C j Cooke’s books have a brilliant mixture of creepy sinister real life interwoven with myth/folklore and always leave me unsettled at the end of the read. This was no exception although some clues were peppered throughout I didn’t see how this was going to end, which I really enjoyed. Although fantasy/horror isn’t my normal cup of tea this seems to tick all the right boxes to leave you feeling unsettled before bedtime- perfect for long nights and Halloweenb

The Ghost Woods is a good creepy, gothic read for this spooky season. Set in 1960s Scotland when being pregnant and unmarried was highly looked down upon, we’re taken to Lichen House - a huge gothic mansion in the middle of nowhere, where unwed women were sent to give birth and their babies put up for adoption. But the mansion has a dark secret…

The book follows two particular women from different years - Mabel, who believes she has ghosts inhabiting her body and baby, and Pearl, one of the last women to arrive to Lichen House.

This is my second book by C.J. Cooke and I am still in awe of her writing! This book is creepy, full of suspense, beautifully written, and is well developed. My only criticism would be that I found the pacing at the start a bit slow, but once it picked up it had me hooked.

Most importantly this book was beautifully written, atmospheric, clever, and vivid with a cast of great characters. But…it just fell a little flat for me. I didn’t get a particular scary vibe from the book-yes it’s set in a fancy old house in the middle of nowhere, and yes there’s a sinister vein running through the story but was I creeped out? No. Did I figure out what was going on somewhere around the moment one character told another about a fungus that spreads and infects ants? Sadly yes. I didn’t hate the story I just didn’t enjoy it as much as I’d hoped. I slogged through part one, really enjoyed part two, and then read steadily through part 3.
Content warning: SA, FAMILIAL RAPE, RAPE, BABY LOSS.

Personal note: I started this book a week after a miscarriage-whilst this doesn’t change my opinion of the content of the story it most likely did have an effect on how I read it, and why I found it hard work in parts.

The Ghost Woods by C.J. Cooke

4 STARS

A wonderfully atmospheric book - exactly the right mixture of creepy, intriguing and emotive. The Ghost Woods is a page-turner: well-paced, strong characters and enough mystery to keep you guessing. A worthwhile read.

This was a wonderfully atmospheric read. I first had a bit of trouble separating the two timelines as the main characters‘ voices are quite similar but in the end everything came together perfectly. Some passages had me on the edge of my seat and, while I had a hunch, I was still surprised by the resolution.

This is the perfect book for spooky season.

A very good, but creepy story set in a gothic country house in the middle of nowhere. The tale of the girls who had to give birth there as disgraced single mothers is very sad and it must have been very traumatic for anyone who had to undergo that process.
There are many ghostly happenings and lots and lots of fungi. It really is very good for this time of year.
I enjoyed it.

The Ghost Woods

Lichen Hall is a place shrouded in folklore and stories of Ghosts and witches. Pearl is a young woman sent there to give birth and give her baby up for adoption. Once there she soon realises that Lichen Hall has a dark past can Pearl help her new friends before it's too late
Loved the Creepy atmospheric Vibes of this book. I love CJ Cooke writing style I am a big fan of dual timelines. Would highly Recommend!

Thank you to Netgalley, Harper Collins UK and C.J Cooke for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest Review.

C. J. C. has a unique way of creating gothic tales. Her work is dark and mysterious but always seek to shed light in serious issues and topics and that’s why for me she is a remarkable writer.

As her previous books, this read is poignant and well researched and you can see that not only from the background information but also in the world building and the characters development.

It’s one of the few times that I liked all the characters in a story because they were representing something different and unique.

As for the story itself, the plot is very interesting and unusual. It’s genuinely creepy and it will have you transfixed. Don’t miss out on this one!

This had a gothic, mysterious theme. The story is written in two periods several years before Pearl arrives and when Pearl arrives in 1965 Pearl where she is sent to Lichen Hall to give birth (just like all the other girls there), a place for young, single mothers to give birth and have their child adopted. But not all is as it seems, with the house decaying, forbidden locations, being isolated and cut off from the outside world.

Ghost, toadstools, witches, woods expanding, a boy who is troubled. Its dark but touches topics that need voicing, especially treatment of single pregnant women, in the houses for giving birth. The authors note at the end is informative and explains why she choosed the story.

I loved her other books the lighthouse witches and the nesting and loved this one just as much. Cant wait to see what next we get to read.

i love this book!

the weirdness, the new concept of supernatural. science meets folkfore. the themes are mentioning well and gave impact. it was good written and well researched. i can't stop reading because i'm excited to uncover the dark secrets. despite you can guess the perpetrator but the things happening is a bit unexpected.

i wish to read more this gothic vibes book by CJ Cooke.

i have elaborated more in my ig and feel free to check on it based on the link i added.

My thanks to HarperCollins U.K. for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘The Ghost Woods’ by C.J. Cooke.

