Member Reviews
I am a big fan of Andrew Michael Hurley. I love the way he can capture the atmosphere of a place. It is my fault that I grasped the chance to read this book based purely on the author. I didn't realise that it was a collection of short stories about Barrowbeck. I wanted more of a connection between the tales as well as just the setting. Some of the stories were pretty weird. This book didn't live up to my expectations but that is no reflection on the authors writing. Thanks to Netgalley & the publisher for letting me read & review this book.
I've met Andrew Michael Hurley back in 2016 when he was launching his debut novel The Loney at John Rylands Library in Manchester. He came across as such a gentle and patient person, curious and supportive of others. But what really impressed me back then was his deep knowledge of the local land/place he comes from. And that really comes to life in Barrowbeck too. It's that knowledge that really inhabits each and every story. He knows the land, he knows the struggle of living on this hard and unyielding land, he knows the people, he knows their fears and hopes, he knows their beliefs and superstitions and he pours all that in this collection, gluing the stories together in a truly marvellous way!
There wasn't much in the way of entertainment in Barrowbeck. But I began to see that living there was all about distraction, warding something off, evading something, and that I'd been doing it myself without realising it. [loc. 2053]
Barrowbeck is a village somewhere on the Lancashire/Yorkshire border: a river runs through it, and the fells enclose and overshadow the houses. It is not the kind of place that attracts tourists. Barrowbeck is a series of thirteen stories, vignettes of life from the founding of the village (by refugees from a violent invasion) to floods and collapse in 2049. I suspect that the germ of the stories can be found in the shaman's pronouncement in the first tale: "All this would be theirs. The gods wanted nothing in return. Only that the valley-folk should always remember that they were custodians here. No. Servants.' [loc. 253]
And yet, after that ominous beginning, the events of the stories are not especially horrific. There's a stranger who's blamed for bringing ill luck to the village, a girl who may be possessed by something in the river, the ghosts of the fallen raising their voices in Easter hymns after World War I... Each story stands alone, unconnected to other characters or phenomena, and each has a unique ambience. Barrowbeck is very definitely folk horror, the horror of ... well, of folk: of people whose motivations are obscure and perhaps unnatural, of the times when the villagers' moods coalesce into a single urge, of the sense of some terrible power at the edge of vision.
I did enjoy Barrowbeck: Hurley's style is subtle and flexible. But, having read the author's three previous novels (The Loney, Devil's Day and Starve Acre), I'd expected more overt horror. Perhaps the real horror is most evident in the last couple of stories: the irreversible effects of the climate catastrophe, the world we will have lost.
Many of these stories appeared, in somewhat different forms, in the BBC Radio 4 series Voices in the Valley. I'm planning to listen to them soon.
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the advance review copy, in exchange for this full honest review. UK Publication Date is 24 OCT 2024.
Another interesting book from this author, full of folk horror and creepy tales. The 13 short stories all take place in the village of Barrowbeck, which is really the main character in the book. Starting in Viking times they culminate in 2041 with an environmental horror story and warning.
A well written collection ideal for dipping into on winter nights by the fire!
Thank you to netgalley and John Murray press for an advance copy of this book
This is yet another fantastic tale by one of my favourite authors! I was totally gripped from start to finish and found it to be very original too! Even when I wasn’t reading it I was thinking about it! Mr Hurley never fails to Deliver a fantastic story!
I have been a fan of Andrew Michael Hurley since I first read The Loney. His writing is fantastic: there's always a mournful, tense vibe that takes you right to the setting of the book, with dark, quirky and unpredictable characters.
Barrowbeck contains all this.
A series of stories linked by a valley on the Yorkshire/Lancashire border, we are taken through snapshots of the place over various timelines. Some stories I thought I recognised as I had listened to a version of them some time ago on BBC Sounds, so that was a little confusing, and a couple of the stories I felt dragged a little and seemed out of place.
However, the cherry on the cake was the brilliant final story, set in the future, telling of apocalyptic scenes of climate change in the valley of Barrowbeck. Haunting and thought-provoking - I will definitely read it again.
Thanks to NetGalley for a free ecopy in exchange for an honest review.
3.5 rounded up to 4
This was my first book by this author and I really liked the writing style, very evocative and articulated.
This is a collection of short stories taking place in Barrowbeck, a fictional place in the north of England, from the Vikings era into the future. To be completely honest, I'm not sure I fully understood the book; its meaning probably went way over my head. The 'main character' seem to be the village, however I found I never actually 'felt' it. The stories certainly had unsettling, eerie themes but to me they all felt incomplete and left me wanting more. Just when I was starting getting my head around what was happening (and started to be invested) the story would end. I just wish they had more closure.
All in all, this was an interesting, spooky read, but one that left me a bit frustrated, wanting for more.
Thank you NetGalley and John Murray press for an arc of the book in exchange for an honest review.
This book’s main character is the village of Barrowback. It is a compilation of short stories written over time that gives you a snapshot of the people living there in different eras. I did enjoy the writing as I am a fan of this author but I wasn’t a fan of the style of this book as I felt that I wanted more from each story than I was given as I didn’t think it necessarily flowed between generations.
I am in two minds as to how much I like this book. I requested an ARC of it to review as I was interested by the fictional location of Barrowbeck - an isolated village on the Yorkshire/Lancashire border. This is a loved and familiar area to me from childhood. I have mixed feelings on the thirteen short stories within Barrowbeck. The first one is not dated but written as though it were in the Viking era or even earlier with mythological characters. The next twelve stories move forward in age from 1792 to 2041. All have a connection with the land in and around Barrowbeck, some more so that others.
Some of the short stories are spooky and atmospheric while others are macabre and bordering on horror. I say 'bordering on' as I hate the horror genre of books and films but I didn't feel any of these stories was too full of horror to disturb me.
I found the ending of some stories a little abrupt and I wanted to know more. My favourites were After the Fair, An Afternoon of Cake and Lemonade and Sisters. I found Natural Remedies the weirdest but the ending of Sisters has stuck with me as actually I wanted to do more about what was really happening and also a few months on from the ending. I liked the premise in Autumn Pastoral where Mr Elm has left his house and art collection to Miss Oswald despite their not having been together for 20 years. She's lumbered with a house and art collection that is hard to sell as Mr Elm has done this out of spite. An interesting read.
Some of the stories are rather poignant such as Hymns for Easter where choir members hear their departed friends sing and A Celestial Event where Bill is not acknowledging the death of his beloved Gracie only two days before. The premise of The Haven seemed to have a loose biblical theme where people, who are in some sort of rehab unit after being in prison, are not allowed to eat the apples they are harvesting. Anyone who does is swiftly and harshly judged by the Master. Everyone would like to see the Master but not be punished so they are all hoping someone else will eat the apples so they can see the Master. Strange but interesting. Similarly, Covenant had a biblical theme of grace and caring with a doctor insisting on helping the poorest people in society who other ignore for whatever reason. Another one with a strange but thought provoking ending.
My initial rating of 3 stars is being increased to 4 as, while not enjoying the book initially, I did get more gripped and some of these stories are still running around my head with a wish to know more or even know what others made of them. This would be a good book for a book group to discuss.
Since all are based in Barrowbeck I did sometimes wonder if I was missing some connections between the stories and maybe characters from some stories re-occurr in later ones.. The last story, A Valediction, is set in 2041 when the village is permanently flooded due to the effects of climate changes and man's poor stewardship of the earth. It's quite chilling and maybe a little too close to a possible near future reality making for disturbed reading.
The writing of this author is great and I thank NetGalley and John Murray Press for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Barrowbeck - a place in the fells, a place of worship and dark shadows, a place with history - but whose history? Hurley main character seems to be Barrowbeck but we never really develop a feeling for the place. He tells the story of how it was discovered (really maybe more "given" to the people) and the people tied to the land. Sometimes, the episodes feel fleshed out, but many remain not only unsolved but somehow incomplete. More often than not I was dying to know how this particular story would enfold, but then on the next page a time jump again - and the reader is presented with another idea of a spooky, folk horror short story. I would like to read *all* the stories fully developed! I did enjoy the jump to the future, where the folk horror is deftly connected to climate change fiction. More of that!
Another slice of folk horror from Andrew Michael Hurley which was as compelling as it was unsettling. As a collection of short stories, this is perfect to dip in and out, and while some have more impact than others, the whole pulls together as a fascinating study of human nature.
The stories start with the founding of Barrowbeck by villagers fleeing from Vikings and its end 2,000 years later in 2041 with the village permanently under water.
The essence of folk horror is the place and its history combined with nature and death. Not all of the stories in this collection would be classed as this, with some just dealing with human nature in different situations, be it loss or comfort.
‘The Strangest Case’ is a classic of possession and unsettling ancient evil.
‘After the Fair’ is a Ray Bradbury-like tale about a travelling circus that entertains the children of the village with tiny animals, which they get to take home. A “doctor” comes along to convince the grown-ups that the circus has pumped hallucinogenics into their children and with a cruel cure, removes the “enchantment” from them; the parents are eager to have their children more passive and conforming to their wishes. The story could have been an allegory, speaking to me about drag story times / the banning of books and the disapproving parents who remove their children or the books from the library.
‘Autumn Pastoral’ was the closest to a folk horror story, with a more in depth description of the village and its surrounds and a creepy, twisted ending.
Interestingly the use of nature as an element was left to the last story and it didn’t use anything from the imagination. Instead it used the impending, scary results of climate change as an apocalyptic ending to Barrowbeck as it is submerged under the increasing rainfall.
Overall an interesting departure and development of Hurley’s work as he tries out different approaches in this collection.
Phenomenal, as always. Hurley is my auto-buy authorand the King of dread, and this was no different. Atmospheric, with beautiful prose which somehow never feels as heavy as the subject matter. Highly recommend this new offering from Andrew Michael Hurley.
