And He Shall Appear

I am forever searching for The Secret History-esque reads so it’s safe to say that the plot of Kate van der Borgh’s And He Shall Appear enthralled me immediately. And, wow, did it not disappoint. This dark academia novel is exactly that; unsettling, eerie and enchanting. This story consumed me: I felt jittery both whilst reading and whilst itching to get back to it. This trope is done a lot (I would never say over done and I will never get bored of it) but what makes And He Shall Appear a true masterpiece - and it is - is that it is uniquely different, both through its particular story, and some genre weaving, but also by van der Borgh’s ability to explore through our unnamed narrators own obsession, why we (I know it’s not just me!) are so obsessed with these types of stories. Privilege, class and education are explored along with jealously, obsession and relationships. The ending was superb: twist upon twist, none of which I had completely foreseen, and although quite sad, honestly, it felt very right. I know I read this in August but it will make the perfect autumnal read. And He Shall Appear is mesmerising, chilling and compulsive: a book that had me reading til the early hours whilst simultaneously never wanting it to end; devouring every word, rereading whole parts, all to ensure I’d understood the meaning, felt the moment and truly taken everything I could from this. 5 stars gladly given - loved.

I enjoyed this book, in spite of many of the characters being complete clichés. The storyline is compelling, and the author conjures up the very unreal world of university life very well. There are obvious comparisons with The Secret History, and this book isn't quite as brilliant as Donna Tartt's masterpiece, but it is still a very good read, and one I will definitely recommend.

I love a good dark academia read! And He Shall Appear has the perfect blend of magic, mystery, and macabre. There’s the ancient, ivy-covered Cambridge University … the gloomy weather and the eerie ambiance.. shadowy corridors .. dimly lit spaces and hidden dangers. The characters themselves are well-developed, and have relatable struggles.

The story follows the unnamed narrator/ protagonist who becomes fascinated/obsessed with Bryn and his magical talents. He goes out of his way to be closer to Bryn and gain his approval. However, as the story progresses, the darker side of Bryn’s character emerges - his manipulative and sinister side. As such, our protagonist begins to question his own reality and mental state until he has to decide whether to break free from Bryn’s influence or risk losing himself entirely.
The perfect read for a gloomy weekend.

Our narrator arrives at a Cambridge College to study music. He is from a Northern Comprehensive and he finds it quite difficult to settle and make friends. Life generally is so different when compared with life back home with family and friends around. In Hall there are a number of students who either went to the same, or similar ( boarding) schools.. Their general demeanour,, language and accents coupled with their air of self confidence had little regard for might be thought of as normal.. Happy to challenge College rules with some only attending lectures as and when it suited them etc.. Bryan Cavendish was their natural leader and he dictated whether you could join them or not. The rest were very much followers. Out of favour one might simply be dropped or driven out through unhappiness.
Bryn was a magician, a skill acquired from his father., and happy when seemingly finding an egg in one’s ear.. But other tricks or deceptions could be more sinister where the butt of the joke fell on one of the group or a passing outsider. Life moved on until one fateful day when the bodies of Bryn and his then current girl friend were found under the bell tower. Learning how and why requires you to read the book. Similarly, to find out what happened post University ….. although the book’s title “And He Shall Appear” provides a clue.

This is a goo, well constructed, book particularly if you are into “ young people noir” The characters and their interactions are so well written you can imagine you were there observing it all.

Recommended.

And He Shall Appear by Kate van der Borgh is a haunting and intricate debut that blends dark academia with an unsettling supernatural twist. The story follows a young man who arrives in Cambridge for his first year, immediately feeling like an outsider. While his peers seem well-versed in the traditions of punting, politics, and parties, he struggles to find his place. That is until he meets Bryn Cavendish.

Bryn is a captivating figure – notorious for his wild partying and impressive magical abilities. To be within his orbit is to escape the confines of ordinary university life, basking in a haze of ecstasy and rule-breaking. But to be excluded from his inner circle means a life of haunting isolation on the fringes of campus life.

As the academic year progresses, Bryn's magic tricks take on a more sinister tone, and the narrator begins to question whether Bryn's influence stems purely from his charm or if something darker is at play. Is his power fuelled by charisma alone, or has he tapped into something far more dangerous?

