Starve Acre is a brooding gothic tale deeply rooted in folklore.
As we meet them, Richard and Juliette have already experienced the worst horror a parent can imagine - the death of their five year old son Ewan. Six months in, neither of them is managing their grief. Juliette is convinced she can sense Ewan's presence in the house and has reached out to a mysterious group of occultists. Richard however seems apathetic; unable or unwilling to intervene and help his wife although he clearly thinks she is on a dangerous and self destructive course. He is consumed with digging his barren field (the titular Starve Acre), obsessed with finding the remains of the legendary Stythwaite Oak. As he avoids facing his own grief by delving deeper into his search, he fails to realise his actions are no healthier than Juliette's, and that he is mirroring his own father's descent into madness.
Alongside this, we slowly learn through flashbacks more about the nature of the child they are mourning and how he died. The landscape is finely observed, its foreboding presence an integral part of the story. It builds slowly with creeping malevolence and an increasingly tense atmosphere. The ending is slightly predictable, but forgivably so, and the while thing is lifted by the sheer quality of the writing.
Recommended for a spooky Halloween read.
As we meet them, Richard and Juliette have already experienced the worst horror a parent can imagine - the death of their five year old son Ewan. Six months in, neither of them is managing their grief. Juliette is convinced she can sense Ewan's presence in the house and has reached out to a mysterious group of occultists. Richard however seems apathetic; unable or unwilling to intervene and help his wife although he clearly thinks she is on a dangerous and self destructive course. He is consumed with digging his barren field (the titular Starve Acre), obsessed with finding the remains of the legendary Stythwaite Oak. As he avoids facing his own grief by delving deeper into his search, he fails to realise his actions are no healthier than Juliette's, and that he is mirroring his own father's descent into madness.
Alongside this, we slowly learn through flashbacks more about the nature of the child they are mourning and how he died. The landscape is finely observed, its foreboding presence an integral part of the story. It builds slowly with creeping malevolence and an increasingly tense atmosphere. The ending is slightly predictable, but forgivably so, and the while thing is lifted by the sheer quality of the writing.
Recommended for a spooky Halloween read.