes it appear effortless.

My enduring impression was of the insular nature of rural communities and their reluctance to embrace outsiders. The reality of country life sadly at odds with the bucolic dream.

Highly recommended.