This is C.J. Cooke’s third gothic novel in a thematic trilogy. Having enjoyed both of Cooke’s previous novels, ‘The Nesting’ and ‘The Lighthouse Witches’, I was delighted to read this latest, especially given its evocative title and stunning cover.

Close by ancient woodlands on the Scottish Borders stands Lichen Hall, a sprawling 16th-Century manor. These woods are shrouded in local folklore with tales of ghosts, witches, fairy queens, and of a child who is not quite a child. A spooky setting indeed.

In the opening chapter we are introduced to 17-year-old Mabel Haggith, who in May 1959 is confused when told by her GP that she is pregnant. A mother and baby home is considered the best course of action. However, Mabel has no idea of how this happened and believes that she has ghosts inside her.

In September 1965 22-year-old Pearl Gorham arrives at Lichen Hall. Her stay there has been organised by her parents so that she can give birth and have her child discreetly adopted.

t’s not long until she begins to suspect that the owners, the Whitlocks, are hiding something. Then Pearl meets a mysterious mother and child living in the grounds. There are clearly many mysteries to be uncovered. No further details to avoid spoilers.

The narrative is divided into two timelines. Mabel’s ‘Then’ and Pearl’s ‘Now’. Mabel’s timeline progresses through the years, eventually coming to 1969.

This was a very atmospheric novel, evoking the claustrophobic environment of Lichen Hall as well as the haunted woods. It genuinely caused me to have chills up my spine.

In addition to the folk horror of ancient curses and sinister things lurking in the woods, Cooke addresses the proliferation of mother and baby institutions during the 20th Century and the policing of women’s bodies that sought to repress and control women. I appreciated her incorporation of social issues in a manner that was well integrated into her narrative, referencing it alongside local legends.

She addresses whether such issues belong in a Gothic novel in her closing Author’s Note: “For me, the gothic is exactly the space to explore darkness of any kind, and the practice of othering is one of the darkest corners of human history.” I fully agree.

Overall, a lyrically written and genuinely creepy gothic novel perfect for the season.

Highly recommended.

I’d like to thank NetGalley and Harper Collins UK for approving me for an ARC of this book. I listened to the audiobook of The Lighthouse Witches last year and absolutely loved it so could not resist requesting this one. I even found a copy of the book in Rossiter Books, Cheltenham to add to my collection.

The Ghost Woods is a dual timeline story which is one of my favourite tropes. I love seeing how the two different stories come together and how they are linked. Whilst these two stories were set quite close together in terms of time I loved the puzzle of figuring out what had happened in a short space of time.

Our first story centre around Mabel, a young girl who finds herself pregnant in the late 1950’s and is sent to Lichen Hall, a home for unwed pregnant women. The plan is for her to give birth to her child and then give it up for adoption before returning home. When she arrives there she meets Morwen and the two soon develop a loving friendship.

Skip forward to 1965 and Pearl, also pregnant finds herself at Lichen Hall. From the minute she arrives things are not right and you get the sense that she is in trouble. Mabel no longer works at the house and every one seems to be lying to her. The owner Mrs Whitlock is acting very strange and Pearl can’t work out what is going on. To top if all off there’s also something strange happening in the woods.

I will fully admit that this book gave me all the creepy, spooky dark Halloween vibes I was expecting. I was engrossed in the story and wanted to work out what was going on. There were lies, secrets, love, friendship and so much that the end felt like a whirlwind. I love that the story is based on real places and whilst the events in this book did not happen, establishments like Lichen Hall did exist and it’s scary to think of the trauma’s many young women and children faced in such recent times.

C.J. Cooke has done it again and written something superb, it’s twisted, horrifying and full of suspense. Definitely the perfect spooky read for this season!

After The Nesting and The Lighthouse Witches, CJ Cooke became one of my favourite writers for atmospheric and spooky reads based on real regional mythology, and I always feel like I learn so much from her books.
The Ghost Woods is no exception. Creepy setting, mysterious mushrooms and characters you really root for.
Loved it!!
This is a perfect read for Halloween time…

Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publishers for letting me read this book in exchange for my review.

