Unfortunately this is going to be a DNF for me. Way too slow and not what I expected it to be. Written well though but not for me.

A creepy mystery that's perfect for autumn! The truth behind Sorrow Spring is slowly revealed, through both Rina's and Cate's stories, past and present, and the story keeps you guessing until the end. Full of occult happenings and a legend that should have remained in the past, it's a great read for long, rainy days. Recommended.

For me this was an easy 5 star. This was just the right amount of creepiness that I was after. It didn’t feel too creepy at first, but it just builds and builds until pheeewwww…

If you like folklore, village creepiness then this is perfect. I was constantly guessing myself over certain characters and who could be trusted?

This had me gripped and then in a chokehold by the end.

Absolutely fantastic.

My thanks to Netgalley and Team HarperFiction for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

There is a lot to like about this book but I am sorry to say that I struggled to finish it as I found it to be very slow. It does have its good points though and this is mainly in the excellent writing and characters it was just that the story fell quite flat for me. I liked the folklore side of the story and the duel timelines and I liked the setting but I think the book was perhaps a little too long but I’m sure that others will enjoy it more than I did.
My thanks to NetGalley and Harper Collins UK for giving me the opportunity to read the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Although a bit bit of slow burner, it is well worth sticking with this book. Beautifully written and truly a masterpiece.

It’s the late 1970s and 12-year-old Rina Pine is suddenly taken from the commune where she grew up to live with her strange Aunt Agatha in the creepy village of Sorrow Spring. Rina has no idea why her mother, Lullaby, has dragged her away from her brother and her friends to live with Agatha – nor does she know if she will ever see her mother again. All she does know is that she dislikes Agatha’s strict rules about how women and girls should behave, and that she needs to try and get back to the commune – but first, she has to find out exactly what is going on in Sorrow Spring…
This book follows Rina’s quest for answers in Sorrow Spring – who are the Sistren that her aunt keeps talking about? Why is she disliked by the pompous Vane family before they have even met her? Why are so many women and boys going “missing” from the village? What is the mystery of St Faran?
Simultaneously, we follow Rina’s niece Cate in the modern day, trying to track down Rina at the request of her dying father – Rina’s brother, Emesh. But why has he never mentioned his sister until now?
I devoured this novel as hungrily as one of the Sistren eating a slice of their special “pie”. This creepy, suspense-filled historical thriller gave strong Wicker Man vibes and I loved how the writer built up our faith in so many characters before then breaking it down through their unexpected and unusual actions.
There were some occasional changes to second-person narrative which I found jarring – I’m not a fan of this perspective at all – but the device was useful in clarifying the change in point of view to an unknown character.
This was a five-star read for me and I cannot wait for the writer’s next novel.

This book initially appealed because of the folk horror angle, and its description as an atmospheric creepy tale set in a sleepy English village. I did enjoy these aspects of the story, but unfortunately it lost some of its appeal for me because of the overly long, very slow and sometimes repetitive narrative and the simplistic (possibly intentionally naive) writing style. I wanted to like it, but my attention drifted too many times and I found it something of a slog to finish.
I did like the dual timeline aspect, the premise of the story is interesting and there was certainly a claustrophobic and sinister feel to a lot of it, but ultimately I felt the book would have benefited from editorial work to produce a tighter, shorter narrative, which would probably have held my attention better.

I loved the premise of this book and was pleased to receive an ARC in exchange for an honest review. It started out slow and I really struggled to get into it. I persevered with it but i just didn't connect with it.

Rina has grown up in a commune with her mum and brother, but when she comes of age her mother sends her to live with Aunt Agatha in Sorrow Springs. It's 1978 but Sorrow Springs female residents are still following paganistic rituals and the legend of St Faran. It's soon made clear to Rina that she's the next leader of the Sistren. But their believes are abhorrent to Rina and she vows to make her escape. But once you're in Sorrow Spring its impossible to leave.
On the whole I enjoyed this novel, its certainly atmospheric with a strong leaning to paganism and sacrificial offerings. I can't help feeling it was a little to long though and I found it slow and slight repetitive in places. However it was a solid read with strong if not dubious characters
I will leave this review on Goodreads, Bookmory and Storygraph now and post to Anazon on publication day

Sorrow spring centres around Rina, a 12 year old girl. Her mum brings her to live with her aunt in Sorrow Spring and doesn't come back for her. Felling abandoned and alone, she quickly notices all is not what it seems. With whispered conversations, locked doors, and strange disappearances, Rina is determined to find out what is going on and why she has been brought here.

