Short but thrilling!

Starve Acre is slightly different from the books I normally read but I found myself loving it! The writing style is so beautifully gothic I’m disappointed it wasn’t longer! I found myself reading this by firelight on a rainy Autumn evening and it just felt perfect. I had chills and thrills...you can’t ask for more!

There was a few bits I just didn’t “get” but definitely give Starve Acre a read. I promise you won’t regret it.

Short but creepy and unsettling this folk lore based book left me jumpy. It touches the darkest fears of parents and some of the things you think you would do or try in the face of such a huge loss.

An easy dark read

This is short and easy to read. It took me a while to understand what was going on as the story was told in hints and suggestions rather than directly. It was creepy and not my sort of thing at all but it was well told in the Victorian Gothic style of horror. Although rather gruesome I did not find it scary.

This short novel can be read in an evening and is a brilliant read for the long, dark nights. It concerns a family under extreme stress. Their son has died aged five. Through present day, and past recollection, we piece together some of the history of this field where once there grew an enormous oak tree. The author builds the tension up over time and it’s a book that makes you uncomfortable. I really enjoyed it and would recommend it.

Until I read some reviews of this book I had never heard of the folk horror genre, but that sums up this tale well. An unsettling combination of folk lore, superstition, village gossip, a woman in touch with the dead, a resurrected hare and a couple grieving following the death of their 5 year old son - who maybe wasn't the innocent child one thinks of at that age. Prepare to be chilled and read with the lights on
Thank you to netgalley and John Murray Press for an advance copy of this book.

This is a darkly chilling book. As you read it, you feel an overwhelming sense of menace and malevolence making it an uncomfortable read.

Richard and Juliette are grieving parents, trying to navigate their emotions after the death of their son, Ewan. Juliette is deeply unhappy and trying desperately to cling to any sign of her son. Richard throws himself into work, trying to support his wife as best he can.

Add in some paranormal activity, disturbing flashbacks and increasingly tense conversations and you have this atmospheric and gloomy tale.

Not my usual genre, but very much enjoyed. Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for my copy of this book.

This is one of the most chilling novellas I have ever read. No jump-scares, no overwritten horror, just a creeping sense of Other seeping through the walls of Starve Acre, the house inherited by Richard Willoughby and where his wife Juliette insisted they move to and start a family.
The nearby village has never accepted the family, but is that more to do with the barren field by the house where nothing thrives, nothing lives, that even earthworms skirt around? Richard’s almost obsessive hobby is to unearth the tree used as the village’s gallows in the past, spurred on by his father’s haphazard collection of local history including woodcuttings of the gallows tree in grim action. Due to the death of their young son, Ewan, he pursues this task while his wife mourns in the unchanged bedroom of their lost little boy, refusing all help and support from extended family. Even her brisk sister, Harrie, herself a survivor of brutal domestic violence (so equipped with the knowledge and skills to overcome personal tragedy) cannot break through the carapace of sadness Juliette has grown.
Through the story we learn more about Ewan and our pity at his early death transforms into an awful, guilty sort of relief. This was not a happy, stable or kind child. Was he even a child at all when he did those things?
Psychic Mrs Forde and her Beacons hold a ceremony intended to put the soul of Ewan to rest, but what seems to be a positive outcome at first soon sets in motion a terrifying melding of last and future. Jack Grey will have his prize.
Perfect for fans of the understatedly uncanny and folk horror. I won’t look at those cosy Yorkshire houses set slightly apart from the rest of their village in quite the same way again.

Thanks to John Murray Press and NetGalley for an early copy of Starve Acre.

This short book packs a real punch; I was completely drawn in from the first few pages. I did not know more than the blurb when starting the book and I am glad of it as it allowed the story to unfold during the reading process and for me to approach the piece with no additional knowledge.

Hurley has a wonderful way with words and beautifully portrays the barren landscape and the questions these gothic scenes can unearth.

