An enjoyable book with lots of twists and turns. I certainly didn't seevthat ending coming.. Told in two timelines 1975 and the present day it goes back and forth. I didn't really like any of the characters but maybe that was the point.

(i) "Who are they –some sort of cult? According to the docuseries I’ve watched, these are found in the backwaters of vast American states, not cosy villages in the English shires." (/i)
Sorrow Spring. A tiny little village on the outskirts of Birmingham, UK with a lot of unfriendly inhabitants and a lot of secrets.

2019 - Cath is on a mission to find her father's long lost sister, a sister who she has only just found out existed after her father's stroke. A sister who she learns was given away, in a village called Sorrow Spring. Why has her father never mentioned Aunt Rina before? And why had her grandmother given her away? And where has she been all these years?
Cath braves the hostile villagers to dig deeper about her aunt Rina's whereabouts, but starts to wish she hadn't when she starts uncovering secrets that aren't meant to come to light.

1978 - Prosperina Fuschia Pine is removed from her commune in the middle of the night and her mum takes her on a car journey to a village in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night. Supposedly only for 2 weeks. The visit starts ominously when the car runs over a cat as they arrive, and a crazed local dives out of the woods at them. Is this a sign of bad things to come? Prosperina could never imagine. The secrets run deep into local folklore here. The legend of St. Faran rules this village, with images etched into the church windows, an annual re-enactment of the events that occurred and villagers that believe that the local spring has healing properties that must be defended at all costs. Prosperina soon learns that there's more to this than just an annual dress up though when she follows her aunt creeping about in the dead of night, wearing silvery robes and meeting with the others in front of the spring... She must get out as soon as possible...

A dual time line runs through this book, which works well in making the reader try to preempt what has happened to Cath in the future.

Full of mystery and folklore, this captures the feeling of those creepy little villages you often encounter in the countryside where everyone knows each other's secrets and outsiders are unwelcome.

What a story! It was scary, weird and seemed to step back into a different century. The residents of this story’s village live by their own rules and no-one leaves once they’ve entered - well, not alive anyway.
It was quite a tale and woven throughout was their belief in an ancient story of sacrifice and healing waters.
I couldn’t put this book down as I was captivated by these strange and seemingly insane villagers and when Cate arrives in search of her aunt, I wanted to scream ‘Run!’
Great read.

This feels a bit of a sleeper book. The blurb sounded interesting enough, but it falls well short of what awaits. It does lean more into the occult than I expected, but as a fan of that I was more than happy, and it managed it while keeping some very good thrilleresque twists. The ancient rites are flavour for the story rather than a crutch it leans, it remains a thriller first and foremost. And the story is strong and enjoyable, but the book truly shines with the characters. They bring such atmosphere to this story! When the big events happens the characters bristle with personality. These are powerful women who could stare down any threat and the writing captures that so well.

A good read for anyone who enjoys strong female characters and some good rituals in hooded robes!

With a bit of a slow start, this book turned out to be a deliciously creepy tale full of omens, strange sisterhoods etc. The atmosphere evoked did indeed give me goosebumps. I very much enjoyed it.

In 1978 Prosperina Fuschia Pine, known as Rina, is dumped by her mother Lily in the village of Sorrow Springs to live with her aged and taciturn Aunt Agatha. It’s a strange place to say the least and Rina is frightened on more than one occasion by what she sees. As she is still quite young and naive much of what she learns is incomprehensible to her.

In 2019 Rina’s niece Cate begins a search for an aunt she knows nothing about. Is her father Emesh confused or does Rina actually exist? What will she discover?

I find this to be slow at the start and it takes a while for me to get into it. What happens to Rina and what Cate learns is interesting, taking the storytelling into strange sisterhood territory, known as The Sistren. There are traditions, omens, rooks aplenty, folklore and more earthly interventions. A strong sense of the sinister does come across which Rina’s Aunt Agatha definitely adds to. For a lot of the plot line there’s a feeling that something dreadful is going to happen and it usually does.

Although I like the premise, I think the novel is way too long and if I’m honest, a certain amount of boredom sets in chiefly because it’s all pretty much the same theme. What I absolutely can’t get my head around is the HUGE amount of dialogue especially in the 1978 timeline. There’s way too much in my opinion. The 2019 narrative flows much better and there’s a good mystery here. As for the ending, well, that’s a rapid turnaround in thinking and I’ll say no more!

Overall, it’s a mixed bag read for me with some good parts where I’m engaged and enjoying it and other sections which drag.