This book is a deeply atmospheric and eerie exploration of obsessive friendship, shrouded in mystery, magic, and gothic undertones. The layering of reality with a ghostly, dream-like quality makes for an intoxicating and perplexing read. It's ideal for lovers of dark academia, with its occult elements and an ominous sense of foreboding.

For those who enjoy creeping into the shadowy corners of the human mind, and exploring themes of power and obsession, this book is tailor-made. However, be warned – it delves into occult practices and devil worship, which may not appeal to every reader. If that's your kind of unsettling thrill, And He Shall Appear will certainly not disappoint.

Read more at The Secret Bookreview.

Something of a strange mix of the desperation of one young man to fit in at university and the darker side of the man he worships, slipping into the occult.
The unnamed narrator of the story is desperate to become part of the popular group and to escape his Northern roots, ditching true friends and risking his degree along the way to achieve his goal The object of his desire is Bryn, a magicians son whose privileged upbringing and louche attitude make him mysterious and desirable, evidenced by his group of hangers-on.
Touching on the already strange academic world of Oxbridge and college life, the story is steeped in dark magic, alcohol and drugs.
I could completely empathise with the desperate desire to fit in, all whilst changing and molding yourself to the person you wish you were rather than the person you really are and the narrators desperation to be "cool" cringed its way off the pages as the story moved from present, where he is returning to college as an adult for a special occasion and the past, covering his 3 years of study.
An intriguing and excellent read.

And He Shall Appear
by Kate van der Borgh
Pub Date: Jan 16 2025

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Awesome Book!!

In the hallowed halls of Cambridge, a dangerous obsession takes hold…

When a young man arrives in Cambridge as a first-year student, he finds himself an outsider. There’s the punting and the politics, the wine and the waistcoats, all seemingly familiar to everyone but him. Then he falls under the spell of Bryn Cavendish.

A notorious party boy and skilled magician, Bryn is magnetic. To be in his circle is to revel in clouds of ecstasy, untouched by the rules. To be exiled from it is to haunt the peripheries of campus life like a ghost.

As the academic year intensifies and Bryn’s magic tricks become more sinister, one question lingers. Is Bryn’s charisma the source of his influence or does he wield a much darker and more dangerous power?

This was everything I wished for and more. The subtlety and elegance of this novel is otherworldly. This might be in par with the Secret History and that is saying a LOT coming from someone with it as a favorite novel of all time. Perfect read really, this book reminded me of why I love dark academia and reading once more. 5 stars, and a half!!

The unnamed narrator in Kate van der Borgh’s debut novel And He Shall Appear is a music teacher and choir director who returns to Cambridge University, where he was a student in the early aughts, after being invited to be one of the judges in auditions for a music scholarship. The scholarship has been set up by Frances Cavendish in memory of her son Bryn, one of the narrator’s classmates at University. Unlike the narrator, who came from a working class background, and whose northern accent immediately marked him as an uneasy outsider, Bryn was wealthy and had the right connections, making him one of the most glamorous students around. Darkly charismatic, Bryn also knew how to be the soul of every party, delighting and spooking his coterie of admirers with impressive and inexplicable magic tricks. Through a shared musical connection, the narrator becomes an unlikely member of Bryn’s circle of friends. His initial unqualified admiration for his larger-than-life companion dampens when he starts to suspect that Bryn’s magic is much more than a party piece. There are clues that Bryn is dabbling in the occult, and using it to wreak revenge on those who stand in his way. Dark things happen wherever he goes, and whoever crosses him ends up haunted and cast aside. The narrator’s present-day visit to his old university brings back recollections of the ultimately tragic events of the time, and awakens harrowing ghosts which may have better been left undisturbed. Defeating death might be Bryn’s ultimate sorcery…

I had first come across Kate van der Borgh’s fiction through The Fiction Desk, a journal that had published two of her well-crafted short stories. While those pieces had an understated realism, her first novel is a work of supernatural fiction – an atmospheric ghost story with a decidedly “dark academia” aesthetic. And He Shall Appear delivers all the thrills one would expect of the genre. It starts off with a bang with a really unsettling scene, and there are plenty of nail-biting passages before the sleight of hand of its final part. The narrative is satisfying, even though, as in the best ghost stories, it does not provide neat answers and there is, throughout, an underlying ambiguity as to whether the supernatural trappings are all in the narrator’s mind. The campus setting – Cambridge around 2001 – is lovingly recreated, inspired as it is by the author’s own experiences as a music student at the University.

