Expanding on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, and narrowing down Victor’s trip to the Orkneys to an island with its own share of real life mystery, Eynhallow drips with Gothic imagery and isolation. Fronted by Agnes, who believes she finds a kindred spirit in the brilliant but troubled newcomer, there’s flashes of something special here, even if it never quite gets there.

Eynhallow is ultimately a novel about loneliness, isolation, and desperation, with the trio at its centre - Agnes, Victor, and Victor’s tragic creation - all working through their own iterations of it. Agnes remembering lost love and dreaming of escaping her unpredictable marriage; Victor in a forced isolation, trying to save his family at any cost; the monster seeking love and acceptance in a world that would never do so.

Bolstered by some really lovely and evocative writing, Eynhallow boasts an interesting premise, and an engaging lead. You’ll probably see the twist coming - the constant references to Agnes’ height will likely tip off more than just the die-hard Frankie-fans - but it remains a solid read nonetheless, with a focus squarely on some of the collateral damage of the terrifying and heartrending battle between Victor and his creation.

That said, Eynhallow feels as though the novel is reaching for something, but never quite getting there. To me, as a reader, Frankenstein is as much about the questions it raises as it is about what happens, and I think Eynhallow - until the big twist and the really quite affecting chapters that followed it - had more focus on the former rather than the latter.

What might have fixed it? A deeper exploration of the connection between Agnes and Victor, perhaps? More time with Frankenstein’s monster without the outside influence of other characters? Less time making a villain of Robert Tulloch? I couldn’t say for sure. But it feels like there’s ideas and questions just lurking under the surface here, and we never quite get to grips with them.

Relying heavily on moody location and proximity to Shelley’s original work to do the heavy Gothic lifting, Eynhallow is a little bit of a swing and miss, though that haunting finale sure does pack a punch.

Eynhallow is a Frankenstein retelling set in 1779. that follows Agnes Tulloch and her life on the small island Eynhallow when a mysterious stranger shows up.
The character work with Agnes is in my opinion pretty well done, you see her struggles as a woman in a small island community, stuck in poverty with her 4 childewn and abusive husband. The relationships with the other islanders and especially Frankenstein are interesting and engagin. It's a slow paced book, atmospheric and sad, but the stakes gradually ramp up.
However, the plot at the creschendo fell flat for me. Some of it is predictable which wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing, it is a retelling after all, but some of the plot progression is illogical and really drags what is supposed to be a greusome and horrific inevitability down. I honestly expected more. The ending of the book feels unnecessarily drawn out, there were several points at which the book could have ended, and each of them would have had a better thematic and emotional conclusion. At a certain point I was really over it, and I think it diminished my overall thoughts on the book.
Overall, I had a good time reading it, but it didn't resonate with my taste as much as I expected and I didn't agree with some of the writing choices. If you enjoy retellings and atmospheric character studies this book is a good fit.

A fictionalized lore of a small island in the Orkneys that currently has no inhabitants. The most successful aspect of the writing is to render the mood; a bleak existence on a small rock in the perilous ocean. In this setting, Agnes lives with her abusive husband and their children, constantly battling against the elements to survive. A stranger's arrival upends her life and makes it much more interesting.

I enjoyed the book. It may have been too slow to be truly scary for me.

Eynhallow by Tim McGregor is set on the Orkney Islands in Scotland, Eynhallow Island. The year is 1797 and Agnes Tulloch slogs through her unhappy life with an abusive husband and four kids. However, a new island resident changes everything, with monstrous results.

Eynhallow was surprisingly good & well fleshed out. There are some poignant moments but don’t be fooled, this book is a horror.

Thank you to NetGalley & RDS publishing for a digital copy of this book.

Tim McGregor's Eynhallow takes place in 1797 on the Orkney Island of Eynhallow. Agnes lives with her abusive husband and four children. She is considered an outsider with her tall stature and quick tongue. The drudgery of her day-to-day life changes with the arrival of a gentleman. His name is Victor Frankenstein and he's working on a very secretive project. It isn't long before people report seeing something large and hulking walking the island late at night.

It's probably not surprising that there are parts of this novel that are quite gruesome, especially towards the end. I expected it to be a lot scarier though and it (thankfully) wasn't. It kept me on the edge of my seat though. I loved this book - it was beautifully written and I really felt for Agnes. She is such a great character. If you like Frankenstein or retellings of classics in general, I recommend this book. But even just as a story outside of Frankenstein, it's an excellent book. Thank you to NetGalley and Raw Dog Screaming Press for the ARC.

this book was... interesting. until the 60% mark I was in love with the story, characters and connections they made. but after that author decided to take some turns and twists that didn't really fit with the rest of the story and pretty much destroyed it for me. don't get me wrong - it's still a good book, just not entirely for me I guess.

