What an incredible gothic novel!

It was perfect to read right on the cusp of autumn starting and summer ending.

This novel has everything from folk lore to issues with women's rights in the 60s.

The setting was beautiful, the description of the woods and the Whitlocks home had me immersed.

The novel is told over dual timelines and two POVs, eventually merging into one current timeline. This is a first for me, and an incredible way to tie in past events with current characters.

This is the third and last instalment, and a phenomenal read!

You're going to kill me,' he says with a whimper. "You want me to burn in the fire..."

Just five years old, filled with such a terrible knowledge.

My son

The Ghost Woods is a twisty gothic masterpiece and probably the best book I have read so far this year! Honestly amazing.

I have read a lot of horror books over the year and honestly I don't get scared by them anymore, or even mildly creeped out. The Ghost Woods is different though and I actually felt unnerved whilst I was reading it.

Lichen Hall stands on the Scottish borders in the midst of an ancient woodland. The hall is a haven for young women who have become pregnant outside of marriage and need to give their children up for adoption, a step-up from the grim institutions of the day.

Pearl arrives in 1965 at Lichen Hall and soon hears tales of ghosts and witches, of children who aren't really children at all. She brushes it off as superstition but she can't deny that the proprieter seems to be hiding something. Before long she begins to wonder if she made a mistake coming to the hall.

Whilst this book clearly deals with many fantastical elements, it also explores the historical abuses and stigma unmarried pregnant women were subjected to in the 50s and 60s. This element in itself is an intriguing element of the book. The young girls have nowhere to go and noone to turn to because of their social isolation and this added to the horror of their situation.

"It's stunning how inconsequential I feel now. And how pregnancy has devalued all my achievements I've rescued countless people from the brink of death, cured for them in their darkest moments. But I'll never nurse again. I'm exiled in shame.

This book will infect you like a fungus until you can think of nothing else. It truly is a remarkable book.

Another haunting novel from C J Cooke.. A twisting storyline, told by two unmarried pregnant women in two different decades.. This novel has a very hothic, mysterious feel to it. Very unsettling but strangely relatable. 3.5 stars

This book kept me guessing until the very end. It was tense, atmospheric and unquestionably unnerving. A brilliant book, just as good as The Lighthouse Witches, which I've also read by this author.

1965. Pearl arrives at Lichen Hall, a striking manor that feels almost lost in an endless woods - one that young women are sent to to give birth under a shroud of secrecy and silence.

There, she meets a mother and her young son living quietly in the woods, who've heard tales of the hall, of ghosts and witches, of strange things that happen at night, of a lost child who shouldn't exist. And together, they journey into the darkness, trying to shine a light on the secrets being hidden by the shadows of Lichen Hall and the family who watch over its inhabitants.

But Pearl and her new friends need to be careful - if they dig too deep, they could end up buried themselves.

"As I approach the woods, through the tall trunks I see not one light but hundreds, scattered across the forest floor like fallen stars."

I'm not saying C.J. Cooke is a witch … but I'm also not denying it. She has a way of making places come to life in the most vivid, terrifying of ways. She creates settings so intense you almost believe they're real, and atmospheres so richly otherworldly you might actually start to believe in ghosts.

We start this story with a snapshot of a future, we don't know how far away, but are immediately held in a nervous suspense, knowing that something dark and horrific is lurking somewhere in the pages ahead of us. Our journey through the Ghost Woods follows Pearl in 1965, and Mabel who arrived a few years earlier and found her own demons at the Hall. The other young women who have inhabited or worked at at the hall; Aretta, Morven, Rahmi, they're all perfect crafted into familiar friends, each recognisable and distinct.

Weaving in folklore, fairytales and ghost stories, this is a slow, quiet horror story that creeps up on you, growing like mushrooms in a fairy ring.

A running theme in Cookes writing is powerful women - and their own personal brand of magic. Pearl is strong-willed, dedicated herself to being a nurse and building a career when her family and the world outside just wanted her to marry and be a wife. We meet women who dared to work, to love other women, to stand against their oppressors and to rebel. All the women who've lived, worked and died within the walls of Lichen Hall have a story to tell, and each of them is as harrowing and as impactful as the next.

Atmospheric, evocative and utterly spell-binding, I'd like to end this review with a quote from the author herself, "To those who have walked in that shadow ...or have simply felt at home in the strange - this book is for you."



⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I was gifted an advanced reviewers copy of this title in return for an honest review.

CW: death, violence, depictions of gore, rape and sexual assault.

IF you have ever wanted to read a fine gothic novel then this is the one for you. Read her other books too as they are all really good, dark and gothic. This I think is my favourite.

