I went into At the Bottom of the Garden expecting a horror novel, but it ended up feeling more like a dark fairy tale with a psychological edge. The writing was beautifully atmospheric, and I enjoyed the eerie, whimsical tone, but it never quite delivered the horror elements I was hoping for.

The story had some intriguing moments, and I appreciated the themes it explored, but it didn’t fully grip me the way I wanted it to. If you’re looking for a haunting, slow-burn mystery with a touch of folklore, this might be for you—but if you’re expecting a true horror, you might be left wanting more.

A decent read, just not quite what I expected! 3 stars.

I think when I first chose this, I was expecting something that was a bit more dark horror related.
Although this wasn’t that, it was still a good solid read.
There were themes of mild horror and fantasy elements throughout the whole book, the character building and development was solid, there was a definite line between the likeable ones and the hated.
It almost had a feeling of a cosy-horror to it, I could imagine it being almost light-hearted at times even if it’s not meant to be. Like horror through a soft focus lens.
Still an enjoyable read, even though not what I was expecting to start with, worth a read.

Camilla Bruce’s At the Bottom of the Garden is a spellbinding blend of Gothic horror, dark fantasy, and psychological drama. With its murderous secrets, witchy adolescents, and a house brimming with ghosts, the novel grips readers in a haunting, claustrophobic atmosphere that will keep them turning pages late into the night.

The story revolves around Clara Woods, a seemingly unremarkable widow with a murderous past hidden beneath the surface of her prim exterior. Her life is upended when she takes in her two orphaned nieces, Lily and Violet, in exchange for a generous inheritance. However, these girls are no ordinary teenagers—they’re untrained witches with abilities that threaten to unravel Clara’s carefully guarded secrets. Lily can sense emotions and lies, while Violet has the chilling ability to see and summon the dead, including Clara’s buried husband at the bottom of the garden.

Bruce excels at crafting complex characters. Clara is not your typical Gothic antiheroine; she is both a victim of circumstance and a ruthless perpetrator, making her a fascinatingly unreliable narrator. Lily and Violet are equally compelling—innocent yet dangerous, wielding their powers with an unpredictability that adds tension to every interaction. The dynamic between the three women forms the emotional core of the story, a twisted web of mistrust, manipulation, and uneasy alliances.

The novel’s setting is a masterpiece of Gothic storytelling. The overgrown garden, filled with decaying flowers and buried secrets, mirrors the house itself, where apparitions linger in the shadows and whispers from the past grow louder. Bruce’s prose is lush and evocative, immersing readers in a world where the boundaries between the living and the dead blur.

The plot unfolds like a dark fairytale, blending themes of greed, betrayal, and the haunting legacy of guilt. As Violet’s abilities grow stronger, Clara’s carefully constructed life begins to crumble, leading to a chilling showdown where past sins come back to demand justice. Bruce keeps readers on edge with expertly paced revelations, balancing moments of quiet dread with bursts of shocking violence.

Fans of Catriona Ward and C.J. Cooke will find much to love in At the Bottom of the Garden. It’s a story about the horrors we bury and the inevitability of their return, wrapped in a mesmerizing Gothic package. Camilla Bruce masterfully combines supernatural elements with the psychological darkness of human nature, creating a tale that is as unsettling as it is unforgettable.

Clara has reached a point in her life where everything is perfect... well, it's almost perfect. She has an excellent house with a lovely garden and a jewellery box full of the sparkliest baubles. What Clara doesn't have, though, is enough money to fulfil her dreams of launching her own jewellery line.

But then, as if fate had heard her, Clara receives news that her estranged and very wealthy brother had died, leaving his two daughters orphaned.

Clara agrees to take in her nieces Violet and Lily by the goodness of her heart... ok, she's absolutely doing it for the money (her heart is a blackened husk that shrivelled up many years ago).

Clara's dastardly plans should have been foolproof, but she overlooked one thing. Her nieces aren't normal children.

When Violet starts seeing a wounded man at the bottom of the garden and other people in Clara's house, Clara's plans come crashing down. No longer are the bodies buried in the gardens a secret. Now, her nieces know of her murderous habits.

Can Clara still get everything her necrotic heart desires?
Can Violet and Lily escape their aunt's clutches to live in freedom?
Will the ghosts of the past be finally laid to rest?


This was a fantastic read that delivered on many levels.