My second gothic horror novel of the year, breaking some kind of record. From the first few pages, I knew this was a book I was going to enjoy, no matter what the plot was: Tim McGregor has a way with words. But this is a marvellous plot: a small island with a tiny population of twenty people or four families, very insular (heh) and pretty unfriendly to outsiders. And then a mysterious (—”Byronic”) outsider comes to spend a season there, attracting the curious attention of a beleaguered and weary woman, Agnes, who remains something of an outsider herself—partly, perhaps, because she’s rather freakishly tall and strong.

The story is wonderfully narrated by Agnes. (Some mild spoilers follow.) There is a lot of grief in this novel: Agnes is an abused wife who was married young to an older man after an unhappy childhood. An incident in the second half of the book is shattering, but drives much of the rest of the story forward. And then, the loneliness that’s a central theme of the book only intensifies as the novel progresses, without a happy ending (although there is a somewhat satisfying one).

Eynhallow (“the holy isle”) is a haunted island, apparently—but the real hauntings are human. There’s body horror, but even for squeamish me, it isn’t unreadable or gratuitous; all of it serves the emotional punch the novel packs. And Eynhallow will knock you out. McGregor has written brilliantly here about a central character in classic science fiction (the very first, actually). And Agnes is a fantastic and memorable character.

Read if you love books. This is one of those novels where genre isn’t a thing at all; Eynhallow is just wonderful. Very, very highly recommended. Already one of my favourite books of the year.

Thank you to Raw Dog Screaming Press and to NetGalley for access.

This was a slow burn for me. It was different then what I was expecting but I did enjoy reading it. Seemed less horror more drama

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for the chance to read and review this book

Tim McGregor's Eynhallow is a gothic horror literary work that takes place in the Orkney Islands in the year 1797. It tells the story of Agnes Tulloch, a woman who lives on a remote island and feels trapped in a marriage with an abusive husband who does not treat her well. After the arrival of a mysterious stranger on the island, her life undergoes a major transformation.

I was pleasantly surprised by how good this book is. A variation on the Frankenstein legend, it tells the tale of a small group of inhabitants of the island of Eynhallow who are visited by a stranger who's come to engage in some secretive work. One resident, Agnes, is tasked to bring him food and clean his quarters but soon grows close to the man and discovers his gruesome endeavors. His name is Victor Frankenstein and he's been quite busy... Fascinating as it is horrific in its telling of a fateful trip that changes the island forever. Historical horror at its finest. Very well-written, McGregor has a winner here. 4-4.5 stars. Highly recommended for fans of the genre. Thanks to Netgalley for the free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book was a very interesting telling of what might of happened for Frankenstein if told in a different way. The story tells the reader of a ghastly island and the poor inhabitants of said island. Life is difficult for all islanders, especially Agnes. She is an outsider, becoming an inhabitant due to marrying Robert Tulloch. Her life is nothing but drudgery and longing for something else. Little does she know that her life is about to change forever.
I really enjoyed this book. I felt sorry for genes. She was miserable with her life and ow her children had to suffer. It was so easy for her to fall for sweet words and kindness. I was not impressed with her much older husband. Who took all the money and never did anything to ease the family’s plight. This story made the reader wonder.. was there some truth to the original Frakenstein? What if something remade could exist forever? I really recommend this book for horror lovers.

August 30th, 1797… Agnes Eliza Tulloch, née Burness, is still THE stranger on the island of Eynhallow. She married 'into' the island, so to speak, when she was just 17. Now, about 12/13 years later, she is still the stranger on this Island where only 4 families live, including hers.
And that's not the end, our 'Lamb' is 1.93m tall and strong as an Ox, which makes her even more of an outsider to almost everyone.

Despite her status and the time she lives in, she's not just literate BUT rather well-read thanks to her father. Unfortunately though, she was pushed into marriage by the intrigues of her stepmother and a lot of sweet-talk by widower Tulloch.
Leaving behind her Jamie in Kirkwall.

Agnes loves her children... and her best/only friend Katie, a non-Islander just like her. However, her life is difficult on this barren, cold Island. Every day is filled with toil and drudgery. Her daily work cumbersome and hard, even though her oldest living child, Grace, tries to help her Mother wherever she can.
What's sad about it most, is that her husband Robert doesn't make her life any easier, rather on the contrary now that she's bound to him.

In my eyes this Book is quite a lot about Agnes and how she was never able to do what's right for her without ending up with a more disastrous outcome.
The author has woven all the other characters very well into the story with our main character Agnes. Even Victor, although I'm still not sure if he had planned a 'certain thing' from the beginning as it played out later, or if it all happened in the End just by cruel coincidence and due to her Curiosity.

