DNF @ ~20% (just couldn’t get into it so please ignore the star rating). I enjoyed the writing but just wasn’t connecting the narrative threads and didn’t feel invested enough to want to read more.

The Bass Rock is a story made up of three timelines all set on the coast of Scotland near a natural landmark called, you guessed it, the Bass Rock. The first timeline is contemporary, following Viviane who, almost forty years old and feeling unmoored, takes a job from her uncle to catalogue and pack the belongings from the family home, a large empty manor, so that it can be sold. The second timeline follows Ruth, recently married and the last real inhabitant of the manor, shortly after the end of WWII. The final timeline is during the time of the plague, told from the perspective of a village boy after his father takes in a young woman set to be burned as a witch. We aren't given an exact date of this timeline but you can make an educated guess given the subject matter.

The three timelines have more than one thing in common, notably grief and loss, and sexual violence and how it's changed—or rather hasn't changed—over the course of history. The most obvious commonality, however, is certainly the landscape itself, given that all the timelines are set, more or less, on the same plot of land. Being the shared element, the landscape becomes almost a character of its own. Its gray skies, perpetual damp and slow pace seep into every page and make for a wonderful atmosphere. And through the shared space, the characters of the past continue to haunt those in the present.

The overtones of sexual violence can make for a dark read but also provide a new frame for the, usually, female experience. One that considers the projection of others onto women and how antiquated attitudes toward female sexuality can seem rooted in the very ground around us, emerging in the present from the superstitions and hate of centuries past. The Bass Rock is more thought-provoking than your usual historical fiction, if you can even call it that, and the setting makes for a wonderful winter read.

After multiple attempts it is unfortunate that I am unable to finish this book. I usually love a gothic tale, but I found myself unable to really sink into the story or the characters, it felt very slow paced and I just didn't look forward to picking this up - reading should never feel like a chore!

I was drawn to this book by the name, reminding me of the huge outcrop in the sea off Dunbar. But unfortunately for me that was the best thing about it. At this time, it was too unremittingly bleak for me.

This novel follows three different women in three different timelines, all of them struggling in different ways under the control of men. I enjoyed these women's stories, but I kept waiting for them to intersect or to mirror each other in some way, and that never really happened. The prose is lovely, as I expected, having read and loved Wyld's earlier novel, All the Birds, Singing, and I appreciate what Wyld is doing here—it's just that something was lacking for me.

I do not really know how to rate and review this novel. It is marketed as a gothic novel and in my opinion it fails to be one. On the other hand, it succeeds to be a good chronic of violence against women through history and of how badly they were treated if they dared to fight back.

The Author presents the story of three women, Sarah, Ruth and Viviane. In 1700’s, Sarah is accused of witchcraft and has to flea together with a family that helps her. The 2nd narratives takes place after 2nd WW2 when Ruth and her new husband move to Scotland. The husband marries Ruth mostly to have a nanny and does not seem to feel love towards her. The young woman accepts her role at first and when she begins to fight against the injustice she has to face, toxic masculinity comes forward and lot of horrible stuff happen. We follow the 3rd woman Viviane, who has a strange relationship with men and does some not very nice things in general. Their story is related somehow but you will have to read the novel to discover more.

I cannot go into detail why this book should be a gothic novel, but the introduction of a certain element to convey a feeling of mystery and darkness did not work well in combination with the tone of writing. Maybe the only part the novel does well it’s the condemnation of violence against women, in its many forms through history (femicide, rape, the risk to be taken in an asylum if you say the wrong things etc). The latter reminds me of Sarah Waters and the much better novel Fingersmith. Sometimes I felt the hate towards men was a bit too much. I understand there was an agenda and some points had to be proven. However, the women in this story were not perfect either and not all men are terrible.

I felt the writing was inconsistent. Sometimes it grabbed me and I could not stop reading, and at other times I wanted to give up.

I love gothic novels, so the blurb appealed to me. I enjoyed it, I really did, however I did find that was a little too heavy for me. The author waves a story which is told from the perspective of three different women in three different periods of time. It begins with a body found in a suitcase... I truly loved the strong female characters, but some readers maybe put off by the darker undertones.

I would like to thank Evie Wyld, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this advance reader copy in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This book has 3 narrative threads that take place from the 1700s to the present on the coast of Scotland, and the connecting bits are a series of violent acts against women. The writing is lovely, but the material is brutal. If you think a gothic novel and a ghost story mixed with a family saga sounds intriguing, then you should definitely give this book a try if you can handle anger and violence on the page.

Evie Wyld is a truly gifted writer with a visceral style that is unmatched in modern literature. Unfortunately, her books have a tendency to feel unfinished. I loved All the Birds, Singing until the ending completely lost it for me. I was less sure about The Bass Rock, in part because it is a deliberately unpleasant book to read, so it only felt more disappointing that so much of the story is not resolved at all. I stuck through to the end to see if there was a payoff and there just wasn't. It's easy enough to understand that The Bass Rock is about violence against women perpetuated throughout history, which makes the discomfiting tone appropriate, but when it fails to build to anything, it completely loses me.

