This was so, so good. For starters, the writing was incisive and edging on poetic. Every sentence echoed with artistry, yet it remained completely plot driven. I love that balance: beautiful writing that doesn’t waste a breath on self indulgence. Now, the story itself was devastatingly perfect. The story takes off with the holy trinity recipe of almost every woman’s marriage plot - sacrificed career, cute kids she loves but doesn’t like, and an infidel of a husband. Lucy is a scorned woman when she learns that Jake is cheating on her with an older woman. The veneer of a happy marriage is shattered, and Lucy is given the right to consensual revenge. She can hurt Jake three times in return. Here is where the book really takes off into its own, where it is unlike any other psychological thriller I have ever read. As Lucy acts out her punishments, an ancient stirring in her starts to come out and a feminine beast is unleashed. Her mystical transformation will have you reeling.

I love the cover art. Unfortunately, the rest fell a little flat for me. It was a depressing domestic drama based on infidelity turned magical realism...I think? I fully understand not every book is for everyone, but unfortunately, I just didn't get into this one. It was a short read, and kept my interest until the end, but I'm still not sure how it actually ended. Again, lovely cover.

The ending - really. As much as I enjoy a vague, poetic ending - this one seriously challenged me. It made me question my entire understanding of the book. I may have to read it again just to delve deeper.
Infidelity. Male Infidelity.
Lucy receives a voicemail on an normal, average, carting the children around, making meals day. A man informs Lucy her husband, Jake, is having an affair with his wife. Though Jake is often late home from work, Lucy has never questioned Jake's behavior.
Lucy was exposed to domestic violence as a young child- warping her sense of power, forgiveness. These memories are reviewed while Lucy tries to forgive Jake, to move on.
Jake agrees Lucy can hurt him three times. Lucy chooses violence, control, fear to forgive her husband .
A part of me doesn't think she is wrong. Lucy doesn't understand how to work through her anger, depression, sense of safety. She must rob Jake of his.
Lucy's obsession with harpies from a young age through college provide self exploration, vindicating Lucy's three forms of harm.
Aren't women the root of all the world's problems?

I enjoyed the audiobook. Great voice, intonation, pauses. Held my interest very well.

The Harpy by Megan Hunter is quite a dark novel, it explores relationships and follows a lady whose husband has cheated on her. He allows her to get her own back and do three nasty things to him. She agrees and we follow the repercussions of her decisions. The protagonist has a long-lasting obsession with the harpy and draws inspiration from the stories she has read in the past.

Overall I found this book a little too morbid for my liking, don't get me wrong I like a darker themed book for time to time. But this one just wasn't my favourite. I felt the writing was actually very good, and the narration great, I would recommend to people who like darker, melancholy reads.

This book was just not for me I could never fully get into it . Something about it felt off and I didn't have connection with the characters or the story itself. With that said the writing was beautiful and in a way poetic. The narration was also really good . She was actually the perfect narrator for this book. The story itself was just not my cup of tea.

This one just wasn't for me. It began very mundane and slow, and although there were some crazy things that happened, I just didn't enjoy it. The main character was very hard to like. She's constantly complaining about everything, and I just got tired of reading about it. The opportunity to hurt her husband three times becomes this weird, crazy game that the two of them choose to endure, and I wanted to like it, I just never got there.

The author's writing, however, does have a beautiful flow to it. I think that I would want to try another book by her. This one just wasn't meant to be.

I was provided a gifted copy of this book for free. I am leaving my review voluntarily.

this book's interesting premise is overshadowed by the author's desire to connect Lucy's story to the harpy. I think more time should have been spent strengthening the characters (why couldn't she just leave her husband? what was SO special about him?) and less time showing the progress towards Lucy's predictable, unsatisfying demise.

A sinister fairy tale for a vengeful heart. This book is delightfully dark yet shimmering with atmosphere.
It reminded me of the film Birdman with the slow metamorphosis and unraveling of the desperate and unhinged protagonist. Lucy, wife and mother of two with a history of childhood trauma finds out about her husband's affair. She has always been intrigued by the story of the harpy, a mythical monster in Greek mythology that had the form of a bird with a human female face; often agents of punishment they abducted people and tortured them on their way to Hades' domain, employed by the God as instruments for the punishment of the guilty.

