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A review by booksnpunks
Water Shall Refuse Them by Lucie McKnight Hardy
2.0
I received an ARC of this book from the publisher, Dead Ink, who are a small UK based company publishing off-the-wall, innovative, and intelligent works of fiction. I requested this because it was marketed as a Shirley Jackson-esque, coming-of-age novel set in the 1970s, which ticked the boxes of things that I love in fiction.
The novel opens with our main character, Nif, riding in the backseat of her family car, cradling a head in her lap. And it's a head that isn't attached to a body. This opening image immediately sets the tone for a novel which takes cues from the surreal, village-horror of writers like Shirley Jackson and Eudora Welty. Nif moves with her family to Wales for short while during the heatwave of the summer, where they are trying to escape a devastating family tragedy which has turned her mother into a recluse.
What I really liked about this novel was the degree to which Hardy had gone to channel the history of folk-horror. The horror in this book was very subtley done through the suggestion of whichcraft, incantation, village secrets and murder. Instead, I felt that the focus of the book was Nif's coming-of-age story where the horror aspects lay in the background. I enjoyed seeing Nif confront both her family and herself as she comes to terms with the tragedy that has changed them. She has fights with the local village teenagers, befriends the basketcase, Mally, and has her first sexual experiences. We also learn about the 'Creed' which is something that Nif uses to keep positive and negative energy around her at balance. The coming-of-age aspects, combined with her being the new girl in a small village where her family isn't really welcome really gave it an American horror sort of vibe.
I'm ultimately giving this three stars however, because there were parts that I felt needed more development. I would've loved to have found out more about the 'Creed' and where it had come from, what it actually was and how it all worked. Like I said before, the horror here was subtle but at times it felt like it was almost too subtle. There were plot points about the head I mentioned at the start which weren't really answered by the end of the novel, and characters such as Mally's mother and Nif's mother who were really important to the story, but seemed to be just forgotten in favour for a revelation regarding Nif at the very end.
Unfortunately I felt that the end and it's reveal was also very rushed, and would've liked a bigger build up, more explanation, more about the villagers and the potions, just a little more to make the whole story a lot more tied together instead of ending with a lot of loose ends. I think this is what ultimately let the book down which was a shame, because the atmosphere of this novel was brilliant, along with the setting and the premise.
This was a really fascinating book to read, and I ended really loving the characters and the general vibe, yet felt there was some elements to it that let it down. Nevertheless, this couldn't stop me from enjoying it and I was really sucked into the lives that had been created. If Hardy continues to write stories following in this fashion I would love to read them. I can only hope that her writing continues to develop so that she can more write novels that look back to the horror we know and love today.
The novel opens with our main character, Nif, riding in the backseat of her family car, cradling a head in her lap. And it's a head that isn't attached to a body. This opening image immediately sets the tone for a novel which takes cues from the surreal, village-horror of writers like Shirley Jackson and Eudora Welty. Nif moves with her family to Wales for short while during the heatwave of the summer, where they are trying to escape a devastating family tragedy which has turned her mother into a recluse.
What I really liked about this novel was the degree to which Hardy had gone to channel the history of folk-horror. The horror in this book was very subtley done through the suggestion of whichcraft, incantation, village secrets and murder. Instead, I felt that the focus of the book was Nif's coming-of-age story where the horror aspects lay in the background. I enjoyed seeing Nif confront both her family and herself as she comes to terms with the tragedy that has changed them. She has fights with the local village teenagers, befriends the basketcase, Mally, and has her first sexual experiences. We also learn about the 'Creed' which is something that Nif uses to keep positive and negative energy around her at balance. The coming-of-age aspects, combined with her being the new girl in a small village where her family isn't really welcome really gave it an American horror sort of vibe.
I'm ultimately giving this three stars however, because there were parts that I felt needed more development. I would've loved to have found out more about the 'Creed' and where it had come from, what it actually was and how it all worked. Like I said before, the horror here was subtle but at times it felt like it was almost too subtle. There were plot points about the head I mentioned at the start which weren't really answered by the end of the novel, and characters such as Mally's mother and Nif's mother who were really important to the story, but seemed to be just forgotten in favour for a revelation regarding Nif at the very end.
Unfortunately I felt that the end and it's reveal was also very rushed, and would've liked a bigger build up, more explanation, more about the villagers and the potions, just a little more to make the whole story a lot more tied together instead of ending with a lot of loose ends. I think this is what ultimately let the book down which was a shame, because the atmosphere of this novel was brilliant, along with the setting and the premise.
This was a really fascinating book to read, and I ended really loving the characters and the general vibe, yet felt there was some elements to it that let it down. Nevertheless, this couldn't stop me from enjoying it and I was really sucked into the lives that had been created. If Hardy continues to write stories following in this fashion I would love to read them. I can only hope that her writing continues to develop so that she can more write novels that look back to the horror we know and love today.