Michelle Paver never disappoints. A spooky tale of madness, demons and secrets set against a background of bigotry and ignorance. The attitude of men towards women beggars belief and the sad thing is that it is still rife in many societies, including some parts of our own.
I loved Maud, brave, funny bright.
My thanks to Netgalley for this copy.

Wakenhyrst by Michelle Paver

I received this book for free for an honest review. Thank you Netgalley.

Firstly, I have to say that I am going to be buying a copy of this book as soon as it hits the stores. I loved it!

I have read other books by Michelle Paver and loved each one, so I was very optimistic, and I was not let down!

The story is set at the start of the 1900’s, I LOVE Historical Fiction anyway and set around a spooky atmosphere it is a winner. Its a slow burner, but one that keeps the readers interest the whole way through. The descriptive writing is so good that you feel you are there with each character.

Maud is a young girl, taking care of the family home for her father and has to deal with so much! The characters are so carefully crafted that I hated and loved them in equal measure!

It is a story that leaves much to the readers imagination and gives you many creepy details to work with. I can honestly say that I flew through this book and cannot recommend it enough.

It leaves you wonderful many things and I love that in a book. Brilliant.

A good read and enjoyable.
Strong plot and well thought out characters
A good read.
Thank you to both NetGalley and Head of Zeus for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest unbiased review

I was delighted to be given the chance to read Wakenhyrst, as i have enjoyed Michelle Paver's previous novels, and i was gripped by this one.
You can tell by her vivid descriptions that Michelle has a deep knowledge, of the sights and sounds of the Suffolk Fens, where this is set. Her writing is beautifully constructed and her characters are believable.
The story revolves around a wooden painting- a Medieval Doom, that is found, or rather finds, Edwardian historian Edward Stearne, and the effect it has on his mental health and paranoia. His daughter, Maud comes across his secret diaries,and we learn the terrible history of the Doom and sinister effect it is having on the household.
This is a creepy ,Gothic read and those who enjoy Susan Hill and M. R. James will enjoy this one.
I just reviewed Wakenhyrst by Michelle Paver. #Wakenhyrst #NetGalley
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Actual rating 4.5/5 stars.

This is the perfect atmospheric read to accompany these gloomy winter evenings.

The Gothic wildness of the fens is almost untouched by the heft of man that seems to be overtaking the rest of the world. It is a place undisturbed, expect by undefinable shrieks at night, the ghosts of superstition and folklore, and one lone mansion that borders the wilderness. Inside this house, the occupants largely attempt to exist in total disconnection with the fens but something about the strange beauty of it allures its youngest member and Maud will not settle into her relegated sphere of the world before she can explore all of the wild offerings that exist outside of it.

This novel was staged around a series of communications between the fully grown Maud and a journalist attempting to lure her into telling her story. Financial needs meant she finally relented and the reader was flung back to Edwardian England as the true story begins to unfurl in the present tense.

I adored Maud. Her forward thinking and feminist ideologies, her stubborn nature, and her ardent longing for the natural world all spoke to my heart and I was to unable to do anything but align with her cause. Her father, however, far less so, just as the story demanded of its readers.

Along with the strong-willed Maud, my heart also became enamoured with the majestic wilderness that consistently surrounded her. I could not fail but to liken this to my favourite read, [book:Wuthering Heights|6185]. Cathy Earnshaw is as much a product of the moors as she is her upbringing and the same can be said for Maud. Also, in both, the mirroring of tempestuous passions between nature and the characters traversing its plains dominate the texts. Both were about far more than nature's undisturbed beauty, but that is what spoke so clearly to me, through the intricacies of the plot and ensured both as eternally unforgettable reads.

If there was justice in the world, Wakenhyrst would get as much attention as The Essex Serpent. Michelle Paver is brilliant and I'll read anything she writes. This one kept me up for a few nights & gave me some weird dreams. I'd definitely recommend it to patrons and am planning on buying my own copy.

I enjoyed this book. The book starts with a young writer visiting the elderly, cantankerous Maud to try to get permisssion to read Maud's fathers diary where the writer hopes to gain insight into the mind of Edmund Stearne (Maud's father) and how he came to commit murder. The book then continues with a flashback to Maud's childhood at her family home. Wakenhurst and it is through Maud's eyes and experiences that the saga unravels. WE get to read Edmund's diarywhen Maud is able to sneak into his study to read it. We also gain insight into her father's research into a medieval mystic and the origin and effect of a wooden painting called a doom which shows the creatures from hell which was painted for the local ancient church.

The novel, although set in Edwardian times feels quite gothic and Maud and her family seem more early Victorian to me than Edwardian. The writer visiting at the beginning and the end of the book also feels interposed and doesn't quite gel and flow. Maud retelling her tale on her own (which consitutes the main bulk of the narrative) would be sufficient. I forgot (as the book was on Kindle so I didn't see the cover) was by MIchelle Paver, a really seasoned writer, whose Book of the Human Skin I really like and admire. Ths felt like a slighter affair and from a less experienced hand.

That said, I really enjoyed following Maud and her truly appalling childhood and felt the sense of doom as her fathers mind unravels.

Michelle Paver is an underrated master of her genre. In Wakenhyrst, she has created an eerie, tense world of which I very much relished being a part, for the all too short time it took me to read.

A wonderfully atmospheric historical novel with beautiful descriptions of the fens and countryside. It leaves with that strange chill that Paver is such a master of. Not creepy in the same way as ‘Thin Air’ but unsettling, uncomfortable and even a little upsetting in the best way possible.