With thanks to NetGalley and especially to HarperCollins for the much appreciated arc in return for an honest review.

Creepy!
Folklore, horror and supernatural all manner of things going on here.
Sorrow Spring sounds lovely but don't go there what ever you do.
Creepy as Creepy can be.

As fine a folk horror tale as I've ever read.

"Sorrow Spring" opens in 2019, with a woman attempting to clear an old house, full of memories, and an old man, mourning the loss of a sister, long gone. Flash back to 1978, when twelve-year-old Rina Pine is taken by her mother from their commune, to the isolated village of Sorrow Spring where she is to live with her aunt Agatha. Rina soon discovers that the village is run by the "sistren" a group of women, headed up by her aunt, whose pagan beliefs are linked to a spring which is said to have healing properties. It also seems Rina's family is revered in the village and she is about to be inducted. But when a child goes missing and a mother is killed, she finds herself drawn into deep and menacing cycle of ages old beliefs, rituals and customs.

For me, the star of the book is the village of Sorrow Spring, isolated, insular and steeped in paganism. The sistren rule it quietly but completely, although it seems their time may be coming to a close. All the key elements are here - the village, deep in rural England, with a big house, a church, with graveyard, and a Moot Hall, where the Sistren meet and the villagers, suspicious and fearful. Rina is completely alone, abandoned, and with only a life in a friendly close-knit commune to sustain her she finds it a cold and frightening place. In the present timeline, things really hot up, as the village seems even more hostile to outsiders than 40 years ago. What happened?

I'm not a fan of dual timeline stories, even though they seem to be the norm nowadays, but it works well enough in this book, and much of the story takes place in the past anyway. As Rina in 1978, and her aunt in 2019 each seek to discover the secrets of Sorrow Spring, the events start to converge, and the climax is worth the wait. There's tension, mystery and a growing sense of the inevitable, as we learn what happened 40 years ago.

This book is a wonderful entry into the folk-horror genre and I'm sure fans will love it. Film-wise, think "Wicker Man", "The Witches" or "Robin Redbreast" and you get a sense of the growing tension and claustrophobia that inhabit each page. The author is from Worcestershire, so clearly understands that part of the country.

Fans of Catherine Clements and Andrew Michael-Hurley's book "The Loney" will love this. Heartily recommended.

A solid 4 stars , kept me guessing what was going to happen next , really enjoyed the plot and the characters . Read the book in 3 days would recommend

Prosperina Fuchsia Pine, or Rina, is twelve years old and living on her commune with her mother, Lullaby, and brother, Emesh. Until her mother takes her to, and leaves her with, her Aunt Agatha in the village of Sorrow Spring.

This novel creates a very sinister feel to the village, in the vein of The Wicker Man, you know something is going on under the surface. There’s a sense of foreboding and danger.
I enjoyed the book to start with, but I did find it overlong and my interest waned later on.

I was pleased to accept an invitation to read and review this. It started off really well as a girl, Rina, is left with her aunt by her mother, with no explanation, and is parted from her brother. This is in 1978. She begins to realize that her mother is not coming back and that her aunt and other people in the village are acting oddly.. She begins to be pulled into strange rituals (trying to avoid spoilers as the plot reveals itself slowly) and the threats build up. The other timeline in the present day involves Rina's niece who begins to search for her, putting herself in danger. I did get confused by the plot at times and did not think the violence was merited outside of the rituals. The link with the recent pandemic was a nice touch. I think the book could have been edited to reduce the length as I got bored towards the end waiting for the resolution.

This was really good and I flew through it within a couple of days. The atmosphere and setting is creepy while the plot keeps you turning pages wanting to know what’s going on. The characters were well written although most of them are horrible! This would be a great Halloween read

Thanks to NetGalley for the arc

Thanks to Netgalley and Harper Collins for this ARC. My thoughts are my own.

To be honest, whenni started this book I didn't know what was going to happen....a gee chapters in and I couldn't put it down.

It's not an author I've heard of before so i was nervous and bot sure I it was going to be my cup of tea.
How to describe this book it was horror,supernarural, folk lore/historical a mixture of everything.

Nothing is given away or where the story is heading...a girlnis dumped at her Aunts house in a village...no explanation of why and if her mum's is going to return..we like the child are left wondering what's going on and how could a mum do this....
Slowly but surely the story unravels and just when you think everything is answered there another twist.

If you like a book with twists and turns this tour book. I hope this gets the publicity it deserves as it was such a gripping book. I will definitely e reading more from this author in the future.