If you are fond of gothic novels, you’ll find an engrossing book to read in BASS ROCK. It was a little too heavy for me, but that’s because of personal taste. It’s a story told over three period of time and in the beginning, there is a body found in a suitcase…but you have to read to the end to find out who it was. As a reviewer, I loved the strong female characters, but readers won’t find it light reading.

A strong story told by three women and in one instance a little boy. It was confusing at times because of three different viewpoints but I found it readable and enjoyable. It drew me right in and kept me engrossed until the end. Would definitely recommend it. Happy reading!

Did I dislike this book? No not really, but it also didn't interest me for a big part. At first I was quite drawn in because of the lush atmosphere and nice prose, however the interweaving of perspectives confused me early on as I didn't feel like there was enough of a difference in narrative voice amongst the different perspectives.
All in all, I never disliked it enough to put it down, however, considering how slow I was going through it and how indifferent I felt towards the main characters I should have put it down.
The story did have its moments and there were moments that I did feel engrossed, however, for a very big part of the novel it felt like nothing was happening at all and atmosphere was all keeping this novel together.
My thanks to netgalley and the publisher for giving me access to this uncorrected proof, sadly it wasn't for me.

This is an astoundingly good book that sucked me in and kept me reading. Set over three time periods and featuring three different women, albeit narrated in one section by a boy, it's the story of a family and a lot of secrets bound up in a house on the coast of Scotland. The novel opens with the discovery of a body in a suitcase on the beach- it's no spoiler to tell that you won't know the answer to that until the end. Viv, the child who finds it, is grown and back in Scotland from London to inventory the house so that it can be sold. Her mother, Bernadette, was the niece of Betty, housemaid to Ruth, who was unhappily married to Peter and step mother to Christopher and Michael. Those stories- Viv's and Ruth's- are the clearest linkage, as the family tangles and secrets abound, along with, in the old fashioned term, madness. The other story, that of Sarah, is set in the woods in the 17th century as Sarah and a family try to escape the villagers who believe she is a witch because their food has rotten and all is going wrong. I'll admit to being a bit at sea at first trying to connect the dots but then I fell into the rhythm of the story. Viv is an unhappy mess of a woman-not particularly sympathetic or likable. Ruth, on the other hand, has found herself in an unenviable situation and it trying to make the best of it. This has heavy Gothic overtones, is very atmospheric, and can at times feel as though it is teetering. Keep reading and much, if not all will be clear. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. A great read.

By the time I reached the end of this book I felt I deserved a medal. The author could not have made it more difficult to read if she had tried.

Three separate timelines, too many characters and constant jumping backwards and forwards meant I was constantly having to remind myself who was who and where we were. It also never gave any individual character chance to become well rounded enough to matter, although since most of them were distinctly unpleasant I guess that did not matter.

The unpleasantness of the characters, especially Viviane, sank to whole new depths towards the end of the book and I was glad when it was all over. Two stars because I did finish it although I was not rewarded with a conclusive ending.

Obviously not my kind of book - I know many, many people loved it.

I loved this book. I loved the female characters, so strong and well written and I loved the story that kept me hooked and thinking.
It's not an easy read but it's gripping and interesting.
The author can surely write and deliver a brilliant story.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

This novel was so profound.

The Bass Rock is a portrait of three women - Sarah, Ruth, and Viviane - whose lives are intertwined and connected across time. In the eighteenth century, Sarah has been accused of being a witch and is fleeing for her life with the help of a priest and his son. Just after World War II, Ruth has married a man who has two young boys, and has moved into a new home with the family. Present day, Viv is grieving the death of her father and living in Ruth’s house, sorting Ruth’s belongings after her death. The book focuses most heavily on Viv and Ruth, and they are the characters to whom we will become closest. Sarah’s story haunts the novel like a ghost, and she affects both Viv and Ruth’s lives. All these women are connected.

This book was deeply moving and I felt like I couldn’t catch my breath at the end. This is a portrait of toxic masculinity and and misogyny across the ages. Sarah, Ruth, and Viviane’s stories are not the same, and in some cases they aren’t at all similar, but they are impacted by the men in their lives in profound and sometimes dangerous ways.


“Yes, but surely if—but surely if that woman was killed by her boyfriend, they have the boyfriend and he’s in jail and that crime was related entirely to their particular situation?”

Maggie looks at me. “The situation being: she was a woman and he is a man.”


This book inspired a sense of rage and anger at the way the world is, as well as a sense of deep compassion for how women of different ages and circumstances are subject to misogyny, in ways both minor and life-changing. This is a book that isn’t afraid to be explicit about how women are treated, and that illustrates common threads the connect women's disparate experiences of misogyny. For all the work this book does here regarding women's experiences, it is not shy either about addressing the ways in which toxic masculinity hurts and harms men and boys as well.

Now that I have read the book once, I want to start it all over again. Not only was it profound, but the setting was beautiful and haunting. I want to go live in a seaside house in Scotland now. I want to go gaze out at the Bass Rock (a real place). I want to stroll along the beach. I want to find a friend like Maggie (another character you'll meet!).