A slow-burn, dual timeline that switches from 1978 and 2019. I struggled to get into this story. i found the pacing way too slow for me. For that reason, my attention to it wavered in the middle part. Nothing really comes together until the last third. Maybe if it was shorter, it may have compelled me to want to keep reading more, I don't know. From the beginning, you do get the sense of something sinister looming in the distance. I just wanted it to be darker, more creepy, with more suspense, to grip and draw me into it.

I did like the story in general. It's cloaked in mystery, folklore, and rituals. A creepy, close-knit village, where outsiders are not welcome. A group of women known as the Sistren keep the community safe from harm. Shrouded in secrecy that goes back years and years.

It's worth reading for the folklore and seeing what years of traditions can do to people and the lengths they will go to. I just wanted more.

Thank you, Netgalley and Harper Collins UK, for my ARC.
My opinions are my own.

Sorrow Spring by Olivia Isaac-Henry is a creepy, atmospheric period story surrounding strong beliefs and super strong believers with a dual narrative and brilliant writing. Loved it!

Thanks to the publisher and the author for the eARC.

This kept me utterly enchanted! It’s eerie, it’s atmospheric, it’s dark and twisty and I loved every minute of it! The perfect autumn read!
I will be recommending this to my book club for our halloween reads! Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley for this ARC

An enjoyable book with lots of twists and turns. I certainly didn't seevthat ending coming.. Told in two timelines 1975 and the present day it goes back and forth. I didn't really like any of the characters but maybe that was the point.

(i) "Who are they –some sort of cult? According to the docuseries I’ve watched, these are found in the backwaters of vast American states, not cosy villages in the English shires." (/i)
Sorrow Spring. A tiny little village on the outskirts of Birmingham, UK with a lot of unfriendly inhabitants and a lot of secrets.

2019 - Cath is on a mission to find her father's long lost sister, a sister who she has only just found out existed after her father's stroke. A sister who she learns was given away, in a village called Sorrow Spring. Why has her father never mentioned Aunt Rina before? And why had her grandmother given her away? And where has she been all these years?
Cath braves the hostile villagers to dig deeper about her aunt Rina's whereabouts, but starts to wish she hadn't when she starts uncovering secrets that aren't meant to come to light.

1978 - Prosperina Fuschia Pine is removed from her commune in the middle of the night and her mum takes her on a car journey to a village in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night. Supposedly only for 2 weeks. The visit starts ominously when the car runs over a cat as they arrive, and a crazed local dives out of the woods at them. Is this a sign of bad things to come? Prosperina could never imagine. The secrets run deep into local folklore here. The legend of St. Faran rules this village, with images etched into the church windows, an annual re-enactment of the events that occurred and villagers that believe that the local spring has healing properties that must be defended at all costs. Prosperina soon learns that there's more to this than just an annual dress up though when she follows her aunt creeping about in the dead of night, wearing silvery robes and meeting with the others in front of the spring... She must get out as soon as possible...

A dual time line runs through this book, which works well in making the reader try to preempt what has happened to Cath in the future.

Full of mystery and folklore, this captures the feeling of those creepy little villages you often encounter in the countryside where everyone knows each other's secrets and outsiders are unwelcome.

What a story! It was scary, weird and seemed to step back into a different century. The residents of this story’s village live by their own rules and no-one leaves once they’ve entered - well, not alive anyway.
It was quite a tale and woven throughout was their belief in an ancient story of sacrifice and healing waters.
I couldn’t put this book down as I was captivated by these strange and seemingly insane villagers and when Cate arrives in search of her aunt, I wanted to scream ‘Run!’
Great read.

This feels a bit of a sleeper book. The blurb sounded interesting enough, but it falls well short of what awaits. It does lean more into the occult than I expected, but as a fan of that I was more than happy, and it managed it while keeping some very good thrilleresque twists. The ancient rites are flavour for the story rather than a crutch it leans, it remains a thriller first and foremost. And the story is strong and enjoyable, but the book truly shines with the characters. They bring such atmosphere to this story! When the big events happens the characters bristle with personality. These are powerful women who could stare down any threat and the writing captures that so well.

