This book wasn’t anything that I thought it would be from the description. I think the length was perfect because it was short enough to keep your attention but long enough to have a storyline. I’ve never read anything like it before it has such an original story. However I felt that the story jumped between the past and the present and you never really got the whole idea of what happened. This may frustrate some readers but I enjoyed it myself because it allowed me to make my decision of what the link between the characters and scenarios where and what the actual mythological side was trying to say. Personally I enjoyed this book but it is not a light hearted read!

Starve Acre is an atmospheric, eerie story in the modern gothic tradition - just up my street.

In an interesting exploration of grief and dissociation, we witness a couple, Richard and Juliette, grieving for their 5-year-old son, Ewan, searching for closure and spiritual meaning, respectively. The story marshals the key distinguishing components of English folk horror, landscape, isolation, skewed beliefs/perception and offers the obligatory happening/summoning. Traumatised, Juliette is unable to let go of the feeling that her son still inhabits her world. While the story appears to be grounded in rural realism, which distinguishes Richard’s viewpoint from Juliette’s, Richard’s casual acceptance of the regeneration of a skeleton seems a tad off-piste.

While the date of the story is not explicitly set, analogue clues lead us a time frame redolent of 1970s Folk Horror; an Austin car, a typewriter, a Sony recorder. But this careful stylistic location of the story in the past as a believable setting, is fractured by occasional glaring errors; for example, a twinset does not have a blouse as a component. In any era, an academic historian would never speculate that a man might have been hanged for torching hay bales two hundred years before they were invented (unless it was a time slip plot point).

But there is atmosphere and tension and wonderfully observant lyrical passages,
“…but they’d started talking – in the King’s Head or after mass, where he pictured her altruism being broken and shared round like another round of communion bread.”

The tension mounts splendidly gruesomely to what is ultimately an unsatisfying denouement. I realise Starve Acre is in the folk horror short form or novella tradition, and as such, I was prepared for it to be short, but not for it to fall off a cliff at the end. It was as though an invigilator had said ‘pens down in 5 minutes’ and the story was brought to an all too hasty conclusion. I genuinely wanted more. But hey, wanting more from a story is A Good Thing.

Andrew Michael Hurley is an author I have come to admire very much. He uses the wild rugged unpredictable Lancastrian coast (The Loney) and the beautiful desolate Yorkshire dales as a setting for Starve Acre his latest novel. His stories cross a number of genres, part contemporary gothic whith elements of horror, the supernatural, and local forklore with a dash of supersitiion. It works extremely well Starve Acre is a delightful unsettling novel to read.

Juliette and Richard move to the family home of Starve Acre in the remote Yorkshire Dales. Tragedy strikes their son Ewan at the very tender age of five. Naturally this event rips the family apart, Juliette in paritcular has disappeared into a make believe world where she senses that her son is still alive. Meanwhile Richard is obsessed with uncovering the roots of an ancient oak tree rumoured to the the location of historical hangings. When he unearths what appears to be the bones of a dead hare a mysterious transformation occurs one that will have for reaching consequences for the delicate Juliette.

As in the prize winning The Loney Andrew Hurley once again draws the reader in...the hope is that some peace will finally be granted to the delicate Juliette...but the author leaves his best surprise to the final paragraph of the final page and what emerges is not for the faint hearted. I most certainly look forward to further publications by Mr Hurley....enjoyable and uncomfortable in equal measures.

Thank you to netgalley.co.uk for giving me a free copy of this book in exchange for providing an honest and fair review.

I am so glad I took a chance with this book and requested it. It's not the type of book I would go for, but I loved it. The writing is terrific. The author is talented. I felt invested in the characters, and they were well fleshed out and interesting. Despite this, the book moves along at a steady pace which makes me want to keep on reading.
I look forward to seeing more from this wonderful author.

The book is about Richard and Juliette, trying to get on with their lives after the sudden death of their five year old son, Ewan, a problem and complex child. Living in an isolated house in the Yorkshire Dales, Juliette is unable to come to terms with the loss and a family friend gets a strange woman from a group called the Beacons to help her through a sort of clairvoyance.
Richard, meanwhile, spends most of his time in the field opposite the house, the Starve Acre of the title, looking for an ancient buried tree that holds an awful place in the local history.
Full of folk-lore, magic and horror this novel is rivetting from start to finish. A fantastic read for the shortening days of Autumn. The ending will live with me for some time.
Thanks to Netgalley for an advance copy, I devoured it in a couple of days.

A short story that is packed with content. Grieving parents Richard and Juliette are unable to comfort one another after the loss of their five year old son Ewan. Juliette sleeps in his room which is untouched since his sudden death. Richard, on leave from his teaching job, becomes obsessed with finding the legendary Stythwaite Oak said to have been used for hangings, and possessed with a poisonous ripple that spread across the land. When digging for its roots, Richard finds a hare's skeleton and takes it home to reconstruct. Here is where things take a decidedly sinister turn. The hare begins to recompose and comes to life. As Richard reflects on his son's short life we learn that Ewan was disturbed by the ghost of Jack Grey who directed him to hurt others. Juliette consults Mrs Forbes who claims to be able to heal her from her grief. It seems that she is turning a corner, but Mrs Forbes senses a dark presence in the house. As the hare returns, Juliette adopts it as first a pet, and then a replacement child. Sinister, original and striking, this is a book that is perfect for its Halloween release date and one that will not be easily forgotten.

An atmospheric, spooky read and I will openly admit a scary one to me, literally jumped when I got too into it and someone disturbed me mid read. Wonderfully written, great tension and a haunting tale. Highly recommended read

“Everything is buried for a reason’ - from the back cover of the original ‘Starve Acre’ novella.

My thanks to John Murray Press for an eARC via NetGalley of Andrew Michael Hurley’s ‘Starve Acre’ in exchange for an honest review.

Richard and Juliette Willoughby's son, Ewan, has died at the age of five, leaving them devastated and grieving. Their house on the Yorkshire moors, Starve Acre, has thus become haunted with his memory.

Juliette refuses to accept Ewan’s death and seeks the assistance of the Beacons, an apparently benevolent group of occultists. Richard does not approve of his wife’s association with them. He deals with his loss by taking leave from his position as a university professor and begins to investigate a barren field next to Starve Acre where the legendary Stythwaite oak tree once stood.

I don’t want to say too much further but trust me the situation becomes very strange.

‘Starve Acre’ began its life as a novella published under the pen name of Jonathan Buckley as part of ‘The Eden Book Society’ collection of ‘lost’ British horror from the early 1970s.

Once the cat (or the hare) was out of the bag, Hurley expanded on the original story, which is now being published with the same title under his own name.

This is folk horror at its finest and it very much has the feel of the 1970s, not only in its setting but in the use of language. Hurley slowly reveals the influences that change the Willoughby family once they take up residence in the picturesque farmhouse including the circumstances that led to Ewan’s death.

It is a powerful novel that works on multiple levels including an examination of grief and loss.

As he did in ‘The Loney’, Hurley gives the bleak landscape a major role in creating the overall atmosphere for the novel. It celebrates nature yet also taps into atavistic fears that very effectively increase the sense of dread.

‘Starve Acre’ is exquisitely written and seriously chilling. I expect that it will stay with me for a long time. I feel that it is likely to be quickly hailed as a modern classic in the literary horror genre.

The woodblock style cover art is stunning and evokes the sinister woodblock prints owned by Richard’s father.

Highly recommended.

As with Hurley’s other works, the sense of place in this spooky and guilt-fuelled story is powerfully achieved, with the bleak field of Starve Acre almost becoming one of the characters. Historian Richard and his wife Juliette are mourning the death of their young son, Ewan. Juliette’s grief is immense and dominating, and leads her to seek help from occult practitioners to try and contact her son’s spirit. Meanwhile, Richard spends his days digging in the field of Starve Acre, hoping to unearth the roots of an ancient hanging tree. As he works, he looks back on his son’s short life, and a series of troubling incidents in the lead up to his death. The tragedy that has destroyed both parents is tangled up in the strange atmosphere they now live in, the dark fear that haunts Richard’s memories of his son, and the sense that in his digging, he has uncovered something deeply sinister.

Prepare for a tense, rather scary read!
Starve Acre was a novel that had me wondering whether I’d picked up the right book. I thought I’d chosen a book about a couple struggling to deal with the death of their young son, but by about a third of the way through, I was so gripped and jumping at shadows that I couldn’t decide whether this was a thriller or a horror! It is, I’ve decided, my favourite kind of scary book. You’re never quite sure what you’re supposed to be scared of, but the hairs standing up on the back of your neck would tell you that whatever it is, it’s THERE on the page in front of you! I should’ve guessed that it would be like this. I mean, who lives in a house called Starve Acre and doesn’t expect something to go wrong? And that cover! Jo McLaren has done an amazing piece of art - it’s what made me want to read it, after all.

Children are always the ones that seem to be more sensitive to the supernatural, and Richard and Juliette’s son Ewan is no exception. Before his death, he talks of a menacing figure called Jack Grey, who tells him to do certain things - none of which make him popular in the village. Ewan becomes more and more unhappy, and his behaviour becomes more erratic.

After Ewan’s death, Richard and Juliette’s grief becomes suffocating - I could feel it coming off the page. Juliette’s sister expects her to pull herself together, but Juliette is convinced that Ewan is still in the house. So she invites The Beacons, a group of Spiritualists, to come and contact him and put him to rest. And this is where it starts to get really macabre. If I could have read this with my eyes shut, I would have. The fact that this isn’t written in your stereotypical ‘horror story’ fashion, is what makes it truly unsettling. I was never sure what was real and what was some sort of mass hallucination.

I just loved this book, and it’s going on my Keeper Shelf(yes, it has capital letters). Highly recommended to be read during daylight hours only, unless you like being chilled to the bone!


Many thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and Readers First for my copy of this book to read and review.

Spooky, gothic, atmospheric.

This story is haunting in subtle ways. There is the big old house, an ancient 'Old Justice' gallows tree, the sudden death of a disturbed child, voices from the past - all set in the cold and desolate moorlands. The perfect recipe.

Hurley has the right narrative: understated, not dwelling on the obvious horror that belies the story and shapes the events, no cliched banging doors. This is about grief and how it affects people differently, and ultimately how they overcome it by whatever means. Elegant and profound, disturbing and supernatural.

Published at Halloween. A timely ghost story, not too long, just right. Brilliant.

What a fantastic read! A short but intense foray into a disturbed mind - or rather, more than one disturbed mind. A barren field, a lonely house, a dead child. These are the settings for what is either a Gothic tale or a study of grief and the madness that arises from that. Juliette, the grieving mother, cannot move on from her young son's death. Ewan's father, Richard is also locked in stasis but seems to want to break out. Which of them is the more deluded is open to conjecture. Richard treats the occult event in a matter of fact way - it's just something that happened. But did it? Could it?

I wouldn't say this was a hairs up the back of your neck read - it's more of a psychological insight into a distressed couple, living in an unforgiving landscape. The progress of the novella is startling and the climax shocking - but not necessarily in a way that makes you want to keep the lights on.

It is, however, excellent.

Having enjoyed Andrew Michael Hurley’s previous novels, “The Loney,” and “Devil’s Day,” I was excited to read his latest work. “Starve Acre,” is a novella length story, set in a similar, bleak countryside setting, as his previous books. Dr Richard Willoughby, a university professor, inherits his family home – the starkly named, ‘Starve Acre,’ and moves there – a little against his better judgement – with wife Juliette. Their son, Ewan, is much wanted by Juliette, who adores the boy. However, Richard recalls his own family being viewed as outsiders in the small, rural, community and, before long, history begins to repeat itself. Ewan’s behaviour causes concern and the family find themselves isolated. When Ewan dies, grief overtakes Juliette, and her search for answers leaves her and Richard at odds.

This is a strange, almost magically creepy, read, with the house a real presence in the story. The acre that the title refers to, is a field, next to the house, in which nothing ever grows. The site once housed a huge tree and Richard spends his time looking for the roots of a tree, in soil which does not even house worms. I liked the other characters, which flesh out the story, including Juliette’s rather bossy sister and their local friend, Gordon. A perfect Halloween read, by an author who is becoming a ‘must read,’ for me. I received a copy of this book from the publisher, via NetGalley, for review.