Safe to say I really enjoyed reading this and would highly recommend. Starve Acre is the perfect winter read and I will definitely be buying a few copies for my friends.

4/5

A short novel but an impressive one.

Richard and Juliette are grieving for their dead son Ewan in Richard's parent old home in a village. The story is told in the third person from Richard's perspective. While Juliette is convinced that Ewan is still around despite being dead, Richard throws himself into first work and then a project started by his father to uncover the remains of a mythical oak that once stood in the family's land.

While Juliette invites a group called the beacons to help her with her mourning, Richard remains the pragmatist and refuses to believe they can help despite facing inexplicable himself.

The story flashes back to Richard's time with Ewan, the joy they shared together and the difficulties as he seemed to change from a happy boy into someone morose and unpredictable.

Local superstition and mystery play heavily throughout the book leading to a deliciously chilling conclusion..

This is certainly a weird book; it reads as a contemporary tale focused on grief but with a distinctly gothic horror tone running through it. From the moment you are introduced to the Willoughby family, you are made aware that they have relatively recently lost their young son, Ewan. So you are entering a home still in the throes of a deep grief. Hurley's writing depicts this beautifully, even when he is depicting the landscape of Starve Acre - it all seems to tie back into that sense of loss and bereft helplessness. His writing is vivid and focuses far more on descriptive passages than I usually find interesting in a novel but it certainly serves to paint a picture of this bleak and unforgiving landscape that they are residing in.

Told through a series of juxtaposing trips through the past and the present, Hurley manages to bring the young Ewan, with all his troubled and disturbing manners, to life. This is important, as it could easily have revolved around a child you never know and have lost the emotional impact. The style also allows for a build up of tension throughout both aspects of the book; for whilst you are aware that Ewan has died, you are not told how, why or when. When combined with the undeniably creepy tone of the present, and the trips back into the history of Starve Acre and the legendary Stythwaite Oak that Richard is so obsessed with mapping the roots of, you get a tense and fraught novel.

Whilst it's quite a short read, it also packs quite an emotional punch and I found each of the varying tales threaded throughout were fascinating in their own way. The long gone past with the wood cuts Richard unearths in his father's library depicting the Stythwaite Oak in its hey day but also the scene of three boys hanging is tentative and fascinating by how oblique it is. The vagaries of the past are unearthed but never fully understood all these years later. The present day with the supernatural twists around the corner and the depiction of how grief can dig it's claws deeply has a faster pace, but still lingers on unexplainable moments. The relationships are impressively sculpted, the degrees of love, exasperation and concern unravelling around the characters, balanced perfectly with the conflict between the sceptic and the believer, each believing the other to be wrong or even actively ill. The flashbacks to Ewan's childhood get very dark, very quickly and everything intricately ties back to the mystery of Starve Acre.

This is a clever exploration of folk lore, of parenting, of relationships and of loss. It's unnerving and yet whilst it certainly hovers on the edge of horror, it never takes the full plunge. The places throughout are made exceptionally real, and you can envision the small village atmosphere and politics. It's well written, and leaves you with a number of questions hanging over your head as you finish the last page. I flew through it quickly and whilst it didn't hook me, it certainly had me intrigued until the last page. If you enjoy slow burning, realistic gothic horror then this is certainly one to look out for.

After reading The Loney and Devils Day I was thrilled to be given a chance to read Starve Acre. I wasn't disappointed. Andre Michael Hurleys books are so atmospheric they give me the chills! He uses folklore and superstitions to build tension until the unthinkable happens.

Thank you NetGalley for my copy.

This is a book to devour. The writing is exquisite, the characters are indepth, the bleak end of Winter scenery on the quiet moor heartbreakingly beautiful.

Richard and Juliette have recently lost their young child and are each grieving in their own way. Richard hides on the moor, Juliette in her deceased son's bedroom. They grow further apart each day.
An occult healing session turns their world upside down.

Starve Acre is a story with few characters, traveling at a slow but very pleasant pace, giving the reader space to fully engage in this couple's emotional landscape.