The elements of horror, the folk-like storytelling, the larger-than-life evil aunt, the not-so-innocent nieces, or the cleverly layered facets of death that haunt every part of the story... it all comes together to make for a brilliant read.

The story is told from Clara, Violet, and Lily's points of view, and their unique personalities shine through in the writing.

Clara is an amusing character with her faked politeness and self-absorbedness. She creeps across the pages with the subtlety of Cruella de Vil, and her snarky commentary is amusing.

I enjoyed reading from Violet and Lily's point of view as they navigate the journey from losing their parents to their new lives with Clara. The way they grow and adapt whilst constantly surrounded by death is well-written and tangible.

The ghosts are really great, and I love how they ensured that Clara couldn't hide from her wrongdoings.

I enjoyed this book and definitely look forward to reading more from this author in the future.


*I received an advance reader copy for free, and I'm voluntarily leaving a review*

This is the story of Lily and Violet, two young sisters who lose their parents and are sent to live with their aunt.

It is told from multiple POVs, and I really loved how all three characters had really strong, individual voices, so you knew who was telling the story at any point.

For a book that centres around ghostly hauntings, I did hope it would be more suspenseful. I am a bit of a wimp when it cones to spooky stories at night but had no problems reading this in bed. So if you're looking for scary, this isn't your book.

If, however, you're looking for a well crafted story about sisterhood, sisterly love, and loss with some magic and ghosts sprinkled in, then this is for you.

At the Bottom of the Garden follows sisters Lily (14) and Violet (9) as they are sent to live with their estranged Aunt Clara following the death of their parents. Aunt Clara gets more than she bargained for when Lily can *see* people's emotions and Violet, well, she can see dead people.

The synopsis describes this book as a "dark, Gothic fairy tale" about "untrained witches" which I find to be quite misleading statements. It quickly became apparent to me that this book was neither dark nor Gothic, and I tried, in good faith, to alter my expectations and lean into the book's cheesiness. This book did have some fun scenes but in the end I struggled to decipher if the cheesy writing was intentional or if this book was just *bad*. If you're going to write a silly, cheesy horror then fully commit to that.

I found the first half of this book to be quite enjoyable (once I had accepted this was *not* Gothic), despite the plot being very predictable. I felt my interest waning at the halfway point as the story became more and more repetitive. If you're looking for a book with twists and turns and shocking reveals - this is not the one. I did, however, enjoy the multiple POVs and I thought that Aunt Clara was a great terrible character. In the end, I just felt like the plot was lacking and I wished this book had embraced its (perhaps unintentional?) cheesiness.

Thank you to NetGalley and Oneworld for the opportunity to read this book.

I really enjoyed this book. It follows the lives of 14 years old Lily, 9 year old Violet and their Aunt Clara over the summer period following the deaths of Lily Violet's parents where the girls navigate learning about their powers while trying to protect and free themselves from their murderous Aunt and the 3 ghosts haunting her.

The story is told from the point of view of all 3 main characters, which works well for the most part, only sometimes getting confusing between the 2 girls because they voices are so similar.

While the story started off feeling quite fast paced it did slow down in the second half, going round in circles a few times with Clara using Violet and her powers to make money, Violet getting ill from using her powers in a way they weren't meant to be used and Lily simultaneously helping Violet recover while also unsuccessfully trying to protect her from Clara.

This book is set to be released in the UK on 30th January 2025.

If Disney made a supernatural mystery/thriller!!

The Disney cast: two orphaned children, each possessing a secret power, the evil aunt that takes them in (and oh how wicked she was!), the goodhearted maid, the mysterious ghosts, the animal companions, etc. overall a vibrant array of characters and a dark mystery that comes together and unravels slowly.

While the Disney and fairytale elements were strong, in my opinion, the story was grounded in some pretty dark themes such as childhood traumas, philosophical/existential discussions of death, and my favourite – grey morality and the ambiguity of good and evil. I am a massive sucker for abstract morality explorations and was very happy when, on several occasions, I found myself sympathising with the wicked aunt.

The book is written from the perspectives of the two children (Good) and the wicked aunt (Evil). Add in the whimsical writing style and the result is a unique and gripping story that gets you properly invested at the end.