I’m new to the works of Hurley and light horror isn’t my usual genre. That said, I was blown away by these tales. Essentially a series of shorts set from the distant past to the near future, the common link being the little village of Barrowbeck. It’s no mean feat to create tension and dread in each short story. Fear is emotive and deep seated in us all. But it takes skill to tap into that and produce a reaction through reading alone. My pulse rate raised more than once and there are some genuine heart thumping moments. This is a spine tingler and ideal for dark nights leading to Halloween.
This was a really unusual, intriguing read, I can't be 100% sure I understood what was going on, or necessarily enjoyed it, but I think I will remember it. I did like the last chapter sort of climate change future
This is a book of short stories that are centred around the fictional Barrowbeck. The stories range from whimsical, historical and also from the future.
I enjoyed the range of stories, I did find that with short stories there are some I like more than others, and this collection was no exception. I enjoyed them all on the whole but occasionally felt that just as they were getting into the most interesting part, they ended.
Some are more towards the horror, nothing grotesque or toe-curlingly bad, but as I mentioned earlier, more whimsical. It is an interesting selection of themes and topics.
This is the first time I have read anything by this author and I will look for other books and stories. If you are looking for a story collection then this one may be something you would be interested in. I would recommend it.
Collection of short stories across the millennia about place. 3.5 rating, raised
This did not quite work for me, although the stories are interesting. My expectations were driven by Hurley’s magnificent first and third novels, The Loney and Starve Acre, where he skilfully winds up tension to incredible effect. I’d had the same sort of ‘not quite’ reaction to these short stories, as I had to his second novel, Devil’s Day
There is in this short story collection – as in all Hurley’s writing – a very palpable and visceral engagement with place, and the power, historical and geographical which might be felt within a landscape itself. So, if you like, the oppressive, cut off and I believe imaginary, isolated valley on the Yorkshire Lancashire borders (though there is a Cumbrian Barrow Beck) is the character linking all stories.
The first story details a violent Viking invasion of another area. The survivors, including their shamans flee to a distant, bleak, isolated area, to resettle their community. This is Barrowbeck. The land has some malevolence, something mythic, horrific, creepy within it, or maybe that is just what human settlers and our often dark, violent shadow sides have brought to a place, corrupting it. Each story takes a leap into some later time, with the gaps between the centuries shortening, the closer we come to the twentieth, and then the twenty first century
The last story ends in the near future, and is particularly powerful and meaningful as it is possibly increasingly prescient about climate change
I think the concept here was originally a series of 10 short stories by Hurley created for radio, read by different actors, broadcast back in 2022 by the BBC, under the title Voices In The Valley. I assume that the last, futuristic stories are new
I have raised my 3.5 rating, because had I not read Hurley’s prior novels (particularly the first and third) I would not have been expecting this progression of mounting tension across a novel, and would not, therefore, have missed the kind of dynamic to be found in a longer work.
I really enjoyed this author's 2014 debut "The Loney", so I was excited to see this new novel on Netgalley.
From the blurb, I assumed it *was* a novel - but it's a collection of thirteen short stories, each one taking place in a different year some time between the Viking invasion of England and the year 2041.
All stories take place in the village of Barrowbeck - a bleak, remote valley in the North of England. We begin at the beginning - with the Vikings settling in the valley. From there, we follow their descendants through to the present day and into the future.
I found some stories easier to read than others - I struggled with the vagueness of some. In saying that, while I was looking back on my notes to see which ones I preferred, I realised that I enjoyed them all, despite not having a clue what was happening at times. There are elements of the supernatural (a woman growing babies in her garden for childless couples, a clown handing out miniature animals that move, a ghost choir made up of dead soldiers) but the best parts of the stories are in the human elements.
I really wish some of them were longer - in particular, the last few. I would just be getting really into a story and then it would end (usually quite ambiguously). The writing is beautiful, very descriptive, and I think fans of his other work will enjoy the way the stories flow.
I felt that the main theme was how we treat each other and the land we live on - if we're not good to it, why should it be good to us? But I could be way off, considering the themes of some.
It's definitely not horror, but some of the stories are quite dark.
It's one I had to sit with, but I did end up liking it.
For centuries, the inhabitants of Barrowbeck, a remote valley on the Yorkshire-Lancashire border, have lived uneasily with forces beyond their reckoning. They raise their families, work the land, and do their best to welcome those who come seeking respite. But there is a darkness that runs through the village as persistently as the river.
I struggled with this book. I found the language difficult and it failed to draw me in. I didn’t finish it as, for me, it was heavy going and not the read I expected.
Barrowbeck is a small remote village where the inhabitants work the land, giving this a Folk Horror feel. It is a collection of tales told in different timelines about the history of the village and the people who lived there. It's an interesting and creepy book, with something mysterious and dark at the heart of this small village that troubles the villagers. Very good and unsettling read, and a suitably dark cover to accompany it.