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Hare House

A Gothic, Atmospheric Modern-day Tale of Witchcraft

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Hare House

By: Sally Hinchcliffe
Narrated by: Kirsty Strain
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Summary

'Deliciously chilly' Guardian
'Humming with suppressed hysteria and madness' The Times
'Wonderfully evocative' Heat

Hare House is not its real name, of course. I have, if you will forgive me, kept names to a minimum here, for reasons that will become understandable . . .

In the first brisk days of autumn, a woman arrives in Scotland having left her job at an all-girls school in London in mysterious circumstances. Moving into a cottage on the remote estate of Hare House, she begins to explore her new home – a patchwork of hills, moorland and forest. But among the tiny roads, dykes and scattered houses, something more sinister lurks: local tales of witchcraft, clay figures and young men sent mad.

Striking up a friendship with her landlord, Grant, and his younger sister, Cass, she begins to suspect that all might not be quite as it seems at Hare House. And as autumn turns to winter, and a heavy snowfall traps the inhabitants of the estate within its walls, tensions rise to fever pitch.

Sally Hinchcliffe’s Hare House is a modern-day witch story, perfect for fans of Pine and The Loney.

'A beautiful, slow burn of a novel, eerie and shimmering in equal measure' - Mary Paulson-Ellis

 Genre Fiction Ghosts Gothic Horror Magical Realism Suspense Thriller & Suspense Haunted Scary Paranormal Witchcraft Magic
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Critic reviews

A beautiful, slow burn of a novel, eerie and shimmering in equal measure. The bewitching prose brilliantly evokes the bleak glories of a remote Scottish landscape, while the subtle shifts of plot and perspective lure the reader towards an unsettling denouement where nothing is quite what it seems. A dark uncanny read and all the more satisfying for that (Mary Paulson-Ellis, author of The Other Mrs Walker and Emily Noble's Disgrace)

Eerie and subtle . . . This deliciously chilly tale dodges the expected outcome and maintains a delicate balance between psychology and witchcraft right to its disturbing end
A tale humming with suppressed hysteria and madness
The atmosphere of sickly oddness creeps up with wonderful control. Hinchcliffe has a superb sense for the slightly off detail . . . Hinchcliffe has crafted an exquisitely, horribly unreliable narrator. But if the character is not to be trusted, the author very much is: Hare House is a marvellously nasty piece of distinctly Scottish gothic
Dark and absorbing . . . A compelling chiller redolent of Zoe Heller's Notes on a Scandal, Hare House treads the treacherous line between the real and the supernatural with dexterity. It is also a beautiful, if sinister, evocation of the Dumfries and Galloway landscape (Fiona Rintoul)
Wonderfully evocative
A deeply unsettling modern-day tale of witchcraft
Hinchcliffe writes atmospherically . . . Fans of the supernatural will find much to enjoy in this eerie tale

Slightly gothic, it is a quietly eerie novel, beautifully written, one that keeps a reader alert
All stars
Most relevant
I enjoyed the book but I am left a bit unsure about what the actual story was about, witches possibly but it didn’t seem to come to a proper conclusion

Not sure about the end

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I really enjoyed this book, in fact I’m going to listen to it again now. There are layers and depth to the characters and story that I want to appreciate more.
It’s well read and a gripping listen from beginning to end.

Intriguing story

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The story is good but not particularly well written. It feels like it's still one edit away from finished. On the plus side it's very visual and I imagine would make a good TV adaptation I also enjoy a story that doesn't lead you by the nose. The narrator does a good job but sounds a lot younger than the character which jars a bit.

Look out for overuse of the following phrases;
Bent her head
Sheen of sweat
Low energy lightbulbs
she fell in beside me (especially noteworthy in a pondside scene)

Just OK

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Certainly well written and conceived but I found the protagonist very unlikeable and for the most part, uninteresting! There is a sense of dread that sort of builds, but at no point did I really question the fragility of the narrator’s safety with exception of the ‘trial’ near the end of the book. It was good certainly, but for me, not exceptional.

Well written

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Rather a good gothic horror story in a modern setting a la Robert Louis Stevenson

Hare House

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