My thanks to NetGalley and publisher Bloomsbury Publishing Plc - Raven Books, for the ARC.
This book has loads of atmosphere - a 300-strong isolated community on the island of Lark - a 3-day North Atlantic crossing to get there - one landline computer and no phone mast. If you want to leave something behind, that's the place to go to.

However, I really struggled to make sense of most of the narrative and the eternal musings of main characters sending thoughts and story-parts off on strange and surrealistic tangents.

Lark has a pagan past and a circle of stones, one school where 3 girls have turned 16 and are referred to as The Eldest Girls, an island Council ruled with an iron fist by the Headteacher, and a reclusive Earl. All new arrivals are vetted for suitability as tenants.
Viola Kendrick (16) and mum Deborah arrive, leaving tragedy behind them. Later a young male teacher for the school arrives.
The Eldest Girls, knowing little of mainland life, have their eyes opened by Viola and a cascade of secrets are revealed.

That, I'm afraid, is the best summary I can make. I did consider giving up several times because I just couldn't get into the writing style, let alone really follow a story - although, thankfully, it became clear by the end.

I was intrigued by the description, but really it was not for me.

The elements of this book reminded me of lots of others: the quasi-mystical, quasi-feminist witchiness; the closed off and insular island community hiding secrets; the unstable danger of adolescent girls; the plot revolving around sex and death - and the tarot cards that mark the stages of the story. It's atmospheric, for sure, but also feels a bit like a mash-up of, say, Ann Cleeves' Shetland series with The Wicker Man and other book that make use of the uneasy relationship between Christian and pagan religions. If you've read similar books, the central mystery will be transparent.

I really wanted to LOVE this book. The subject matter, the elements of witchcraft, the location on a secluded and rough island -- those all make for the perfect book, in my eyes. I found the plot a little difficult to follow, due to the number of time jumps, the different points of views presented and the narrative style. There is a potential that there was a typesetting issue in my copy, so I won't comment on that, as it has to bearing on the book itself.

The characters were richly developed, especially the four girls and the teacher, and I found the island location excellent. I'm always fascinated by far-away places, especially when they're cold and wind battered. I always find that it makes for such atmospheric reading. This all held true in Julie Mayhew's novel as well. Unfortunately, the story didn't grip me as much as I had expected it to. I will definitely give this another read when it publishes officially in October. Might be the very best pre-Halloween read.

Major props also to Raven Books for an absolutely stunning cover design. The plait, the typography -- definitely hooked me right from the start!

The description appealed but I'm afraid that that was as far as it went for me. Yes an isolated island (although mot likely to be that wooded given it was supposed to be off the coast of north western Britain) with a fundamental religion - think Outer Hebrides and the "Wee Frees". I did feel for some of the youngster yearning for what they saw as the bright lights of mainland/towns/cities before they appreciated what they had on the island especially when incomers arrived. It seemed like a sort of coming of age story. What I really disliked was the sentence - -1, gap -0 and another sentence +1. I think, but reiterate the 'think', that it might have been the author's way to weigh the pros and cons of whatever the character was thinking about at the time, but maybe not. It could be some publishing gremlin for all I know. I found it totally distracting anyway and I gave up just under half way through. Not my normal behaviour at all. Thanks to NetGalley and Bloomsbury Publishing Plc (UK & ANZ) for an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

I found this book something of a mixed experience, though ultimately I did end up enjoying it and to the point where I would recommend it to others. I suspect it will be one of those marmite books where some people love it and others don't get on with it at all.

Personally, I found it took me a long time to get the multiple intertwined storylines straight in my head. There are several perspectives told concurrently, but they aren't concurrent in time. I kept forgetting 'when' I was at any given point in the book.

I could also see the twist coming a mile off. The big secret wasn't a secret at all; it was obvious to anyone who knows anything about human nature, or has read pretty much any other book about an isolated community – and if not, the clues were there to see. But that didn't spoil the book for me, really. I don't think it's so much about the secret as it is about what on earth motivates people to keep it.

As for what I loved? I loved the atmosphere conjured by the author, the vivid picture of a place where traditions old and new coexist – sometimes uneasily. And I LOVED the priority given to women's voice and women's experiences. In a very male-dominated society, the women were the heart of the book, and it was their strength and weakness that drove the story forward.

Sometimes a difficult read, but one that will definitely stay with me.

A good creepy ya thriller. Really good writing and creepy atmosphere and twists I would never have seen coming. Fantastic. Five stars xx