My only criticism would be that the story/writing style got a bit repetitive, especially the chapters told from the children’s perspective. In fact, there was some character work which unintentionally (I guess?) ended up making the two girls unlikable (e.g. overly arrogant, way too experienced and aware for their age).

Thank you to NetGalley and Del Ray for a digital advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review, At the Bottom of the Garden will be published on January 28, 2025.

Really enjoyed the fantasy and magical elements of this story. The character building was excellent. I truly hated Aunt Clara and felt myself rooting for Lily and Violet to be free of her. Fast-paced and gripping.

A story that is very much like a fairy tale, with Aunt Clara, who resembles a wicked witch, and sisters, Violet and Lily, who very much remind me of Hansel and Gretel, except they are trapped for a time in the witch's house. Whilst this book is not as dark as I'd hoped, and the narrative is often on the cheesy side, it's still an enjoyable read. And it very much fits into the realm of paranormal fairy tale.

There is a whimsical nature to the writing style. It can trap you in it's magic, making you visualise the vibrancy in the scenes, but it can also drop you from the narrative when it becomes bogged in repetition. Such a style can be frustrating, especially when you want to move onto what's happening next, but stick with it. It is worth the wait. I relished the exploration into the supernatural and the injection of moral ambiguity, especially since the latter is shown from the perspective of good and evil, but with the repetitive narrative, as previously mentioned, I can't help but wonder how a story can sometimes be its worst enemy.

On a more human level, the book is also a discussion of death - of how the living think of the dead, and if the dead really do still think about the living. I'm not sure that there is a successful discussion about grief. If there is, it becomes lost in the narrative. But I do applaud the layering in the narrative - the attempt to wind thread on many spindles.

4.5 glorious stars. Oh how wicked Aunt Clara is. I haven’t never hated but loved a character so much. This book is truly such a fun ride. It starts off a bit slow but if you keep with it the excitement that you experience is so much fun. I truly loved the bond between recently orphaned Lily and Violet and how they looked out for each other in such a hard time and with all they had to endure with aunt Clara. It really just shows how in the face of hard times, it is so important to have people who love you and have your back.

Alright, wow. I literally finished reading this book and I’m already writing a review because I am so HAPPY with how good it was. Best Camilla Bruce book.

A little campy, dark, sweet - it’s giving A Series of Unfortunate Events meets We Have Always Lived in the Castle meets The Boxcar Children.

So utterly twisted that I was giddy with how creepy it was!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC and thank you also to Camilla Bruce for writing this story!

Oh wow! This book was twisted, sickening at times and I couldn’t put it down! Such an intense psychological horror!

I read an eARC of this book on NetGalley so thank you to the author and publisher. After reading this book, give me more from this author! This was fantastic!

This book felt reminiscent of A Series of Unfortunate Events but with ghosts. We have orphans going to live with a greedy, unscrupulous and inappropriate relative. We have the familiar yet not quite placeable location, we have the odd names of motels, we have the weird and specific food choices (boiled egg and melon balls everyday). This took what I loved from the series but built out to be something more horrifying, more troublesome.


The triumph of this book is Aunt Clara’s back story and her brutal honesty when describing it. She is quite monstrous and yet we can so clearly see the misfortunes in her life that have driven her to be this way. This was so well done and it made it hard to purely despise her even where her actions were reprehensible.

I loved how the powers of the two girls were presented and the growth they show as they seek to understand this further. This was so fascinating and I really felt for Violet as she sought to soothe the ghosts asking for help and the consequences she suffers as a result.

This book was dark, clever, fascinating and one that was hard to put down!

I thought I would try something different, but unfortunately it didn't work for me .I feel that as this is not my usual genre ,and I seem to not be enjoying horror books anymore ,I am not sure I can give a fair review. I would suggest that if you enjoy this genre than give it a go for yourself.

This was a nice creepy gothic read perfect for winter time. I found the pacing was good while the characters were realistic and the atmosphere was dark and eerie. The story was really interesting and mysterious with elements of the paranormal
This was quite a page turner and I would definitely recommend this

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc

Well this was terrifying. As a lover of horror books this really hit the spot. This gave me the chills and I’m here for it

Fairytale tropes being employed and subverted, a wicked woman seeking her orphaned nieces' inheritance, past evil deeds coming back to haunt her, ghosts, poisoning, animal familiars and all told through 3 distinctive female voices. Dark, playful, extremely enjoyable. I raced through this.