I LOVED this. Without doubt the best book I’ve read featuring toxic female friendship since “Girls on Fire” – The Furies is haunting, evocative and sits in your head, that underlying sense of menace and anticipation resonates throughout.

Violet desperately wants friendship, even as she tells herself she doesn’t need it, so when she is befriended by the enigmatic and edgy Robin and drawn into a circle of secrets and lies, she will do anything to protect it. Darkness and obsession, fatal ties and dangerous magic make for an utter page turner of a literary novel, with some beautiful writing and intelligent layered nuance.

The Furies is both observational and insightful, as Violet tells the tale of this fascinating group, of both love and hate, random happiness and sudden horror. Katie Lowe uses cutting edge prose to draw the reader into Violet’s world then doesn’t allow you to look away, it is utterly gripping from the vivid opening to the melancholy finish.

Absolutely excellent.

Highly Recommended.

Gorgeous gothic twisty book that delivered on all its promises for me. Cannot WAIT to see more from this author, love the writing and the atmosphere.

The Secret History meets Girls on Fire meets The Graces.

"It seems that women are doomed to two fates. It is our lot to either be seen as unpredictable and irrational mortals, maligned and repressed by the actions of men; or sacred beings, goddesses of higher realm, among the Fates and Furies."

The Furies is yet another YA novel that focuses on the potential toxicity of female friendships. Quite honestly, those are all my buzzwords and I will devour anything on the topic, no matter how many seemingly similar novels appear on the shelves. This book, however, also had something far more sinister to offer the reader, that appeared in the prologue and framed the narrative with its horrifying imagery. And right from this initial scene of terror I was hooked!

Asides from the interplay involved in teen girl friendships, academic settings are another of my bookish buzzwords. An elite school is erected for these fictional creations that could draw its source from many real-world alternatives. The abundance and the pretension lured me into this world and when this veneer became scratched Lowe exposed the sinister history it tremulously resided upon. The historic abuse of women and the rumoured witchcraft of those females deemed unsavoury is not a new discovery, and yet what Lowe does with this most certainly is. She brings home the image of the witch and lets it rest and grow, unknown and yet right in the heart of the patriarchal regime that once condemned it to the outskirts.

This is a novel ripe with sensual and sexual undertones that tainted every scene with an atmospheric foreboding that disallowed any facet to be taken at face value. The suspense mounts incrementally and ensures the reader is hooked to every word, as myth and history begin to collide with reality. Nothing can be trusted. All will be revealed. And in the wake of this discovery the reader will be left reeling.

Wow! Wow! Wow! It’s only January but I think this is a contender for book of the year, another magical read as the year of the witch being popular in fiction starts to- this is an amazing story of murder and suspicion, of angry women making their voices heard. This was one book I couldn’t put down.

What a fabulously entertaining and addictive novel! I simply couldn't tear myself away from this, and read the whole thing in 2 days. Katie Lowe's writing creates a fantastic atmosphere no matter what she is describing: the setting of a neglected seaside town is inspired, the relationships between the girls are horribly believable. While I did feel things went a bit "over the top" after a certain point and I couldn't *quite* keep suspending my disbelief, I couldn't help loving the book anyway. A great debut, a combination of literary thriller and horror that may also have crossover appeal for older teenage readers.

Thank you for the advanced copy of this. I really enjoyed this, took me back a bit and reminded me a little of the Secret Circle series. Really well written and if you like the film The Craft then you’ll love this book!

A fantastic debut. A gripping story, told with skill.. A work to immerse yourself in, with enough 90s nostalgia and wicked humour peeking through the darkness.