Beyond the tropes of the genre, which it uses to great effect, the novel also provides thoughtful social and psychological commentary. Through the contrast between the self-assurance of Bryn and the narrator’s self-effacement, van der Borgh highlights the remnants of a class system that still makes itself felt in contemporary society, including in tertiary education. As the author points out in her introduction, some students seem to have all the right connections. “Privilege” is, in itself, a kind of sorcery, which allows “people from certain backgrounds to move through the world differently”.

In this respect, the novel is also a psychological study of a student who, because of his inferiority complex, seems ready to metaphorically sell his soul to the devilish “Bryn Cavendish” in exchange for acceptance and glamour. I liked the smart touch of having the narrator “unnamed”, as if he has given up his own personality. More than that, in two instances in the novel, Bryn gets to give the narrator an invented name. The act of “naming” suggests “ownership”, and there is a poignant symbolism behind Bryn “taking possession” of the narrator. (which, the narrator suspects, he might literally be doing through occult practices).

One of the special things about this novel is that it is haunted by music. Music shapes the plot – it is what brings the narrator, and Bryn (and other key characters) together. It lends authenticity to the voice of the musician-narrator, who often resorts to musical metaphors to express himself. The musical references also provide an oblique counterpoint to the story. Thus, for instance, the recurring figure of Peter Warlock (1894-1930), a favourite composer of the narrator’s, is a particularly apt choice. Warlock famously dabbled in the occult and shocked more conservative friends with his debauched lifestyle. He stands in for Bryn, of course, but also, in a way, represents the insecurities of the narrator (“Peter Warlock” was a pseudonym for the decidedly more mundane “Philip Heseltine). The narrator’s choir, “Voices from Before”, specialises in English music of the early twentieth Century, repertoire which evokes an idea of a lost idyll, shattered by the tragedies of war. There are references to Shostakovich – who himself lived through a reign of terror (albeit, unlike our narrator, not of a “supernatural” kind). And it certainly cannot be a coincidence that the song which Bryn and the narrator perform together is Butterworth’s Is my Team Ploughing, which sets a Housman poem featuring a conversation between the ghost of a man and his friend, who is still alive.

And He Shall Appear is an assured debut which can be enjoyed at so many levels. Full review, including link to Spotify playlist at:

https://endsoftheword.blogspot.com/2024/04/and-he-shall-appear-kate-van-der-borgh.html

And He Shall Appear tells the story of a working class Northern lad arriving at Cambridge University at the beginning of the century and feeling very much an outsider. While he has down to earth friends he comes under the spell of the mercurial Bryn Cavendish and his coterie of hangers-on and admirers. Cavendish revels in his mad, bad and dangerous to know image and likes to throw wild parties where he likes to delight, and sometimes terrify, his fellow students with magic tricks.
After working his way into Cavendish's inner circle the unnamed narrator sees a much darker side to his hero and his magic tricks as the public face of something more malevolent.
Many years later he returns to Cambridge and the ghosts of his University Days ,looking for answers to questions that have haunted him ever since.

This is a very clever , involving ,and ultimately moving, book. It's about class,privilege, wanting to fit in and memory. It's not entirely clear what genre the book is until the end, "Dark Academia" doesn't do it justice, when a clever ending reveals all..........and blows all of the reader's perceptions out of the water.

This book had a great plot with intriguing characters. I’ll definitely be looking out for more from this author.

With thanks to Netgalley and Fourth Estate for the arc.
This ticked all the boxes for me, I absolutely loved it and devoured it from beginning to end.
Set in Cambridge, this is the story of young musician from a working class background and his obsessive attempts to befriend a group of charismatic, privileged (entitled) wealthy students.
It’s hard to believe that this is Kate van der Borgh’s debut novel as she writes with such a sure hand, weaving a gripping narrative that includes elements of the supernatural, psychological thriller and dark academia over a dual timeline.
If you enjoyed Donna Tartt’s The Secret History, S.T. