John Murray Publishers Ltd Starve Acre: 'Beautifully written and triumphantly creepy' Mail on Sunday

“…older people in Stythwaite had their stories too, about being followed through Croften Wood as children, about their grandfathers warning them to look out for Jack Grey… Jack Grey was one of those figures who, for some reason, persisted from one generation to the next, becoming ever more obscure until only the name survived, attended to by a vague sense of malevolence.”Richard and Juliette Willoughby are looking for a way to overcome grief following the death of their five-year-old son, Ewan. Drowning himself in work hasn’t worked for Richard. Crying and isolating herself from others hasn’t helped Juliette. Richard hopes time and the beauty of the land and the woods at his deceased father’s house, Starve Acre, will lead to peace. What he most definitely does not believe in is Mrs. Forde and her alleged mystical abilities—a person upon whom Juliette pins her hopes while she sleeps on her son’s old mattress surrounded by his toys and clothes, pretty much ignoring her husband. Bored and need of keeping his mind engaged, Richard continues excavating, looking for the roots of an immense legendary tree that allegedly was once on the property of Starve Acre while also slowly going through the boxes of his deceased father’s books and belongings. What he discovers in both cases makes for radical and terrifying changes for both him and his wife.STARVE ACRE (2019) is the third novel by Andrew Michael Hurley (born 1975) to utilize elements of folk horror following THE LONEY (2014) and DEVIL’S DAY (2017). Along with the wonders, both beautiful and mysterious, of isolated rural life there are numerous elements of folk horror to be found in the novel. There are undefinable terrors and legends especially tied to woodland areas which have become vague with the passage of time, but still have a hold on peoples’ thinking. There is an ill-ease of the supernatural and the inexplicable which lingers and cannot be divorced from the land. Subsequently, there are areas people avoid and many things which are not talked about in the open, especially with people who are not long-time non-natives of the region—people who are often viewed with dislike and mistrust. It is, therefore, a sense of brooding unease that foremost permeates most folk horror.Such is definitely the case with Hurley’s STARVE ACRE. From the very beginning, readers are denied an explanation for the death of Ewan Willoughby and it is only through flashbacks in which Hurley slowly reveals the little boy’s odd and increasingly erratic, contradictory behavior. At the same time, the author slowly dwells upon Richard’s discoveries and their significance as he also puts on alarming display Juliette’s increasingly enigmatic comportment after her and Richard’s encounter with Mrs. Forde—an engagement which Hurley keeps shrouded in ambiguity, and yet with a sense of dread.The author’s mastery of atmosphere and foreboding as events continue to unfold, hazy and yet significant as they often are, makes for suspenseful and fascinating reading. Just when readers think they have properly put together the pieces of the puzzle they have been handed, Hurley offers something new and mysterious which takes the revelations about Starve Acre in a slightly different yet still ominous direction.While Hurley has readers grappling with the unknown that engulfs STARVE ACRE, he also reveals to readers what grief does to the husband and wife and their reactions to the seemingly impossible stupor which engulfs them. The arrival of Juliette’s very determined sister, Harrie, to force her sister back to normalcy only makes things more complicated. Eliminating grief in such a fashion simply does not work. Thus, Starve Acre concerns a very human experience along with the unnatural in an unexpected contradictory, decidedly unideal setting.Readers will find it impossible not to wonder about the truth of Starve Acre and will rapidly turn the pages—not that all of their questions are going to be answered. Without gore, or sensationalism, or even a specified paranormal monster, STARVE ACRE has one of the most shocking, breath-taking conclusions a reader is likely to encounter. As with the novel as a whole, it is the creation of a gifted writer with immense imaginative, story-telling abilities.

This book is an easy read -- good pacing, structured in such a way that no place feels bogged down -- but it's definitely not what I expected. Beautiful prose, very succinct storytelling. But very little actually happens aside from maybe four or five key events. Even so, it's certainly a solid weekend with tea read.The book does an amazing job at slowly unpeeling a portrait of two parents set apart in their grief after losing their young son. Their flaws are quiet, bleak, and forgivable; they feel very well-formed despite the sparse but carefully chosen details. It felt very real to how loss can be unrelenting for one person, and how another might seem more pragmatic but is just disconnecting from the growing shadow. There were some very raw, organic lines about loss, and the novel does a great job showing how imperfect parenting is, in either direction.Honestly, the book is most interesting in those moments, because there's so much inferred from the text that I enjoyed building the unspoken stories and connections.On the other hand, I found the horror element of this to be lacking. I'm not sure "horror" is the right word, and it's not really trying for that -- it's more of a slow-build dread and sense of knowing that the rot is coming into the light. It's fairly predictable, although still enjoyable, and it comes to a cliffhanger at the end that feels more like the start of a story than the end of it. I feel like the frightening "unknown" was beyond the point where the novel actually went.Still, for all that, it's a solid read and an exceptional example of not spoonfeeding readers.

After the recent death of their son, the mother is taking things very hard. It's been three months and she sleeps in his room and swears she can see him. The family is worried for her.The book starts in one direction and slowly takes us to another involving a field where a giant oak used to be on the parent's property. This is a slow burn and a quiet horror for the most part. The shock is left for the last page and it certainly shocked me. I thought the book was ok but not a lot happens and what does happen is all told in past events. A decent read.

I was excited to read this because it had so many positive reviews. The book was thoroughly absorbing and is a quick read. However, for anyone familiar with this kind of fiction it is pretty formulaic and quite uninspired. You have the typical gender stereotypes - the sensible academic husband who thinks anything that pertains to the occult or mystical is rubbish, the apparently unhinged wife disabled with grief who is so vulnerable she'll believe anything. Etc. - and this is one of the biggest flaws of the book. The characters are poorly rendered and the dialogue seems forced and sometimes a bit silly. Part of the plot is that the husband witnesses something quite bizarre happen with something he finds, yet he doesn't question it. Given the fact that he is skeptical of everything it makes no sense.We also have the tiresome tropes of the suspicious villagers and occult magic bringing evil. It was difficult to determine the period it is set in, clearly they have a landline and the writer uses the word "scullery" which I haven't heard in ages. A small point but it was jarring.The narrative however is really beautiful and Hurley's use of language is impressive. I actually learned a few new words! The descriptions of the landscape are lush and seductive even in their bleakness.I think the book would have benefitted from being longer, it often felt like the writer was going through the motions to get you to the end.

Loved this book!