"I asked my mother what a harpy was, and she told me: they punish men for the things they do."

A book to charge the senses, Megan Hunter’s writing beautifully captures the poetry of violence and revenge.
After being caught in the affair, her husband offers to be the receiver of three punishments. She agrees and her chilling thoughts still swirl in my brain:

''Three. I'd said it out loud, after he did. It made a kind of neat sense, something religious about its structure. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Peter betrayed Jesus three times. A familiar number, for a good Christian girl like me. I remember being allowed to ring the bell in church: three times, I was told.''

Thank you, Netgalley for the audio version which is lovely and chilling.

Thank you to NetGalley and RB Media & Recorded Books for an audio advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

I think this book had a really interesting concept but I just really didn't enjoy it, it wasn't for me at all. I thought it was incredibly slow, boring and wildly unpredictable (sometimes a good thing, not so on this occasion) and yeah, I just didn't enjoy this book.

A beautiful anthropomorphisation of a woman’s pain and rage.

It’s written in a really clean, expressive way that combines reality and metaphor so clearly it’s like you’re actually in Lucy’s head.

The narrator, Clare Corbett completely inhabits the story.

Such an excellent read.

Thank you to NetGalley and RB Media for providing me a copy of this audiobook for free in exchange for an honest, voluntary review.

The Harpy is short, but intense. Lucy is mostly happily married to Jake, devoted to her children and tending her house when a phone call destroys her world. Hubby has been having an affair. She wants to forgive him, but he needs to atone first so she will hurt him three times. Three, a prime, mystical number. Lucy is obsessed with a story about a harpy that her mother read to her as a child. As the need to hurt her husband increases, she starts turning into one herself. Most of the novel happens inside Lucy’s head, but there is still plenty of action in her life. These kinds of novels usually bore me, but Megan Hunter does such a great job of pacing the action, that I was at the edge of my seat. The audiobook narration by Clare Corbett is subtle and goes from frazzled mom to woman at the edge of sanity very convincingly. This is not an easy read, Lucy’s head is not a nice place to spend time in, but it’s a great book for lovers of psychological slow burners.
I chose to listen to this audiobook and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thank you, NetGalley/RB Media!

Dark and haunting, "The Harpy" is a genre-bending exploration of what it means to sacrifice your dreams in the name of love that betrays you.

You know it's going to be a good book when already the Publisher's description says: "Lucy has set her career aside in order to devote her life to the children (...) and to the house itself, which comforts her like an old, sly friend." OH MY; you just know something is going down. And it does. When Lucy finds out that her husband Jake is sleeping with another woman, in order to salvage their marriage, they agree that Lucy will hurt Jake three times in any way she pleases. Number three is highly significant to Lucy, reminiscent of her time spent in church (e.g. Holy Trinity) as a child. Honestly, if this premise doesn't make your neurons fire with intrigue, then you probably won't like this book.

Struggling with what it means to satisfy and forgive when navigating delicate relationship dynamics myself, I was immediately pulled into Lucy and Jake's lives full of unanswered questions and dark corners. It's certainly not an easy read; you are forced to get uncomfortable with painfully real encounters of infidelity, betrayal and abuse. But to me, this discomfort is crucial to the deeply intimate exploration of Lucy's mind and her desire to inflict punishment.

"I could not think of a way to confront Jake that did not feel scripted, stilted, too cheesy or on the nose. I could fling myself at him, pummel his chest with my fists, demand that he tell me everything. I could, carefully and without crying, cut every single one of his work shirts into shreds."

And, of course, because of the beautiful, lyrical writing style, I couldn't put this audiobook down - especially thanks to its truly brilliant narrator who really brought the story to life for me. While short, it's definitely one I will keep thinking about for a long time to come.

*Thank you to the Publisher for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Wow!! What an intriguing and original story. I was so absorbed in the story I finished it in one sitting. This is the first time I've listen to a book by this author but will definitely be following her on goodreads for more books.
And as always Clare was amazing narrating this and was soothing to my ears. I love love love her.