Thank you Netgalley and John Murray Press for the ARC.

Andrew Michael Hurley has been the main author behind the resurgence in the folk horror genre and has been perfecting his style from The Loney to Devil's Day. This story has the reminiscent feel of a 70's Hammer House of Horror TV episode or M.R. James Christmas Tale and I raced through it.
The unsettling narrative builds with flashbacks to Richard and Juliette's son, Ewan, being prompted to violence by an unseen voice and the present, where a dig within a sinister field reveals bones and remains of an ancient tree used for hanging.
Anyone who has seen the 2018 film "The Witch" set in puritan America will know how evil hare's can look and in connection there is a similar scene which comes at a sudden unexpected ending.

An incredibly creepy, slow-burning folk horror that I would recommend to fans of We Need to Talk About Kevin and The Sinner. The reader is left to decide whether the events that take place in the book are the result of nature, nurture, or supernatural influence. Hurley is renowned for creating isolated rural communities and his best characters are the 'sceptics' who slowl.y begin to doubt their own senses. This book follows in the folk horror footsteps of writers like Shirley Jackson and Susan Hill; there are nods to books like King of the Castle as well as Hurley's sophomore novel Devil's Day. A brilliant book for a cold night by the fire.

Review to go live on Don Jimmy Reviews on October 29th

I had seen Starve Acre appear on a couple of twitter feeds, but it was a tweet from Bookish Chat that really sparked my interest. Then of course I saw it on NetGalley. I wasn't exactly expecting an approval but was delighted when it happened.

From the start of this book, I wasn't too sure what to make of it. I'm not sure I was enjoying it to be honest but there was something about it that kept me going - it's also short - almost a novella - so there’s the possibility that I thought to myself that it wouldn't take too long whether I liked it or not. Then something surprising happened. It sucked me in.

What we have here is a story that is dark and atmospheric. At times the story is frightening, and I had that "walking over my grave" feeling that all books of this type should have. The gulf in the relationship between man and wife, mirrored by the dead land outside, is portrayed brilliantly. As is Richard's scepticism of the Beacons.

By the time the Beacons had been introduced I was swallowing this one up and could not wait to see what else lay in store. The story told partly in flashback is perfectly paced, and I'm sure it's finale will live long in the memory.

In the end I loved it - highly recommend to fans of the macabre - especially at this time of year, or as a friend said to me (that's you Tom) "Perfect for when the dark nights arrive".

Get on it - released October 31st.

I have read both this author’s previous books and been impressed by his skills at conjuring atmosphere. He gives us more of the same here with a setting on the Yorkshire moors in an isolated farmhouse and its adjacent field, the focus of local superstition and a grisly history. The tension is heightened by the family’s own recent history and the tragic loss of their 5-year-old son. The circumstances of his death are unclear for most of the book. The events leading up to it, though, and the child’s abrupt change in personality create such an atmosphere of foreboding I feared to find out what happened.

Central to the story are the different ways the parents handle their grief, looking in such different directions that their health and their marriage are threatened. Richard focuses on practical things, researching the history and folklore of the property, Starve Acre, while Juliette seeks comfort and answers in the spiritual. This was reminiscent of AMH’s previous novel, ‘Devil’s Day’, and was just as effective.

A psychological and supernatural story in one - recommended.