This book is *exquisite*. So compelling, I was completely immersed in this eerie & soulful story. It's everything you could wish for in a gothic suspense novel.

I love a gothic novel and also enjoy horror. The Ghost Woods brings a mix of both as we explore Lichen Hall and the mysterious creature lurking in the woods.

This is a dark tale set in a crumbling house owned by the Whitlocks. It is a remote and lonely place. A place where some things are thriving, and others are decaying. A place where unmarried pregnant women are sent to have their babies away from the scrutiny and judgement of the local communities in which they live. And a place where strange events keep happening.

The story is a duel timeline, and we follow the paths of Mabel in the 1950s and Pearl in the mid-60s as they turn up at the house to not only give birth but also to hand their babies over to a new family for adoption. The timelines eventually merge as the two main characters are thrown together to solve the mystery of what's happening at Lichen Hall.

The folklore horror aspect of this book is well done, as is the gothic setting and atmosphere of the hall and its unusual occupants. However, the real horror lies in the tale of the women forced into such places and with no options other than to give up their babies for adoption. Some moments moved me to tears; such was the cruelty of these times.

There are some twists and turns along the way, and the ending was entirely unexpected, playing up the folklore element in a way I enjoyed.

I've read both The Nesting and The Lighthouse Witches by C J Cooke and enjoy her perspective and approach to the gothic. However, this one is my favourite of the three.

This was a serious veer from my normal choices for novels. That said, I did enjoy the change and the story kept me engaged as I read the whole book in one sitting.

I have honestly never read anything quite like this. The story is a gothic style mystery/thriller with lots of twists and turns along the way. I enjoyed getting to know the characters and felt that the author did a great job at ensuring that the reader was invested in them throughout the story.

Overall, I personally found the story a bit too fantastical for my personal tastes and was unsettled with some of the weirdness of the plot. That said, am very glad to have had the opportunity to push myself outside of my typical reading genre to try something new.

This, at first glance, is purely a Gothic tale. However, the author goes much deeper and the theme is motherhood. We have two timelines, Mabel in 1959 (Then) and Pearl in 1965.(Now) Both girls found themselves pregnant and were sent to a mother and baby home – Lichen Hall. The chapters alternate Then – Now until they converge and we just get Now Modern times have revealed to us that historically, some of these homes were dreadful places and the young girls sent there by there parents in disgrace led harsh and brutal lives until their child was born and snatched away for adoption. Therefore immediately we are wary, anxious for these two girls. But, first impressions are that this is a nice and safe environment and Mrs Whitlock appears to be efficient and caring. And so we follow Mabel who has her child and we then follow Pearl and the birth of her child.

As we follow the two girls we suspect that all is not as it seems. We have folklore added to the story with tales of the witch of the wood, murder and curses. Lights are seen, figures are glimpsed and half of the house is sealed off because it is being invaded by fungus. The atmosphere becomes threatening and dark and there is a mystery that Pearl is determined to solve as the horror seems to get ever closer.

In my opinion there does need to be a slight suspension of belief towards the end but the ending is satisfying. However the horror that stays with you is the way that Mabel and Pearl are symbols for the treatment of many young girls at that time. How these young girls were left powerless, plunged into an alien environment when at their most vulnerable, exactly as Mable and Pearl are. The horror that they find themselves in emphasises their own lack of power.

A good read.

ARC Kindle Copy from Review from Net Galley, Killer Crime Club and HarperCollins.

I received a free, advance copy of this book and this is my unbiased and voluntary review.

Deep in the woods there is a Hall that is full of mystery. Rumors of ghosts, witches and a child who isn’t child will soon come to play havoc among them.

It is full of wonderment that will keep you on the edge as you are transported to a word that will haunt your mind. It is a ghost story not like most.

. This book really kept me guessing what could possibly be happening right until the end. I absolutely was not at all expecting any of it. I really enjoyed this book and kind of figured I would after reading the author’s last book The Lighthouse Witches and devouring that as well. I’m truly enjoying this authors take on gothic novels

Cooke has mastered the art of conveying civilised isolation. Be it living in an abandoned housing project deep within the forests of Norway (The Nesting), an art project to revive an unsettling dilapidated lighthouse on a remote Scottish isle (The Lighthouse Witches) or roaming the secluded grounds of Lichen Hall where something stalks the young women who have come to birth their children in secret, away from gossiping neighbours (The Ghost Woods).
 
Although Cooke paints a familiar picture of isolation and fear she still manages to create a completely unique story dripping in an atmosphere as rich and deep as her well written and rounded characters. Their reactions are believable and each character has their own distinct personality, ideals and intentions which helps the reader bond with them and experience the book as though it was a window rather than a story. The writing style is well thought out and makes it easy to read. Which is the worst because once again I had finished the book before I realised.