The Ghost Woods - C.J.Cooke

𝘿𝙚𝙚𝙥 𝙞𝙣 𝙖𝙣 𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙨 𝙖 𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙨𝙚.
𝘼 𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙚 𝙨𝙝𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙙𝙚𝙙 𝙞𝙣 𝙤𝙡𝙙 𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙨.
𝙊𝙛 𝙜𝙝𝙤𝙨𝙩𝙨, 𝙤𝙛 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙤𝙛 𝙖 𝙘𝙝𝙞𝙡𝙙 𝙬𝙝𝙤 𝙞𝙨 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙦𝙪𝙞𝙩𝙚 𝙖 𝙘𝙝𝙞𝙡𝙙.
𝙉𝙤𝙬 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙤𝙤𝙙𝙨 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙘𝙧𝙚𝙚𝙥𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙘𝙡𝙤𝙨𝙚𝙧…

Intrigued? So was I!
Last year I read The Lighthouse Witches and was fully immersed in the fantastically creepy story, so when I saw C.J.Cooke a new book coming out, I knew I had to read it.
The Ghost Woods is set in a huge, dilapidated house in the wilds of Scotland. The house owners take in unmarried teenagers, in the days when unmarried young women were still frowned upon, and offers them the chance to finish their pregnancies and give birth there. Lichen Hall also offers to find adoptive parents so that the girls are worry-free.
But this is a gothic novel, so not everything is as it seems!!
Mrs Whitlock has a most strange personality, one minute kind and sympathetic, the next, harsh, uncaring and disturbing.
And then there’s the link to the sinister folklore of Nicnevin, an ancient Scottish witch, how does that affect the Hall now?
We follow two girls paths to Lichen Hall and their stories there, Mabel in 1959 and Pearl in 1965, they are both aware of a sinister being in the nearby woods, nicknamed The Ghost Woods, we switch between the two narratives to see how their lives intertwine. (I’m not going to reveal anymore as I’m avoiding giving spoilers.)
I love dual timelines and narratives, I truly think they are the perfect storytelling format.
I flew through the book, the characters are so well written, I couldn’t put the book down, I read the physical book during the day and the kindle edition at bedtime.
The Ghost Woods is an atmospheric, dark fairylore novel and I urge you to read it!
It’s released today, go snap it up!!

I loved loved loved this book! Finished it over a month ago and I still can’t stop thinking about it. CJ Cooke has created a gothic, enchanting and gripping world I didn’t want to leave! It’s written in such a way yoI don’t want put it down.

Thank you NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC, but mostly thank you CJ. Cooke for the story.

Rating: 5/5 stars

“I have a ghost in my knee. There’s a small pocket just behind the kneecap and she’s hiding in there, all tucked up in the soft mattresses of cartilage. She is very small and terrified so I’m sitting with that leg straightened so I don’t disturb her. I’ve not set a word about this to anyone. They’d think I’m mad.”

I don’t think I’ve read a more perfect opening-line to a gothic horror novel in long time, and The Ghost Woods only got better from that point on. An overgrown house in the woods, whispered legends of ghosts and witchcraft, a child who isn’t quite a child, and a pregnant woman sent to give birth amidst it all. If you’re still looking for your perfect Halloween-read, look no further because this is my definitive recommendation for 2022.

The Story
Told in dual timelines, The Ghost Woods follows two young, pregnant women’s time at Lichen Hall; an remote gothic manor in the woods that serves as a safe haven for unwed women to give birth and potentially offer up their new-borns for adoption. In 1959, 17-year old Mabel is shocked and confounded by her condition; how could she be pregnant, while she knows she’s never had sex? It must be due to the ghosts that inhabit her body…
In 1965, 22-year old nurse Pearl lost everything after the “shame” of her pre-marital pregnancy got around town. Desperate, and knowing she won’t be able to take care of the baby, she turns to Lichen Hall for help.
Both women soon find Lichen Hall not as safe a haven as the had hoped. Mould festers within the walls, strange apparitions lurk in the surrounding woods and the caretakers and inhabitant of the manor all seem privy to bouts of strange behaviour. Whether that be Mrs Whitlock insistence of “no medical intervention” surrounding the pregnancies, her husband’s collapse into dementia, or the strange boy with a precocious interest in mycology and botany.
Both women’s stories eventually collide to unearth the secrets at the roots of Lichen Hall.

What I liked
I’ve been a C.J. Cooke fan ever since The Nesting and The Lighthouse Witches. Both are gothic thriller/horror novels that combine a taught mystery, interesting characters and strong themes of motherhood, and both showcase the authors pension for creating unsettling imagery and vivid atmosphere perfectly. The Ghost Woods follows perfectly as the third entry in this “spiritual trilogy”, and might be my favourite thus far. On a surface level, you have a creepy tale that plays with many of the familiar tropes in horror (witches, ghosts, haunted houses, Scottish folklore etc.) and takes inspiration from the classics (Hill House, The Fall of the House of Usher, Frankenstein…). On a deeper level, there’s a far more disturbing and emotional story of the price of motherhood, memory, trauma and the (medical) mistreatment of women in our not too distant history. (view spoiler) It’s this subtle interweaving of “layers of horror” and emotion that sets a great horror novel apart from the bunch. I was not only on the edge of my seat, intrigued, excited and thrilled from beginning to end, but I also had plenty of food for thought left long after I’d closed the final chapter.

