REVIEW: Starve Acre by Andrew Michael Hurley

Starved for a Gothic read? Andrew Michael Hurley's latest is for you!

STARVE ACRE by Andrew Michael Hurley Published on 31st October 2019 by John Murray

Richard and Juliette are grieving the loss of their five year old son, Ewan, at Starve Acre, their inherited home in a rural English village. Richard has thrown himself into his work, researching a legendary oak tree thought to have historically stood in the house’s grounds. Juliette, meanwhile, thinks Ewan is still present in the house, chronicling the encounters she has with him, and inviting The Beacons, a group of occultists, to the house to help her reconnect with her son.

Is there anything to Juliette’s insistence that Ewan is still around? Could the folklore of the tree and the village have anything to do with the odd, violent behaviour Ewan was exhibiting before his death?

As with The Loney, there’s a great ambiguity here - there could, however far fetched, be a rational explanation for pretty much everything - but it’s also easy to believe something more mystical and chilling. Are there dark forces at play, or is the cleverly constructed framework of folklore, grief and history creating a mood where it’s so easy to believe something unreal? It’s a great grey area and one which Hurley thrives in.

The plot whips past at a very quick pace, particularly in comparison to Hurley’s previous books. On the one hand, this is fantastic as I was hooked throughout and constantly struggled to find a point to stop reading. On the other hand, it perhaps felt like an extra 50 pages or so could’ve further developed some of the characters, helped to enhance the gothic mood of the novel and created more intrigue. These parts were all highlights of the novel anyway but I do think the mood in particular could’ve been heightened even further (maybe that’s just my incredibly dark reading taste)!

I really enjoyed this (I love gothic and a hint of fantasy), even more than The Loney, and think it’ll be a cracking gothic read for Halloween. With a confident, beautifully writing style that doesn’t ever interfere with a darker, unnerving mood and plot, it’s a brilliantly crafted look at grief and folklore and has me excited for even more from Hurley in the future.

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I received an electronic review copy through NetGalley in exchange for an honest, unbiased review. Thanks to John Murray for approving my request.