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nietzschesghost's review
4.0
I am all too aware of how powerful a location or setting in a book can be which is partly why I chose to read this. I frequently visit both the Inner (Skye) and Outer (Harris & Lewis) Hebrides and love the sparseness of the landscape, the people, and the beautiful beaches that could easily pass as those from an exotic tropical island. I was drawn to this not just because I know the Island extremely well but also due to the fact that I knew that some of the descriptions of the area should be magical and wanted Mazzola to transport me back there. I was lured in by the promise of stories namely myths and legends of which I am a huge fan. Put those together and you have a near perfect book for me. And I haven't even mentioned the murder mystery aspect of it yet!
It's 1857 and Audrey Hart has travelled to the Isle of Skye to collect the folktales of the crofting community. Not long after arriving from London she discovers the body of a young girl that has been washed up on the beach and the crofters then inform her that the girl had not been the first to go missing. They believed that the "Sluaigh" had taken them but Audrey struggles to go along with that and decides to investigate for herself. Who could be responsible for such dastardly crimes on the tiny island? Could there be any link to what happened to Audrey's mother many years before?
It is evident from "The Story Keeper" that folklore can both unite and divide. When Audrey first arrives on Skye the crofters and the wider community were wary of her fuelled by the fear and paranoia that the stories created in them. However, once they begin to trust and open up to her things go from strength-to-strength. This is a meticulously researched tale that certainly comes across as authentic and magestic. Mazzola's prose is magnificent and brings the scenery to life. I loved that there were many layers to this novel and it could be said to have the characteristics of a few different genres. The characterisation was excellent, I especially appreciated the strong female lead in Audrey. She is an independent woman who has no qualms about moving from her "hometown" of London to the Western Isles, something I can't imagine a lot of women doing in the 19th century.
All in all, this was as amazing as I thought it would be and, as I predicted, the scenic descriptions were my favourite part. I know that the next time I am over there for a holiday I will be asking about the folklore of the island and will also be on the lookout for a book where all of the different tales are compiled. I could've done with Audrey's collection to mull over! I have no hesitation in recommending this beautiful book to everyone but I can imagine it particularly appealing to those who like historical fiction, folklore, myths and legends, and a mystery with a strong sense of time and place.
Many thanks to Headline/Tinder Press for an ARC. I was not required to post a review and all thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.
It's 1857 and Audrey Hart has travelled to the Isle of Skye to collect the folktales of the crofting community. Not long after arriving from London she discovers the body of a young girl that has been washed up on the beach and the crofters then inform her that the girl had not been the first to go missing. They believed that the "Sluaigh" had taken them but Audrey struggles to go along with that and decides to investigate for herself. Who could be responsible for such dastardly crimes on the tiny island? Could there be any link to what happened to Audrey's mother many years before?
It is evident from "The Story Keeper" that folklore can both unite and divide. When Audrey first arrives on Skye the crofters and the wider community were wary of her fuelled by the fear and paranoia that the stories created in them. However, once they begin to trust and open up to her things go from strength-to-strength. This is a meticulously researched tale that certainly comes across as authentic and magestic. Mazzola's prose is magnificent and brings the scenery to life. I loved that there were many layers to this novel and it could be said to have the characteristics of a few different genres. The characterisation was excellent, I especially appreciated the strong female lead in Audrey. She is an independent woman who has no qualms about moving from her "hometown" of London to the Western Isles, something I can't imagine a lot of women doing in the 19th century.
All in all, this was as amazing as I thought it would be and, as I predicted, the scenic descriptions were my favourite part. I know that the next time I am over there for a holiday I will be asking about the folklore of the island and will also be on the lookout for a book where all of the different tales are compiled. I could've done with Audrey's collection to mull over! I have no hesitation in recommending this beautiful book to everyone but I can imagine it particularly appealing to those who like historical fiction, folklore, myths and legends, and a mystery with a strong sense of time and place.
Many thanks to Headline/Tinder Press for an ARC. I was not required to post a review and all thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.
alwaysneedmorebooks's review
3.0
My second book my Anna Mazzola - I really enjoyed her first, The Unseeing so I was keen to read this when the opportunity came up.
Set in 1857 on the Isle of Skye in Scotland, Audrey Hart applies for a job with Miss Buchanen who wants to collect the folk and fairy tales of the people of Skye and write them down. Audrey is qualified for the post being able to speak Gaelic and having a love of the regional tales from travelling there with her mother as a child. And for some reason we don't know at the beginning, she is also keen to get away from her father and stepmother in London. The people of Skye are suspicious and hostile towards strangers - the Highland Clearances have left devastation and poverty.
Then Audrey discovers the body of a young girl washed up on the beach, and she soon discovers another girl has disappeared under suspicious circumstances. The people of Skye believe they are victims of sprits who take the form of birds.