While i enjoyed this story i felt like it was much longer than it needed to be. There was alot of background and filler that could have been left out without ruining the story. I will say i figured out the ending but not until just before the chararcters did. Thank you Netgalley and Killer crime club for this ARC.

"The Ghost Woods" is a gothic novel that looks at the general area of unwed mothers in the late 50s and early 60s. Which is also the first slightly odd aspect. It has the whole double plotline thing happening. It labels 1959 as Then and 1965 as Now. Which, given both plotlines take place in the same secluded building with a largely overlapping array of characters... feels weird. And gets weirder as the book progresses. For a few chapters it can be slightly odd, but it does work.

Like any secluded, large house neighbouring spooky woods, there is of course some folklore to add a touch of drama. And it does the whole gothic novel things well enough. But in truth, that skips over the real importance of this book.

It's about society telling women the acceptable way to live their life, especially in terms of motherhood. It is set in a time when sex outside of marriage brought shame upon the woman, when the children of single parents were shunned, and before abortion was legal. A time when whisking young women away in shame and having someone else raise their child was the only option. The fact that I read this book during the frenzy of trigger laws across the USA are coming into effect after their Supreme Court dismissed protections afforded by Roe vs Wade made the message even more powerful. The book may not address that directly, I don't even feel it rallies for anything in fact. But it does touch upon some consequences of how such restrictions can play out.

Of course, this remains a work of fantastical fiction. C. J. Cooke does wonderful work in exploring the blend of folklore with the modern world. It allows us to view these deeper issues though a layer of abstraction, one that lets us bypass reflexive reactions. In her notes after the book she points out that this is the third, and final, book to look at the general theme of motherhood. They are three very different books too I might add. I have enjoyed them all, but more than that, each one has stayed with me in some regard.

The Ghost Woods is an enjoyable book with a clever story. It's highbrow horror. I really shou;d've saved it for colder months and longer nights to truly savour that aspect. But this is a powerful book too. I have praised and recommended her earlier work before, but this book gave me a new appreciation for her writing. In the context of the three books it does feel climactic. It feels like a subtle shift that elavates Cooke to something more.

Read this book. And her others. Fast. You'll understand afterwards.

Wow. This book started off a little slow but the writing was excellent so I knew there would be that 'breakthrough' moment, and boy it didn't disappoint. The story started off with the theme of the treatment of pregnant unwed girls in the middle of the last century - apt with considering the current abortion law situation in the US - with Pearl being sent off to Lichen House to hid her pregnancy and for the baby to be adopted. However, it soon becomes apparent that all is not as it seems as you are also introduced to Mabel - another young pregnant lady but who's story is not only set 6 years earlier but who's pregnacy seems unexplained.
Lichen House is a perfect location for the story of Mabel's pregnancy to unravel with is mystical 'ghost' woods and dark history surrounding its owners the Whitlock's. With the story truely becoming suspenseful when Mabel and Pearl finally meet.
A good autumnal dark night read!

In a time when it was frowned upon to be an unmarried mum to be, women and young girls were sent away to have their babies, many in disgrace from their families.
Lichen Hall is where we meet Mabel. In 1959 she has no idea how she became pregnant, her family send her there, she has her baby Sylvan but he is sent back to the hall by his adoptive parents due to his "condition". In 1965 Pearl arrives at the hall, ostracised by her family and her career as a nurse in tatters. She meets a young boy but when she talks to others no-one has seen him.
Malevolent forces are at work in the hall and woods and it soon becomes clear that once you're there, there is no going back to your previous life.
This is an atmospheric gothic read, tales of folklore, unseen forces at work in the woods. This is my second novel by C J Cooke and if its possible I loved this even more than The Lighthouse Witches.
Great for readers who like dark, gothic thrillers, ideal for a Halloween read
Many thanks to Netgalley and Harper Collins for the advance copy for which I'm under no obligation to review

This was such a well thought out gothic horror that hooked me from the beginning. I loved the alternate time-lines in the chapters and felt the author created a great deal of suspense throughout. Really enjoyed this and would definitely recommend!

I enjoyed reading this. I found it a little confusing (probably was reading it too quickly) because of the repetitive nature of the two timelines with the same characters. The mushroom/spore idea was a little far fetched and the number of same-sex couples was above average! However, it kept my interest until the end.

The Ghost Woods is a beautifully written, chilling tale that will stay with the reader long after the book... Brilliantly plotted, with a crisp pace and constant surprises. Lures you in until you can’t escape. Nothing and no one is quite what they seem. So gripping from the first page to the last. Fast paced, unpredictable and original