Wakenhyrst is one of those books that pulls you right into the story, extremely atmospheric, so much so that I found myself getting lost in the story every time I started reading.
Told from the perspective of Maud, who's father is both an artist, and a murderer.. this is the perfect, gothic Edwardian thriller that will take you back in time. Unsettling, creepy and addictive. This book was written for cosy, dark winter nights, and I will be checking out the authors other works.
5 stars and a great start to 2019
Thank you to Netgalley, the author and publisher for allowing me to read in return for an honest review.

My thanks to Michelle Paver, Head of Zeus and NetGalley for the opportunity to read WAKENHYRST. I had high hopes for this novel and I wasn't disappointed. A gothic lovers dream it follows the enticing story of Maud and the descent into utter madness of her father.. It's scary, grim and although the ending isn't all bells and whistles, which wouldn't have seemed appropriate anyway, it's about as satisfying as it can be. I wanted so much for Maud, but I think she was only able to settle for what was given to her in the end. The Edwardian backdrop, a favourite era of mine, is the perfect setting for this very unsettling story of male domination, regardless of their mental state. Any sniff of entrapment in a book or drama is a very frightening prospect for me, and sometimes we want to feel a little scared. A really good novel by Michelle Paver, definitely one for the to be read list.

This is a Gothic thriller, distinct from Paver's more supernatural chillers such as 'Dark Matter'. It's a real page turner with a strong female protagonist and a feminist theme.

First read of 2019 is suggesting it's going to be a mighty year - Wakenhyrst has further cemented exactly why Paver is one of my all-time favourite authors. Intoxicating, very frightening and so deftly assured - a great at the absolute peak of her powers.

I am a big fan of Michelle Paver and her ability to create real suspense in her stories. It wasn't until I read "Dark Matter" that a book had ever frightened me in the same eerie way I remember being frightened many years ago by Jane Eyre. This new novel is once more eerie and frightening but is based on the well held beliefs of folk lore of earlier centuries. As such we are given a tremendous insight into what it must really have felt like to believe in the existence of demons.

The story is eerie and macabre and Ms Paver evokes the mystery of the fens subtley but perfectly. The descent of Maud's father into madness is cleverly told as is the gradual explanation of all that finally led to the horrific murder. It isn't a book to read if you want gentle relaxation or easy escapism but if you are interested in social history told through mystery and suspense ... and indeed if you enjoy a horror/murder story ... you will find this book fascinating. Thank you Netgalley for this free advance copy.

“Dark Matter” is one of the most genuinely unsettling books I have ever read. It carries such a creeping sense of dread that I had to stop reading and turn all the lights on. I was afraid of that soft, round, wet head and how it came to be there.

This book has the same sense of historical atmosphere and the same glimpses of the uncanny. However much as I enjoyed it I just wasn’t affected in the same way.

This was wicked fun. Brilliantly plotted, perfectly eerie, and with a wonderful central character. I raced through it.

This tale of an Edwardian antiqiuarian falling foul of ancient malevolence cannot help but be reminiscent of of MR James, and for the most part it's worthy of a place in that lineage. But one of James' strengths was his economy and his ability to craft a spinetingler in just a few pages, something Paver herself has managed in her previous short ghost novels, but not here. It's just a little bit too long, and feels a tad flabby in parts.

On the plus side, Paver nails the sense of place, both the overgrown lushness of the fen, and the oppressive and claustrophobic family house. She's also very good on the everyday horror of simply being a woman in a repressive and patriarchal environment. There's an atmosphere of creeping unrest thoughout, and an interesting ambiguity - are we witnessing something supernatural, or merely a descent into fatal madness?

This book is a Gothic tale set in fourteenth century, talking about witchcraft and inner demons. I love Paver's writing and I loved this book. It's so rich with atmosphere, historical setting, myth and magic.

It's told from Maud's perspective. She's the daughter of a murderer. We also go to his diaries. It was fantastic, very engrossing and gripping.
I'd read from Paver anytime. Totally recommended.

Thanks so much to Netgalley and the publisher for this free copy in exchange for an honest review.

A Gothic tale of Suffolk fens, fourteenth century witchcraft and inner demons.

The country seat of Wake's End lies in the fens, surrounded by a miasma of nature and the overpowering strength of the local church. This rural world lies on a knife-edge, finely balanced between the mysticism of the marshes and the overpowering strength of religion. This story is rich in magic, martyrs and myth.

Told by Maud, the daughter of a murderer and artist, alongside her father's private diaries, this is an atmospheric and dark tale of a descent into madness and demons, set against a context of Medieval Doom. I loved it.

Maud is growing up in Edwardian Suffolk, in the small village of Wakenhyrst, next to one of the few remaining patches of fen that survived the drainages of the early modern period (a landscape which is clearly based on Wicken Fen). Maud's mother is downtrodden by her abusive father, Edmund, forced into an endless cycle of pregnancy, child-bearing and miscarriage. Paver's powerful writing uncomfortably conveys how Edmund's patriarchal world-view is enforcing similar norms upon the teenage Maud, but when her father becomes obsessed with a medieval Doom uncovered in the local church, Maud starts to believe she may have found a way to fight back.

Readers expecting another horror story in the vein of Paver's terrifying Dark Matter and Thin Air will be disappointed by Wakenhyrst, which depicts some potentially supernatural events but reverts to a more familiar formula in which we are not sure whether or not these happenings are the product of Edmund's disturbed mind. While the novel tries to keep this question open, this device ultimately stops Wakenhyrst ever becoming especially frightening, as the reader always feels at some distance from the hauntings. Nevertheless, it is very well-written, and Paver's vivid evocation of the fenland and its ancient myths makes it worth reading.