Audrey is sceptical, believing the girls have been abducted but she soon starts to believe there is something more supernatural is the cause.
This was a rich and evocative gothic tale. Based on a real case from the 1880s, in which a series of young children and adults disappeared from the East End. Eliza Carter, returned briefly before her final disappearance to tell her friends that the fairies had kidnapped her and forbidden her to return home. She was never seen again.
I really enjoyed the dark fairy tales mixed in with historical facts and each page is richly atmospheric. At times I found it a little slow going and it took me a while to warm to the characters but overall it is a great spooky tale mixed with true life historical happenings.
Thank you to Anne Cater for inviting me on the blog tour for this book.
Set in 1857 on the Isle of Skye in Scotland, Audrey Hart applies for a job with Miss Buchanen who wants to collect the folk and fairy tales of the people of Skye and write them down. Audrey is qualified for the post being able to speak Gaelic and having a love of the regional tales from travelling there with her mother as a child. And for some reason we don't know at the beginning, she is also keen to get away from her father and stepmother in London. The people of Skye are suspicious and hostile towards strangers - the Highland Clearances have left devastation and poverty.
Then Audrey discovers the body of a young girl washed up on the beach, and she soon discovers another girl has disappeared under suspicious circumstances. The people of Skye believe they are victims of sprits who take the form of birds.
Audrey is sceptical, believing the girls have been abducted but she soon starts to believe there is something more supernatural is the cause.
This was a rich and evocative gothic tale. Based on a real case from the 1880s, in which a series of young children and adults disappeared from the East End. Eliza Carter, returned briefly before her final disappearance to tell her friends that the fairies had kidnapped her and forbidden her to return home. She was never seen again.
I really enjoyed the dark fairy tales mixed in with historical facts and each page is richly atmospheric. At times I found it a little slow going and it took me a while to warm to the characters but overall it is a great spooky tale mixed with true life historical happenings.
Thank you to Anne Cater for inviting me on the blog tour for this book.
mikifoo's review
3.0
*3.5
This story was atmospheric with it's wet, cold and gloomy weather. The story primarily takes place in an large house with secret entrances and hidden corridors which adds to its spooky feeling. As far as mysteries go, this one isn't bad, but it is predictable. It's formulaic. Although the tale is beautifully told as it includes folklore and faery stories (who doesn't love faery stories?!), it's just the same story wrapped in different packaging. That being said, if you're looking for a book to get lost in, I think that this is the story for you. I appreciate the female characters's determination to be independent. I also enjoyed Audrey-the protagonist's-sentiments, a response to male characters's sexist and patronizing behaviour:
"'No wonder you stay so slender,' the minister said, nodding at the untouched food. 'You have the figure almost of a child.'
Audrey gave a chill, flat smile. It never ceased to amaze her how many people thought it acceptable to comment on a woman's size or shape, or how much she ate" (221).
This story was atmospheric with it's wet, cold and gloomy weather. The story primarily takes place in an large house with secret entrances and hidden corridors which adds to its spooky feeling. As far as mysteries go, this one isn't bad, but it is predictable. It's formulaic. Although the tale is beautifully told as it includes folklore and faery stories (who doesn't love faery stories?!), it's just the same story wrapped in different packaging. That being said, if you're looking for a book to get lost in, I think that this is the story for you. I appreciate the female characters's determination to be independent. I also enjoyed Audrey-the protagonist's-sentiments, a response to male characters's sexist and patronizing behaviour:
"'No wonder you stay so slender,' the minister said, nodding at the untouched food. 'You have the figure almost of a child.'
Audrey gave a chill, flat smile. It never ceased to amaze her how many people thought it acceptable to comment on a woman's size or shape, or how much she ate" (221).
duggimon's review
2.0
Where do I even start with this? This book is all over the place, not in a good way though. It starts as quite a bland, prosaic tale of Audrey, a 24 year old woman who's run away from a father and step-mother she can't live with anymore and has fled to Skye to research folk tales. That's not a bad setup, I like stories about folk tales, about cold and remote island communities, I'm not averse to historical fiction and the book does begin setting up a mystery, which will always help drag a story along.
However, it's all just done badly. Well, not even badly, just with no spark, no interest, no imagination, there's almost nothing here. The folk tales are few and far between and either pointlessly short or told in bits and pieces. Audrey is pretty unlikeable as a character, which is explained (spoiler alert she's being poisoned) but I don't care, I just want her to stop droning on about what's real and what's not. There's a central mystery about disappearing girls (spoiler alert it's not that mysterious, there's only two people who might conceivably be responsible and, spoiler alert, it was both of them) and there's some doubt about whether the fairies took them. I wish they had.