Wow, what a read. The first I’ve read from this author and I’m in awe. I’ve had the author’s previous novel ‘The Loney’ on my To-Read List for a while, however after reading ‘Starve Acre’, it has been moved straight to the top!Andrew Michael Hurley has a style and a mastery of words that conjures a wholly unsettling and consuming atmosphere, bringing genuine chills and goose-flesh as I read. I read a lot of horror novels, however I find that very few actually manage to scare me. Not that I’m some big solid unscareable brute, I just find a lot of writers substitute ‘scary’ with ‘gory’. I’m all for the gore too, however when a book really gets me is when it manages to raise those hairs on the back of my neck and makes me look behind me just to make sure I’m alone. If a writer can achieve that, then I know I’m onto something special. And ‘Starve Acre’ is certainly that. Special.
But it is far from just a ‘scary book’. Hurley weaves a tale both creepily surreal and heartbreakingly real in equal measure. The tale of Richard and Juliette and how their lives and potential sanity are affected after the loss of their son is told in an almost stream-of consciousness-style which flits back and forth between present day and memory from one passage to the next with little warning, keeping the reader on edge and never entirely certain initially what is remembered and what is actually happening. This stream-of-consciousness format, coupled with a perfectly paced revealing of information, come together to create a foreboding and devastating examination of the effects of grief, all mixed up into a macabre fever dream. With a looming sense of dread throughout, and an ever-present anticipation of ‘badness’ on every page, this is one novel that kept me up at night long after I’d finished reading. In the best way.

I found this an interesting read, but was disappointed in how the wife's grief was portrayed as leading to a kind of closed off hysteria- I wish I could have seen more of her internal life and coming to terms with the death of their son, and while I know that this was probably a deliberate narrative choice (heightening their isolation) it was frustrating to have that avenue closed off. Overall, it was slow-burning and creepy, but didn't live up to my expectations from 'The Loney'.

Thanks to John Murray Press and NetGalley for the Advance Review Copy in exchange for an honest review.

I've heard a lot of good things about this author on the Guardian Books Podcast and have some of his books unread on my Kindle. I've also seen Book Twitter raving about it so what better excuse to read a spooky book in the fine month of October.



I was somewhat disappointed straight off the bat when I realised this was another of what I call an 'angsty guy with a dead kid' novel. The last one of these I read was In the Night Wood by Dale Bailey which coincedentally is also about an oblivious academic type who denies everything weird that is happening despite being a first person observer to the supernatural events.

I'm maybe being a bit harsh because I did actually quite enjoy this book. The setting of a parochial, superstitious village was interesting enough but I felt the characters were a little one dimensional and it wasn't quite creepy enough for me. The ending was killer though so that redeemed things for me a bit.

I dunno, I know lots of people loved this book and it's really perfectly fine but it just felt a bit tropey and meh. A nice spooky little read but nothing particularly original or new here. I actually think it might have worked better as a short story rather than a full length novel.

A great story and use of atmospherics. All round good read with engaging characters and narrative structure.

Hmmm.....this was ok...I was expecting a bit more, it felt like it was going somewhere but then it just ended. Not for me, sorry!

I found this book very difficult to both review and give a rating.I’ll do my best to try and break down my thoughts.

Richard and Juliette move to Starve Acre, with their 5 year old son Ewan, an apparently healthy young lad. Over time Ewan begins to show aggressive traits and his behaviour becomes violent.

Ewan tragically passes away, leaving Richard and Juliette to grieve at Starve Acre, but something isn’t right, and Juliette refuses to believe Ewan has gone, that he is still with them at Starve Acre.

A deeply immersive and atmospheric tale, Andrew Michael Hurley deftly draws you into this macabre and darkly morose tale.

Though a relatively short novella in length, this story feels like a slow burn , as you live through the couples devastating and sad journey, culminating in a quite disturbing end.

I felt the locations in this book are at times as important as the story, and they are described with such deep clarity and depth, you could be at Starve Acre, living out this darkly moving tale

It’s a vivid, intense read, emotional and heart breaking, parts of it are a slightly incomprehensible , but it’s a stunning piece of writing, incredibly rich and complex in detail and story.

For me it’s a Recommended read but possibly with some apprehension for this upsetting tale.

4 🔥🔥🔥🔥

This is a short book but not a short read.
I found the prose very well done, beautiful in fact.
I found the story a bit confusing, perhaps packing too much into the novella when certain parts could have been developed to make it stronger. The characters could have been better developed and this too would make the book longer. Not a bad thing perhaps. So on the whole, lovely writing but something was missing to make this really good.