What I didn’t like
You could argue that the reveal at the end requires some suspension of disbelieve, that I can see might put some readers off. Throughout the story we’re constantly questioning whether the events at Lichen Hall are natural or supernatural in nature and the ending ultimately doesn’t quite fit neatly into either box. Because of the great set up, I was completely able to suspend my disbelieve towards the ending, but I can see it being point of contention for some.
Overall, I highly recommend The Ghost Woods , especially as a companion on a dark and gloomy autumnal night.

Many thanks to Harper Collins UK for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I loved 'The Lighthouse Witches', so I was excited to read another book by the same author.

'The Ghost Woods' tell the stories of two unmarried girls, who are both sent to Lichen Hall on the borders of Scotland, to give birth to their babies in the 1950s and 60s. (The story is told in two timelines which eventually converge.) Mabel has always been haunted by ghosts living under her skin, and when she finds she is pregnant she doesn't know how it happened. Several years later, Pearl arrives at Lichen House to give birth to her baby - the result of a one night stand after she was betrayed and abandoned by her long-time boyfriend. Pearl is a nurse, more confident and pragmatic than Mabel, and becomes suspicious about the strange behaviour the lady of the house and the rumours of strange happenings in the woods around Lichen Hall.

CJ Cooke skilfully blends the very real and chilling historical trauma of young unwed pregnant women being reviled, sent away and having their babies torn from them, with the classic gothic horror of a mysterious house beset by supernatural terror. A vividly imagined, horribly unsettling tale, perfect for fans of 'Mexican Gothic'.

A dark tale about a house where unmarried pregnant women are taken in and their babies later adopted.  Lichen Hall is an old manor house in the Scottish borders.  The house has seen better days, a large part of it is closed off due to mold spores that are slowly eating the place up.  And there are superstitious about the surrounding woods that are said to contain something evil...
The story is quite creepy at times and there are a few parts that are genuinely suspenseful, but for some reason I didn't enjoy this book quite as much as I did the author's previous two novels.  But this is still a decent read, with great characters and I would certainly recommend it for fans of Gothic, supernatural fiction. 3.5 stars

C.J. Cooke writes fabulously creepy gothic thrillers which usually have a legend or some kind of folklore at their heart. This is her third book, and my favourite so far!

In the middle of the woods stands a house named Lichen Hall, where unmarried young women go to have their babies before handing them over for adoption. Pearl Gorham arrives in 1965 and soon realises things are not quite as they seem. Who is the mysterious little boy who roams the house, who everyone denies exists? What's with all the toadstools and the fires in the forest? And is there really something evil lurking in the woods?

First of all, there are no ghosts in this story but there is a definite evil 'something' that gives this superbly written gothic historical that extra chill factor. Clever and very original, I loved the growing relationships between the women and how they learnt to stop being so suspicious of each other and work together to solve the mystery of what was really happening at Lichen Hall. There are lots of surprising twists and the background information about toadstools was fascinating!

One of my favourite books this year. Would suit any reader looking for an original twist on the gothic historical genre and fans of authors such as Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Mexican Gothic).

Thank you to C.J. Cooke and HarperCollins for my copy of this book, which I requested via NetGalley and reviewed voluntarily.

The Ghost Woods by C. J. Cooke is an atmospheric and intriguing story with Autumnal vibes that make it perfect reading for this time of year.
Lichen Hall stands alone in the midst of a dark and forbidding forest which is rumoured to be the home of ghosts and witches and all kinds of creatures, and the owners of the house, the Whitlock family have let it fall into disrepair following the death of their son. By 1965, when the book opens, it has become a place where young women are sent in secrecy and disgrace to give birth to children conceived outside the societally accepted bounds of matrimony . Pearl is one such young woman, a nurse who makes a foolish decision following a breakup and now finds herself alone and without even the prospect of a career to return to following her "disgrace".
From the moment of her arrival at Lichen Hall she feels like something about the place is off, and as she meets the home's owners and staff her fears only deepen. It seems to be impossible to get a straight answer from anyone, and as a trained nurse she is appalled to learn that no medical staff attend the women giving birth. It is only when she meets a young boy and his mother in the grounds of the Hall that she starts to get some answers about the place and its residents, but what she learns will only endanger her further.
The book has two converging timelines, the "present day" mid 1960s and the past which begins in the late 1950's before catching up to the present timeline, and there are two point of view characters, Pearl and Maude., each of whom have an interesting story which will intersect in a dramatic and emotional way.
This was a genuinely disturbing book, it really set me on edge while reading and I have to admire the author's skill in creating such a chilling and atmospheric setting. There is an obvious thread of body horror running through the book and I thought that they way the author incorporated issues like female body autonomy and the power of the patriarchy was masterful.. There were elements of folklore woven into the the story that added another layer of interest as I was reading.
This is a great gothic horror that I would recommend to fans of Silvia Moreno-Garcia's Mexican Gothic or this author's previous books like The Lighthouse Witches and The Nesting.
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own.