Agnes undergoes a transformation in this story from the obedient Eve to the emancipated Lilith. The whole thing has only one catch in my opinion, the transformation comes too late for our Heroine.
A fact that honestly saddened me as a woman while I was reading the book.

From the last quarter on, the book was more Women's Fiction than (Gothic-)Horror... but that was absolutely fine with me, as this book was gorgeous.

I felt a lot of sympathy for Agnes and for Katie, as welll as for their children.
I couldn't stand any of the male islanders, except for Tom, they were obnoxious and opressing idiots.

The atmosphere, apart from a few beautiful moments (The children and Daisy), was very gloomy and desolate.
To say, that I was shocked by the extreme turn of events at the End would be an understatement. Well done!

Thank you for gifting me as a reader with the lovely Daisy and Dickie and at the same time How dare you to the Author. (He'll know why…)

𝑰 𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆𝒔 𝑯𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒐𝒓, 𝑮𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒄 𝑯𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒐𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒅/𝒐𝒓 𝑾𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒏'𝒔 𝑭𝒊𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏.

5 stars, but I wish I could give it even more.

Wow, Tim McGregor does it again. This is my 2nd book by him, and I can't wait to read more, I think he's definitely a favourite author for me now.

This is a historical gothic horror with a new twist on a classic story. It started of slow, but the pacing picked up quickly, I think I knew early on that this was going to be a book I love. I really enjoyed the atmosphere, which is bleak and dreary. The writing was phenomenal. It was as if I was there alongside Agnes looking out into the water, experiencing the strong bitter winds, and watching the darkness that looms in her home. Usually, I'm able to guess/predict where a story is going to some degree, but this totally took me by surprise.

And the ending. Oof. McGregor took my heart and squeezed it tight. I had to sit there for a while just thinking about it. Haunting.

Read this if you love: Frankenstein, historical horror, gothic horror, retellings, isolation, remote settings, island settings, and monsters.

Many thanks to Netgalley for sharing a digital copy for me to read and also to Raw Dog Screaming Press for sending me an ARC. As always, opinions are my own 🤘🏻💀🤘🏻

ORKNEY ISLANDS, 1797 – Agnes Tulloch feels a little cheated. This windswept place is not the island paradise her husband promised it to be when they wed. Now with four young children, she struggles to provide for her family while her husband grows increasingly distant.

When a stranger comes ashore to rent an abandoned cottage, Agnes and the other islanders are abuzz with curiosity. Who is this wealthy foreigner and why on earth would he come to Eynhallow? Her curiosity is soon replaced with vexation when her husband hires her out as cook and washerwoman, leaving Agnes with no say in the matter. Agnes begrudgingly befriends this aristocrat-in-exile; a mercurial scientist who toils night and day on some secret pursuit. Despite herself, she’s drawn to his dark, brooding charm. And who is this Byronic stranger sweeping Agnes off her feet? His name is Frankenstein and he’s come to this remote isle to fulfill a monstrous obligation.

Review:

Eynhallow is more than a place. It is a state of mind, a word that conjures up desolation and loneliness. The latest by master scribe Tim McCregor with a placement in the Frankenstein canon. Over two centuries ago, a teenaged Mary Shelley sat down to pen one of the finest works of the Gothic ever written and left an indelible mark on science fiction and horror forever. McGregor follows her footsteps to deliver a book that does her legacy all the justice.

Agnes is a housewife living on Eynhallow with her husband and children, a miserable existence on a barren rock that is far from the paradise she was promised. Everything changes when a stranger arrives on the island; a handsome, brooding man whose name is Frankenstein. From the start, McGregor plunges the reader into Agnes’s head and presents her as a true gothic heroine; unfulfilled and longing for more, but irrevocably drawn to danger.

Then the stories takes its twists and nothing will be the same again. McGregor gets into the pure horror of Eynhallow; the horror of isolation, of losing oneself and changing forever. Maybe for the better, but also perhaps now and being unable to understand the difference but enjoying it all the same. Agnes deserves her freedom and will stop at nothing to claim the independence she warrants even if she must buy it in blood.

Nothing is spared in turning this sordid tale into a twisted retelling and sequel to Frankenstein. McGregor fiendishly subverts expectations and then keeps going in the best ways. Every word has a precise point and the story continues to haunt long after many of the characters in it have withered to dust.

A triumph. Paraphrasing the good doctor himself in the film: This story is indeed alive.

As if life isn’t hard enough, caring for four children and a husband who hates her on an isolated island, Agnes is forced to work for the mysterious stranger who moves into the haunted abode on Eynhallow.

This book is masterfully written for the perfect gloomy vibe; picture a rainy beach day. This is the perfect book for the salty feminists out there. The strong female protagonist has you rooting for her to have one easy day. I will say, this is the kind of book you read when you’re in a certain mood.

