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The Loney

'Full of unnerving terror . . . amazing' Stephen King

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The Loney

By: Andrew Michael Hurley
Narrated by: Richard Burnip
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About this listen

 PRE-ORDER SALTWASH NOW: THE DISTURBING NEW NOVEL FROM ANDREW MICHAEL HURLEY

'The Loney is not just good, it's great. It's an amazing piece of fiction' Stephen King

Easter 1976. Two teenage brothers, one mute, the other his lifelong protector, set off on a retreat with their parents and others from their church to a Catholic shrine on a wild, ever-changing stretch of Lancashire coastline known as the Loney. Led by new incumbent Father Bernard, the pilgrims dutifully observe the traditions leading up to the Resurrection, but the boys learn that there is a much older, darker power to be found in the landscape itself, one which is being tapped by strange rituals on the tidal island of Coldbarrow.

Many years later, a child's body is discovered, and the two brothers are forced to confront the horrors of the past. The Loney always gives up its secrets, in the end.

WINNER OF THE 2015 COSTA FIRST NOVEL AWARD
THE BRITISH BOOK AWARDS BOOK OF THE YEAR 2016

'This is a novel of the unsaid, the implied, the barely grasped or understood, crammed with dark holes and blurry spaces that your imagination feels compelled to fill' Observer

'A masterful excursion into terror' The Sunday Times©2015 Andrew Michael Hurley Genre Fiction Horror Literary Fiction Scary Fiction

Critic reviews

An amazing piece of fiction
Here is the masterpiece by which Hurley must enter the Guild of the Gothic: it pleases me to think of his name written on some parchment scroll, alongside those of Walpole, Du Maurier, Maturin and Jackson
A masterful excursion into terror
An extraordinarily haunted and haunting novel
This is a novel of the unsaid, the implied, the barely grasped or understood, crammed with dark holes and blurry spaces that your imagination feels compelled to fill
Written with the skill of a poet
An eerie, disturbing read that doesn't let up until its surprise ending
An unforgettable addition to the ranks of the best British horror
A haunting and ambiguous novel that will keep you up at night
A tale of suspense that sucks you in and pulls you under. As yarns go, it rips
A masterclass in spinning out tension
A haunting exploration of religion, faith and family. Hurley's evocation of the landscape is bleak and beautiful, while his portrayal of a family slowly imploding is both perceptive and compelling
All stars
Most relevant
Richard Burnip's performance is wonderfully evocative and brilliantly soothing. The story left me a little blank though. There are elements of horror within the banal, but this is by no means a horror. As others have said, The Loney’s intrigue lies in all that Hurley dares to leave out. This is a novel of the unsaid, the implied, the barely grasped or understood, crammed with dark holes and blurry spaces that your imagination feels compelled to fill. It takes both confidence and talent to write like this and it leaves you wanting more...

Baffling

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Interesting, thought provoking, sad, bleak even. It in my opinion it shows the power of religion, of the chains it can place upon one. A child who was born to serve, who never really had the opportunity to experience childhood and the freedom that entails. The narrators voice was gentle, melodic as he led you down a winding path.
Very different from my usual reading, I will most definitely read it again.

A child who never really experienced the magic of childhood.

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The Loney is an unusual story. It has a good ending, however, I found it slow to progress. The narrator is excellent.

A Bit Slow...,

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I was absolutely loving it and was ready to rebuy a hard copy. The voice performance is utterly brilliant, but as the story came towards its close, it just didn't deliver in climax or resolution. Very flat.

Great performance, story didn't deliver

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Existing in that space between intentions and interpretations, this haunting debut novel from Andrew Michael Hurley pivots around a small but seemingly miraculous event that occurs in 1976 and looks at the consolation of Faith in a changing world. Set upon a desolate stretch of the Lancastrian coast, the story follows a cluster of parishioners making pilgrimage to a local shrine after the dubious death of their domineering priest. Seeking to find comfort in familiarity and signs of hope and renewal, they instead discover that the shrine has been desecrated and Godly traditions abandoned.
Centred on the relationships between the teenage narrator, his mute, autistic brother, their pious mother, the easy-going new priest and the brooding shadow of his predecessor, this book asks such Millsian questions as at what cost the greater good and the value of truth over happiness. Hurley's style is pitched somewhere between the location-based, character-driven literary fiction of Graham Swift and the weird folk-horror of Machen or Blackwood. 'The Loney' is highly atmospheric, filled with beautiful landscape writing and sinister suggestions, whilst the (sparingly-used) supernatural elements are at once unequivocal and open to being religious allegory. The conclusion offers a modest resolution, traces of hope mixed with disappointment and lingering sadness; it places the book in that (relatively) modern strain of hinterlands or liminal English Gothic occupied by such different works as 'The Course Of The Heart' (M. John Harrison) and 'Beyond Black' (Hilary Mantel). It is a slow, layered novel, but rewarding to the patient.
Happily, Richard Burnip's narration is excellent; his voice for Father Bernard is better than his 'normal' speaking voice, and I particularly liked his invocation of Jack Douglas for the unfortunate Clemence.

From The Fullness Of The Heart The Mouth Speaks

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