As you read this book, do pay attention to the chapter structure. The book is divided into parts, and each part follows Viviane, Ruth, Sarah, Ruth, and then Viviane again, in that particular order. At the end of each part, there are short vignettes from other women’s lives. Once I figured out the unusual structure, it allowed me to sink my teeth deeper into the book.

Additionally, this book has the pacing of a gothic novel. There is a slow and haunting build, and while it won’t necessarily be obvious where it’s all going at first, the payoff is very worth it.

As soon as I get my own copy, I will be reading this again.

I received a digital copy of this book from Net Galley, in exchange for an honest review. That said, I actually sought out an ARC of this book on purpose, just because I wanted to read it so badly. I’ve purchased, on my own, my own kindle and audio version, as well as a hardcover copy. Let's just say it lived up to expectations. :)

humans nearby who live their lives, loving and hurting each other before passing on.

This novel tells of the lives of three women and their treatment by society and particularly by men. In the 1700s there is Sarah, a teenage girl accused of being a witch and therefore blamed for all the misfortunes of the village. After being raped and abused she must then flee from her home to escape being burnt at the stake. In the late 1940s there is Ruth, who has recently married a widower with two sons, who still worships his dead wife, goes away for days when home gets too much and has no love for Ruth. And in the present day there is Ruth’s granddaughter Viviane, who is unanchored, grieving the death of her father and living in her dead grandmother’s house while it is listed for sale. Maggie, a homeless woman befriended by Viviane, circles the narrative neatly back to Sarah’s story as Maggie, always mindful of men lurking in the dark, keeps a map of murders of local women and is something of a modern day witch.

The three women’s stories are interwoven throughout the book, highlighting some of the similarities through the ages of men’s treatment of women and the ability of society to turn a blind eye to it, even today. There are instances of abuse, both physical and psychological, infidelity, pedophilia, violence and murder. The novel has an almost gothic feel with its dark themes and the black mass of Bass Rock, a symbol of power and timelessness hanging menacingly over it all. Through her elegant and poetic prose, Wyld plays homage to the women’s ability to survive the violence and abuse dealt to them by men and to the strong sisterhood that binds and protects them in the face of trauma. I found this to be a very provocative novel which had me questioning whether society will ever evolve to stamp out misogyny.

Bookseller Gem 🤓 @so.she.reads devoured this modern gothic triumph whilst in Quarantine and was over the moon to spot a flitting mention of our little seaside town 🥰
From the award-winning author of All the Birds, Singing, Evie Wyld returns with a haunting, beautifully intricate and psychologically fearless novel. The Bass Rock charts the stories of three women, far apart in time but interlinked by the eponymous rock on the Scottish coast, exploring the emotional and physical restraint imposed on them by the men in their lives. Written with profound insight and startling honesty, The Bass Rock cements Wyld’s place as one of the bravest, most distinctive voices in contemporary fiction.

I embarked upon The Bass Rock with high hopes. I loved All the Birds Singing, so a new Evie Wyld novel should have been right up my alley.

Alas, it was not to be.

I mean, do you ever get one of those novels that you get half way through and you try to describe what it's about and you can't? This is one of them.

There are three (possibly four) narrative threads - a body found on a beach; a woman coming to close up the house of her late Grandmother in North Berwick in modern times; the domestic affairs of that grandmother in the post-war period; and a young girl accused of witchcraft at some unspecified time in the past (presumably the 1590 North Berwick witch trials). If there is a common theme, it is the subjugation of women by the men in their lives - whether it is through accusations of witchcraft, controlling women's fertility and finances, infidelity, domestic violence and murder. But The Bass Rock seems to have it all in a bit of a jumble.

The narrative structure is a straitjacket. There are repeated journeys from today, to post-War, to wiches, back to post-War and back to the present day. Interleaved with the body on the beach narrative. Goodness they are written in an oblique way. There seems to be a never-ending parade of characters, some of whom are in both of the Grandmother narratives. But new people seem to keep coming to the party and it is an effort to keep track of who is who. And because the narrative is so obscure, all the punches pulled, I gave up trying to keep track of it all. I kept reading in case there was a big reveal where it all clicked into place [spoiler - it doesn't]. But by the end, I really felt I was going through the motions, reading about characters I didn't believe in, doing things that bored me, not bothering to read between the lines to get the subtext of anything that might really be happening.

I like Evie Wyld; I like North Berwick; and I like gannets. But they don't seem to blend together very well.

Thank you to netgalley.com for this ARC.

I was very excited to read this book based on the description and setting. The story takes place on the coast of Scotland in a house and is told from three different women's perspectives during different time periods.

I enjoyed the story lines but have to admit at times, I got confused as to who I was reading as the chapters are not labelled. The women in this story have all been hurt and deeply scarred from their life experiences. The men in the story are all pretty miserable with the exception of an uncle.

This was a book I had to take my time with to really savor the story and the tone. The book makes you feel like you are in a dark, cold place by the sea.

This book will stay with me for a while.