As always, check the triggers. There is a lot of pregnancy/baby stuff that’s hard to handle, but it’s set in the 1800s so it’s not exactly like medical science was up to snuff.

I very much enjoyed this mysterious Gothic story! The writing was atmospheric and I found myself totally absorbed in the lore!

"You think I will love you because I was created to do so? ... Should I faint with gratitude because you are willing to love me in all my wretchedness?"

Thank you to Raw Dog Screaming Press (@rdspress) and @NetGalley for the ARC!

3.75 stars

I was intrigued by this book because it sounded like a very different take on Frankenstein and his monster - and it is! In Eynhallow, a tiny island in the Orkney archipelago (Scotland), we follow Agnes through her provincial life as mother to four and wife to a temperamental man. Bored with her life and with little company, she longs for something to happen.

One day a visitor appears out of the blue and occupies an abandoned cottage. He is aloof and possibly mad, but that doesn't stop Agnes's husband from offering her up to work as the newcomer's housekeeper. Resentful at first, Agnes does her duty but slowly grows to care for the stranger. He is mysterious, prone to bouts of joy and despair, and shows an attraction to her that she's not used to.

While it is no mystery to the reader who the man is when he introduces himself as Victor Frankenstein, Agnes holds out hope that he could be her salvation. But anyone who's read the novel knows that no good comes from being associated with the Icarian figure.

The beginning of the book lagged a little for me and the pacing felt odd, with Agnes's life before Victor giving us a good scope of the scenery and setting up for some ghost stories. However I did get tired to Agnes's inner monologue being stunted by her fourth-wall breaks and think that there could have been a better way for the author to transition from scene to scene.

I'll have to ruminate on the ending a little more. Like I said, there is no happy ending when you collide with Frankenstein, but I may need to re-read the original novel to maybe accept where we ended up. Overall, Agnes's story doesn't necessarily contradict much of the canon and is an interesting piece of "What Happened While Victor Worked on His Promise to the Monster."

I'd recommend this to fans of Shelley's work, especially since I'm interested to hear what others have to say about the way things played out. Agnes serves as an imperfect narrator and a complex woman to read about, so maybe my thoughts are just that I wanted better for her in the end.

Let me know what you thought!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

Wow.

That's really the first comment that I have for this book, and it will sum up the rest of my review too. This book is absolutely devourable - it has perfect tone and cadence, and it is so perfectly crafted I barely know where to begin with the review. I inhaled this book like nothing else, and I am still thinking about it (and think I will be for a long time yet).

I will admit when I found out about the Frankenstein angle that I thought the book was ruined. It was a total surprise for me, and I didn't think I would enjoy it at all. I am pleased to admit I was completely wrong. This book pulled out all the stops, and culminated in a perfect swansong of gothic horror. I cannot praise this book highly enough, particularly the ending, and the looping in of an actual location and the Frankenstein story with old myth and legend - it was absolutely gorgeous. This book was a perfect gem.

I usually hate subplots with any kind of romance in them too, but this book included one that I actually felt empathy about, and it was written so beautifully I don't even know where to start. I really did love that facet of this book too, which is particularly rare for me.

This book holds such a lovely balance of bleak and enjoyable. The characters are wonderfully formed and full people, and I honestly cannot praise the author highly enough. I can't wait to read more from McGregor, and you best believe I recommended this book to my fellow horror friends the second that I finished it.

I'll be seeking out a hard copy of this one the minute it comes out for my shelf - straight to the five star section.

It's a gothic horror tale that takes place in the Orkney Islands of Scotland in 1797. Agnes and her four children live on the island, struggling to survive off the sea while dealing with her unpleasant and abusive husband. There are only four families living on the isolated island. The arrival of a mysterious outsider who wants to rent a neglected croft causes speculation about his motives. Agnes' husband volunteers her to take on the responsibility of cooking and cleaning for the new renter, much to her dismay. As she becomes more familiar with this new man, strange and terrifying events start taking place.

I couldn't put this book down! The author excels at making you feel like you're a part of the story. I could sense all that Agnes went through. I am a fan of authors who build authentic worlds, featuring vibrant characters and real-world conflicts intertwined with elements of fantasy. It's a challenge to come across Creature Feature books that truly terrify.

Many thanks to @TimMcGregor1 @RDSPress & @netGalley for a review copy.

[4.5 Stars]

A really enjoyable, atmospheric gothic tale. All the characters were well-rounded despite the shorter length of the book and my intrigue was high the whole time.

Personally, I don't think the last few pages were necessary, but I understand why they were included.

If you liked Frankenstein (or even if you didn't) I would recommend giving this one a go!