A good read for anyone who enjoys strong female characters and some good rituals in hooded robes!

With a bit of a slow start, this book turned out to be a deliciously creepy tale full of omens, strange sisterhoods etc. The atmosphere evoked did indeed give me goosebumps. I very much enjoyed it.

In 1978 Prosperina Fuschia Pine, known as Rina, is dumped by her mother Lily in the village of Sorrow Springs to live with her aged and taciturn Aunt Agatha. It’s a strange place to say the least and Rina is frightened on more than one occasion by what she sees. As she is still quite young and naive much of what she learns is incomprehensible to her.

In 2019 Rina’s niece Cate begins a search for an aunt she knows nothing about. Is her father Emesh confused or does Rina actually exist? What will she discover?

I find this to be slow at the start and it takes a while for me to get into it. What happens to Rina and what Cate learns is interesting, taking the storytelling into strange sisterhood territory, known as The Sistren. There are traditions, omens, rooks aplenty, folklore and more earthly interventions. A strong sense of the sinister does come across which Rina’s Aunt Agatha definitely adds to. For a lot of the plot line there’s a feeling that something dreadful is going to happen and it usually does.

Although I like the premise, I think the novel is way too long and if I’m honest, a certain amount of boredom sets in chiefly because it’s all pretty much the same theme. What I absolutely can’t get my head around is the HUGE amount of dialogue especially in the 1978 timeline. There’s way too much in my opinion. The 2019 narrative flows much better and there’s a good mystery here. As for the ending, well, that’s a rapid turnaround in thinking and I’ll say no more!

Overall, it’s a mixed bag read for me with some good parts where I’m engaged and enjoying it and other sections which drag.

With thanks to NetGalley and especially to HarperCollins for the much appreciated arc in return for an honest review.

Creepy!
Folklore, horror and supernatural all manner of things going on here.
Sorrow Spring sounds lovely but don't go there what ever you do.
Creepy as Creepy can be.

As fine a folk horror tale as I've ever read.

"Sorrow Spring" opens in 2019, with a woman attempting to clear an old house, full of memories, and an old man, mourning the loss of a sister, long gone. Flash back to 1978, when twelve-year-old Rina Pine is taken by her mother from their commune, to the isolated village of Sorrow Spring where she is to live with her aunt Agatha. Rina soon discovers that the village is run by the "sistren" a group of women, headed up by her aunt, whose pagan beliefs are linked to a spring which is said to have healing properties. It also seems Rina's family is revered in the village and she is about to be inducted. But when a child goes missing and a mother is killed, she finds herself drawn into deep and menacing cycle of ages old beliefs, rituals and customs.

For me, the star of the book is the village of Sorrow Spring, isolated, insular and steeped in paganism. The sistren rule it quietly but completely, although it seems their time may be coming to a close. All the key elements are here - the village, deep in rural England, with a big house, a church, with graveyard, and a Moot Hall, where the Sistren meet and the villagers, suspicious and fearful. Rina is completely alone, abandoned, and with only a life in a friendly close-knit commune to sustain her she finds it a cold and frightening place. In the present timeline, things really hot up, as the village seems even more hostile to outsiders than 40 years ago. What happened?

I'm not a fan of dual timeline stories, even though they seem to be the norm nowadays, but it works well enough in this book, and much of the story takes place in the past anyway. As Rina in 1978, and her aunt in 2019 each seek to discover the secrets of Sorrow Spring, the events start to converge, and the climax is worth the wait. There's tension, mystery and a growing sense of the inevitable, as we learn what happened 40 years ago.

This book is a wonderful entry into the folk-horror genre and I'm sure fans will love it. Film-wise, think "Wicker Man", "The Witches" or "Robin Redbreast" and you get a sense of the growing tension and claustrophobia that inhabit each page. The author is from Worcestershire, so clearly understands that part of the country.

Fans of Catherine Clements and Andrew Michael-Hurley's book "The Loney" will love this. Heartily recommended.