The backdrop of the Highland Clearances is never really delved into in any kind of meaningful way, it's just largely there as a reason for the locals of Skye to not talk to Audrey. Now this helps delay the central mystery of the book but it really gets in the way. Audrey is dull and if nobody talks to her then all we get is the inner musings of her toadstool addled brain for a solid half the book or more.
The end, when it finally comes, ties everything up so neatly I actually laughed, the telegram from her step-mother was utterly hilarious. It just underlined the lack of any complexity to this book, which isn't always necessary for a book to be good but would have been extremely welcome here. The blurring of the lines between fantasy and reality just doesn't really work well when the main heft of the book is so prosaic.
However, it's all just done badly. Well, not even badly, just with no spark, no interest, no imagination, there's almost nothing here. The folk tales are few and far between and either pointlessly short or told in bits and pieces. Audrey is pretty unlikeable as a character, which is explained (spoiler alert she's being poisoned) but I don't care, I just want her to stop droning on about what's real and what's not. There's a central mystery about disappearing girls (spoiler alert it's not that mysterious, there's only two people who might conceivably be responsible and, spoiler alert, it was both of them) and there's some doubt about whether the fairies took them. I wish they had.
The backdrop of the Highland Clearances is never really delved into in any kind of meaningful way, it's just largely there as a reason for the locals of Skye to not talk to Audrey. Now this helps delay the central mystery of the book but it really gets in the way. Audrey is dull and if nobody talks to her then all we get is the inner musings of her toadstool addled brain for a solid half the book or more.
The end, when it finally comes, ties everything up so neatly I actually laughed, the telegram from her step-mother was utterly hilarious. It just underlined the lack of any complexity to this book, which isn't always necessary for a book to be good but would have been extremely welcome here. The blurring of the lines between fantasy and reality just doesn't really work well when the main heft of the book is so prosaic.
lafee's review
3.0
Scottish folklore is one of my favourite things so I was eager to read this book, but it was a bit of a let down to be honest. Despite the main character, Audrey, journeying to the Isle of Skye to 'collect the word-of-mouth folk tales of the people and communities around her', there was scant mention of folklore in this book. Indeed for most of it, nobody wanted to talk to Audrey. The story was painfully predictable, the mysteries not terribly mysterious, and the ending rushed and overwrought, with all the loose ends tied up in a pretty bow.
If you want to read a better mystery set on an island and featuring Victorian feminism and independent women in the age of man, try The Lie Tree by Francis Hardinge, which this book seemed like a poor imitation of.
NB. This should be marketed as a YA book, not adult fiction.
If you want to read a better mystery set on an island and featuring Victorian feminism and independent women in the age of man, try The Lie Tree by Francis Hardinge, which this book seemed like a poor imitation of.
NB. This should be marketed as a YA book, not adult fiction.
jackielaw's review
4.0
The Story Keeper, by Anna Mazzola, is set on the Isle of Skye in 1857. This setting is key. The Highland Clearances of the time were forcing many to emigrate, robbing the indigenous families of their tenancies, livelihoods and culture. The mass displacement and suffering inflicted created an undercurrent of bitterness against distant landowners, the legacy of which is still felt by many today.
Into this simmering tumult of wealth driven cruelty arrives a young woman, Audrey Hart, who wishes to take up an advertised position as assistant to a lady folklorist, Charlotte Buchanon, the sister of a local laird. The Buchanon’s are disliked for their vicious treatment of the tenants they disdain.
“these people have limited intelligence. How else do you account for the continuing belief in the mystical and for their failure to improve their living standards? They are culturally, and in every other sense, backward.”
“They have no urge to self-improvement, none of what we might call enterprise. They would live in their squalid little huts raking over their famished earth until there is no life left in the land whatsoever.”
Audrey has grown up with a fascination for mystical stories, folklore passed on from her late mother. Audrey remembers happy family holidays on Skye but also a great sadness as it was here that her mother fell to her death. Following this tragedy her father remarried and relocated to London, placing his family within a rarefied society that has always felt alien to his daughter. In trying to push her to find suitable pursuits for an unmarried lady, after she failed to secure a husband, he placed her in what became an untenable situation. Unwilling to accept her version of events he drove her to desperate measures. Audrey seeks independence, a challenge in the societal structures of the day.
Following an accident Miss Buchanon is confined to her family’s decaying mansion so requires an assistant to travel the local crofts for her collecting tenants’ stories before they are lost forever. As an outsider Audrey struggles to gain the trust of the people until she finds the body of a young girl washed up on the shore below her room in the mansion where she is staying. She is invited to attend a ceilidh, but for their hospitality the people ask something in return.
Audrey befriends one of the Buchanon’s servants and is permitted to take the girl along to assist in her story collection. The more dark tales she hears the further she is drawn into their portents and fearful superstitions. When more girls go missing, accompanied by flights of dark bird-like creatures, Audrey starts to sicken. Unable to return to London, from whence threats are emanating, she pushes on with the tasks Miss Buchanon impatiently sets.
