An isolated Scottish community, a place filled with secrets, a bad harvest and the call to war, all combine to make local feelings run high, add into the mix a preserved body found in an ancient peat bog and you have all the right ingredients for a story which is rich in folklore, strong on superstition and thick with jealousy.

It is 1915 when the bulk of the story takes place and though everything seems to run smoothly, it is a place of secrets. Johnny is a charmer, likes a dram or two of whisky, ekes out a living from the land and takes work wherever he finds it, whilst Lizzie Calder lives in the big house, she is married to William, a wealthy local man who signs up as soon as war is declared. On the surface, Johnny and Lizzie have little in common other than a desire to discover more about the peat woman, despite locals thinking that she was once a witch and is therefore the cause of all the misfortune which has recently befallen the village.

Beautifully written, with a sparseness which mimics the bleakness of its setting, this imaginative novel reveals its secrets ever so slowly. Harsh complexities sit alongside hidden nuances so that it becomes impossible to know where the truth lies. Johnny is an unlikely hero and Lizzie an unlikely heroine but their combined stories work so well that days after finishing the novel I’m still blown away by both the story and the characters.

Set in a remote Scottish community during World War I, Greater Sins is a dark and atmospheric tale of secrets, survival, and the past refusing to stay buried.

When Lizzie, the wife of a wealthy landowner, and Johnny, a travelling singer and farmhand, discover a box buried in a peat bog, they uncover the remains of a woman. From that moment, strange things start happening—unexplained footsteps, objects moving on their own, and a growing sense of unease, fuelling the local superstitions. Meanwhile, war looms, with men deciding whether to wait for conscription or enlist of their own free will, while women work the farm fields, collecting moss for bandages.

Lizzie, trapped by societal expectations, struggles under the control of her overbearing sister-in-law, Jane. Meanwhile, Johnny’s past resurfaces when Henry, a new farmhand, arrives—it's clear they share a tense history. As relentless storms threaten crops and hardship tightens its grip, guilt and buried truths come to light.

The story moves between Lizzie and Johnny’s past in 1905 and the present day of 1915, slowly revealing the mysteries that haunt them both. Each flashback drops clues, deepening the tension and hinting at the secrets they desperately want to keep hidden.

A slow-burning, eerie mystery, Greater Sins pulls you into its haunting setting and keeps you hooked until the end. Perfect for fans of historical fiction with a dark edge.

Greater Sins tells the story of Johnny/Jack Nicol and Lizzie Brodie/Calder.

Set in 1915 the discovery of a woman's body in a peat bog begins a series of events that stir up memories of the past. Johnny and Lizzie bring the woman's body back to a farmhouse and begin to make enquiries about how she came to be in the peat. But as time goes on there is a change in the people who work the farms. Fear of the bog woman's influence spreads and seems to be affecting everyone. And the fear spreads violence.

The second timeline in 1905 tells us the histories of Johnny and Lizzie and how they have both wound up on Calder land a decade later.

This is a claustrophobic novel which has several strange twists that I didn't see coming. My feelings about both Johnny and Lizzie changed several times throughout the narrative along with feelings about other peripheral characters.

The characters are all quite nebulous and the story occasionally meanders a little too much but apart from a little wandering it was a great story. Not like anything I've read before. Certainly an author to keep an eye out for.

Thankyou to Netgalley and Doubleday for the advance review copy.

Greater Sins is an atmospheric debut novel by Gabrielle Griffiths. It is set in the Cabrach region, a remote rural community in Northern Scotland, to the west of Aberdeen. The year is 1915, and many young (and some older) men are volunteering to go to war, from rich landowners such as William Calder to farmhands eager to seek glory, adventure or, possibly, an escape from their exhausting, hand-to-mouth existence. In this context of change and upheaval, an ancient woman’s body is discovered in a pet bog, remarkably preserved. This strange discovery brings together an unlikely couple – Elizabeth “Lizzie” Calder, William’s wife, and Johnny Nicol, a nomadic folk singer who has decided to stay awhile and help at a local farm. It is not long before the mysterious figure of the bog woman takes over the superstitious imagination of the villagers, who ascribe to her a series of unfortunate events which befall the community. This will also lead Lizzie and Johnny to a reckoning with their past.

While told in the third person, this novel alternates between the respective perspectives of Elizabeth and Johnny, and also between two timelines – 1905 and 1915. The characters Griffiths creates are complex, nuanced and empathetically portrayed: villains have their redeeming features, the protagonists their foibles and flaws.

The novel’s judicious use of Scots dialect and evocative descriptions give it the mark of authenticity. In fact, Greater Sins is historical fiction firmly rooted in gritty realism. At the same time, it borrows certain tropes from Gothic fiction and folk horror (superstition in a small rural community; a mysterious corpse which might be the source of ill-luck; references to witchcraft and Faustian pacts). The result is a novel which artfully combines a strong feeling of historical time and place, with a fable-like sense of mystery.