Hurley's third novel was initially snuck out pseudonymously, posing as a lost classic of the 1970s and folk horror's first boom. I'd be interested to know how many readers of that edition saw through the ruse, because it's certainly not a million miles from his last novel, Devil's Day. Once again, a man returns to the old family home in the wilds of Yorkshire, a more metropolitan bride in tow; once again, the memory of his father looms over the house, and a death in the family casts its shadow. And once again the locale at first seems merely unwelcoming, hard and cold, before gradually revealing itself as something far more sinister. Yes, it avoids any howling Downton anachronisms, at least so far as I noticed, but I never had any real feeling of it as specifically a seventies pastiche. But then, it might have been tricky to tell when there are already so many periods of the past bleeding into the present; the more recent time when Richard and Juliette's son Ewan was still alive, but also the period centuries earlier, before the field opposite became the barren Starve Acre of the title, back when it was home to the mighty but ill-omened Stythwaite Oak. Of course, this being folk horror, the past isn't dead – it isn't even past, and given Richard's an archaeologist, that which was buried won't be staying safely interred. Given we now know the novel is in fact a product of the 2010s, several of Starve Acre's key motifs can be seen as remixing a particular horror classic which came out between its purported and actual publication dates, and as has often been said of that book's author, the ending here doesn't necessarily satisfy what the novel has stirred up. Still, Hurley doesn't half know how to conjure unease along the way. 


(Netgalley ARC)

Second book by Hurely that's under my belt now, and I simply can't help but continue to be thoroughly impressed by the sense of unease he creates within his works. Starve Acre is the story of Richard and Juliette trying to rebuild their shattered lives after the sudden death of their troubled young son. Told from Richard's point of view, the story weaves into the past and present seamlessly, never stopping to take a breath.

I have to say the ambiguity of the story is probably the novella's strongest selling point. it's difficult to decide if the characters have been thrown head first into a classic horror tale, being stalked by the mysterious Jack Grey - or having a psychological break. I suspect that will definitely be a topic of discussion once the book hits the shelves.

I did feel there could have been a couple of more pages devoted to developing the characters a little, but it's a tiny complaint given how fast paced and packed Starve Acre is.

Highly recommended.

With thanks to Netgalley and John Murray Press for the ARC.

Narrated with natural menace, "Starve Acre" is laced with darkness and desperation which condemns the family in residence to a grave and tragic existence.

The shadowy strangeness emanating from this tale makes it’s easy to become entangled in the unsettling, ethereal events that occur.

Piece by disturbing piece the story of Juliette and Richard grows increasingly dense. It’s clear that something has happened to their boy but it’s not revealed precisely what, leaving you to imagine the worst, at least until imaginings metamorphose into reality.

Make no mistake this story is a curious one. Perhaps it won’t appeal to everyone, but it would capture the attention of any reader who prefers to be kept guessing and does not expect answers to be handed to them on a plate.

Andrew Michael Hurley has a real gift for the gothic style, horror tinged, atmospheric storytelling that immerses the reader here in a chillingly dark and disturbing world. He draws on his trademark themes of history, superstitions and folklore in a ominous narrative that goes back and forth in time. The Willoughbys have relocated to the rural Yorkshire Dales to an inherited home, Starve Acre, a name that certainly doesn't inspire comforting heartwarming pictures. For Richard and Juliette as parents, the very worst that could have happened is swamping their lives, the unbounded intense grief at the loss of their little 5 year old boy, Ewan. Ewan had been a sweet and happy boy, but had changed drastically recently, becoming more temperamental and worryingly cruel, with locals afraid of him and leaving his parents concerned. They deal with their grief in different ways, with Richard focusing on the history of Starve Acre, and the field with the legendary Stythwaite Oak, discovering wood block prints depicting hangings, the scary figure of Jack Grey and unearths hares bones.

Juliette remains convinced that Ewan is still there, but worried that his presence is weakening. To address this, she invites into their home an occultist group, The Beacons. The unnerving events that follow are not what was planned as it all culminates in one hell of a freaking shocker of an ending. Hurley gives us vivid rich descriptions of the location, and leaves the reader unsure as to what is real, whether the fantastical elements can be believed, and the tortuous grim nature of the hell that is grief. This novella held me in its chilling and tightly gripping arms, right from the start until I finished it all in one sitting, upon which I was left stunned and dazed as I returned back to reality.

This book should be on everyone's list as the dark nights of the approaching Autumn inch closer, it is perfect reading fare for Halloween. Highly recommended. Many thanks to John Murray Press for an ARC.