Audrey’s preconceived notions and susceptibility to suggestion causes her to miss clues plain to the reader. This does not, however, detract from the enjoyment of a tale that has layers and depth. Apparent weaknesses in her come to be explained. A lucky escape demonstrates the extent of the risks women ran when they tried to be heard by men. It is sobering to reflect on the patriarchical power and complicity, the ease with which they dismissed any view that did not bolster their privilege.
The local minister frowns on Miss Buchanon’s endeavours believing such notions should be replaced by adherence to the beliefs he preaches. The laird expresses his view that folklore is harmless, although could be made more useful by reshaping to impart a moral lesson. These men retain control by whatever means necessary – of family, locals, foreigners in lands invaded.
“Audrey imitated a smile. Of course women should not be exposed to such things. Their delicate constitutions could not withstand it. Except that she had already read of the Cawnpore massacre. Women and children butchered; bloody handprints on walls; the dying thrown into a well. The darkest fairy tale of all.”
The denouement held few surprises, other than the final twist which I had not guessed. The insidious danger Audrey faced offers a better understanding of why women could not risk complaining too loudly about their treatment.
The folk tales offer a chilling backdrop alongside the lessons from history that resonate in the political climate of today. A story of mystery and suspense that I enjoyed for the place and period insights.
Into this simmering tumult of wealth driven cruelty arrives a young woman, Audrey Hart, who wishes to take up an advertised position as assistant to a lady folklorist, Charlotte Buchanon, the sister of a local laird. The Buchanon’s are disliked for their vicious treatment of the tenants they disdain.
“these people have limited intelligence. How else do you account for the continuing belief in the mystical and for their failure to improve their living standards? They are culturally, and in every other sense, backward.”
“They have no urge to self-improvement, none of what we might call enterprise. They would live in their squalid little huts raking over their famished earth until there is no life left in the land whatsoever.”
Audrey has grown up with a fascination for mystical stories, folklore passed on from her late mother. Audrey remembers happy family holidays on Skye but also a great sadness as it was here that her mother fell to her death. Following this tragedy her father remarried and relocated to London, placing his family within a rarefied society that has always felt alien to his daughter. In trying to push her to find suitable pursuits for an unmarried lady, after she failed to secure a husband, he placed her in what became an untenable situation. Unwilling to accept her version of events he drove her to desperate measures. Audrey seeks independence, a challenge in the societal structures of the day.
Following an accident Miss Buchanon is confined to her family’s decaying mansion so requires an assistant to travel the local crofts for her collecting tenants’ stories before they are lost forever. As an outsider Audrey struggles to gain the trust of the people until she finds the body of a young girl washed up on the shore below her room in the mansion where she is staying. She is invited to attend a ceilidh, but for their hospitality the people ask something in return.
Audrey befriends one of the Buchanon’s servants and is permitted to take the girl along to assist in her story collection. The more dark tales she hears the further she is drawn into their portents and fearful superstitions. When more girls go missing, accompanied by flights of dark bird-like creatures, Audrey starts to sicken. Unable to return to London, from whence threats are emanating, she pushes on with the tasks Miss Buchanon impatiently sets.
Audrey’s preconceived notions and susceptibility to suggestion causes her to miss clues plain to the reader. This does not, however, detract from the enjoyment of a tale that has layers and depth. Apparent weaknesses in her come to be explained. A lucky escape demonstrates the extent of the risks women ran when they tried to be heard by men. It is sobering to reflect on the patriarchical power and complicity, the ease with which they dismissed any view that did not bolster their privilege.
The local minister frowns on Miss Buchanon’s endeavours believing such notions should be replaced by adherence to the beliefs he preaches. The laird expresses his view that folklore is harmless, although could be made more useful by reshaping to impart a moral lesson. These men retain control by whatever means necessary – of family, locals, foreigners in lands invaded.
“Audrey imitated a smile. Of course women should not be exposed to such things. Their delicate constitutions could not withstand it. Except that she had already read of the Cawnpore massacre. Women and children butchered; bloody handprints on walls; the dying thrown into a well. The darkest fairy tale of all.”
The denouement held few surprises, other than the final twist which I had not guessed. The insidious danger Audrey faced offers a better understanding of why women could not risk complaining too loudly about their treatment.
The folk tales offer a chilling backdrop alongside the lessons from history that resonate in the political climate of today. A story of mystery and suspense that I enjoyed for the place and period insights.
gmwhite's review
4.0
I picked this book up based on the blurb and really, really enjoyed it. A darkly atmospheric novel, the writing is deeply evocative and the plot is gripping. I definitely recommend.
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