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Thank you for this arc!! Absolutely loved how this story unfolded, with the sins of the characters' pasts bleeding into the present. Part of me wishes there was a bit more about the bog body but I also absolutely love the symbolism and how it was used to move the story along.
Really atmospheric gothic read set in a isolated Scottish community

I enjoyed some elements of this book a lot! The mystery intrigued me, and I was curious to see what would happen with the unearthing of the woman in the bog. The lead-up to this unearthing led me to believe this is going to be a super creepy story.
In the end, the creepiness wasn't there for me. I understand that that may not have been the author's goal. There is a dark atmosphere in this book, especially regarding why the woman in the bog was so well preserved and all the things that go wrong in town since her discovery, but something in me just wanted a little bit more.
I was also confused by all the people in the story. There were too many characters mentioned, and the story was a little hard to read due to the Scottish dialect. I'm not Scottish, so the dialogue issue is mine alone. I did have to seek the help of the audio.
The three main men characters all with the name starting with "J" also threw me off. I constantly had to go back to the chapter to figure out who exactly we were talking about.

The writing, however, was beautiful and engaging.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for sending me an ARC for my honest review.

Disclaimer: My Instagram post will be posted soon, while the reading vlog for the book will be posted in a few weeks.

Chilly and creepy, disturbing and twisty: a dark story that kept me enthralled and turning pages. Great storytelling and atmosphere, well plotted characters
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

A chance meeting cracks open a dark past when Lizzie, unloved wife of a local gentleman meets Johnny Nicol, charismatic farm worker with a wandering past.

It is a very dark and disturbing story, set in the backdrop of uninviting scottish hills at the start of the first world war. The discovery of a woman's body, perfectly preserved by the peat bog, brings Lizzie and Johnny together and also stirs up superstition and mistrust from the local farming population.

The novel cuts the present of 1915 with the past of 1905, and events in the past do not stay buried but return to haunt both Lizzie and Johnny as a gruesome and connected story starts to emerge.

Beautifully written, chilling and disturbing, the book is an engrossing read from start to finish.

Greater Sins is a story of repression, misjudged alliances and relationships set in the early 1900s. Finding a woman’s body in the peat bog creates much soul searching for the young wife of a local landowner, away at war. Reflecting on past relationships, she is stuck in a cold marriage and overruled by his sister, who comes to keep an eye on things and run their home. Lizzie is cowed by those around her, repressed and set apart from the superstitious small community. After the gruesome discovery Lizzie, with the help of farmhand Johnny, begins to embrace life and take part in community events, much to the disapproval of her stern sister in law and the community who believe that the body in the bog is an ill omen.

It takes a while to warm to Lizzie, she is so beaten and accepting of her situation that it is hard to connect to her, but once you get enough of her back story she makes more sense. The story then becomes a relationship triangle between Lizzie, her husband William, and Johnny, with secrets from their pasts interconnecting. I thought that the end was rushed, there has been so much interplay to get to the revelation, that it was settled far too quickly. I didn’t understand the hints about the bog woman’s identity, it seemed like an afterthought.
But the story has lots of tension between locals in the small community, travelling labourers, and the landowners at the big house. There is a great sense of suffocation. As the novel ends in 1915, we know what is around the corner; conscription, broken families, women working in new ways and industries. A mixture of despair and hope at what the world will be once the guns have stopped. Perhaps Lizzie will rise to the new world and meet its changes and challenges head on.

In Greater Sins, Gabrielle Griffiths takes us to Moray in northeast Scotland, where the weather is harsh and farming life is hard. With writerly magic she introduces a character in a few lines so well that I feel I know them. Their language is sprinkled with dialect words but not so richly that it seems affected or becomes difficult to read. In a small community everything is seen, sometimes misconstrued. In a time of war, everything is off-kilter; some boys and men are away fighting, others wondering whether they should enlist now or wait to be called up. It doesn’t take much for tongues to start wagging and straightforward explanations to be replaced by paranoia and talk of the devil.
Johnny provides entertainment for the farm workers but they don’t quite see him as one of their own. When someone from his past turns up he’s reminded of things he thought he had forgotten. Lizzie is keen to muck in but the farming folk assume she’s a snob, coming as she does from a well-to-do family in Elgin and married to William in the big house. Even after ten years, he still treats her as beneath him, distant even before he joins up to fight and fails to write home. Affection is absent. If only his sister were too.
I really enjoyed Greater Sins and would recommend it for its great characterisation and sense of place. The language is gorgeous too. Add to that the mystery of just what did happen ten years previously and you’ve got yourself a cracking read.

In 1915 rural Aberdeenshire a woman’s body is found in a peat bog. She is from an age long forgotten but rising fears and tensions soon surface as the locals blame the body for strange occurrences. Unhappy Lizzie finds herself in the midst of the swirling rumours and finger-pointing as she finds a willing partner in Johnny, an itinerant farm hand and stranger to the Cabrach, where the book is set. This is a slow but well-written novel with ratcheting tension and a brooding atmosphere. A good debut novel from Gabrielle Griffiths.

A Scottish historical fiction with quite a gothic and supernatural feel. It covers the stories of Johnny a farm worker and Lizzy from the manor house who's husband had just left to fight in WW1. Both characters find their lives and secrets blown open when they discover an ancient body buried in the peat bog in their remote village.
Superstitions, paranoia and rumours takeover the town, with disastrous consequences. The author cleverly creates a tinderbox atmosphere with residents caught up in the horrors of the first world war, the hardships of trying to keep the farms running and preserving morality at a time of great change.
I found this a slow start but soon found I enjoyed the Scots prose, the turmoil of the characters and the way the story developed especially towards the ending.

This is dark, and slow paced, which is a perfect pace for the story - set in a rural, suspicious, traditional setting where the devil is feared and reputation means everything.

I found this story to be very sad, depressing - but in an enjoyable way if that makes sense. I felt the weight of this book, I felt amongst it, and very connected to the atmosphere.

I liked it, and I didn’t expect it to come together as it did. It’s left me rather sad, but I think maybe that’s the intention.

My thanks to Netgalley and Transworld, Penguin Random House for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

This is a very good story, beautifully told. The landscape is incredibly evocative and helps create the sense of time and space at the start of World War I. The peat moors in this remote part of Scotland are perfect for giving a sense of foreboding, remoteness and superstition. The main characters are perfectly created with depth and sensitivity that you just can’t help but care for them. I loved the way the story gradually comes together as everyone’s secrets are revealed.

The book begins in 1915 but goes back to 1905 to give context. Lizzie falks head over heels in love with James but he ruins her reputation and leaves her in disgrace. He rapidly gets engaged and marrued to a more advantageous partner.
To avoid further disgrace, Lizzie is married off to William who is older than her and both cold and unfeeling.

When William goes off to war along with other men from the area, local farmers are left short handed and reliant on occasional labour from itinerant men.

When Johnny comes to the neighbourhood d, he and Lizzie form a bond despite te their differing backgrounds.

Events take a dark turn when Lizzie finds a body in the local peat bog and superstitions surface. Lizzie and Johnny joim forces to investigate what they believe to be a murder but just what is the secret Johnny is hiding from his past.......

1915 - The Cabrach, Aberdeenshire - when the body of a young girl is found buried, but beautifully preserved, in the peat bog, the camaraderie of a small farming community is torn apart by superstition and heightened imaginations.

Men tomcat around with the women and brag about it, however, for the women with status or their family/father has status, it's all about reputation. Lizzie - wife of a wealthy local landowner currently at war - tries to maintain her status in his absence. But by moving the body with Johnny - charismatic farmhand and singer/storyteller - she's struggling.

As the past slowly drips into the present, the reader is enticed with snippets of backstories until the past catches up, and full knowledge is achieved.

I enjoyed this book very much and, being Scottish myself, adored the occasional use of the Doric vernacular. Do not be put off by this, please. There's nothing you wouldn't understand. This is a wonderfully atmospheric, easy-to-read, authentic, and descriptive DEBUT novel, and I'm so looking forward to reading this author's second book.

I chose to read an ARC of this work, which I voluntarily and honestly read and reviewed. All opinions are my own. My thanks to the author, publishers and NetGalley.

Absolutely loved this book! It's set in a remote Scottish community in 1915 as the men begin enlisting in WW1. Two characters - one, an itinerant worker ignoring pressure to enlist for war, and the other, the bored wife of a rich man - are connected when a body is discovered, preserved in peat. As life in the town gets harder, the locals begin to blame the body, believing she's a witch. Through glimpses into the past, a relationship begins unfolding that will threaten the balance in the village. It's a moving love story, a portrait of three outcasts, and a lovely historical fiction piece. Highly recommend. Thank you for the review copy!

I have so enjoyed this book. It’s a story, set in Scotland at the turn of the 20th Century. I enjoyed the detail of how life was then, for those men who worked the fields from morn to night and without any particular machinery to make life easy. As the story unfolds, we get an insight into how superstition had such a sway on the people of that time. I also loved the frequent use of old Scottish words - even if I didn’t understand most of them! This book is so well written it really conjures up an image of life for those in the story. So many of them have secrets. Secrets they don’t want to share but these things have a way of coming out.
By this time, the Great War has begun and our main character decides to sign up. On the way however, he meets love on the road. Maybe he’ll tarry awhile? Great book. Has a bit of everything. Well worth reading.

Not really a mystery story but ideal for fans of literary character studies in historical settings. The writing is fluent with a good nod to the dialect of rural Aberdeenshire in 1915 but still accessible to a wider readership.
With thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an early copy in exchange for an independent review.
On publication, I will post this review on my blog and GoodReads.

1915 in the Cabrach - an isolated Aberdeenshire community, the women who arte gathering moss find a boxi n a cleft in the peat. Johny, a farmhand leaves the harvest to help the pull it out and they discover that it contains the body of a woman, well preserved by the peat. Lizzy, who found the box, is the wife of the wealthy local landowner,doesn't want to bury the body until she can find out more about who it might be. But then a series of mishaps starts, Heavy rain ruins the harvest. A local boy return from the war, badly wounded and shell-shocked. An event from Johny's past which he had hoped to leave behind, threatens to be exposed. Dark, a superstitious community, and the sins of a past life come together to make a gripping tale.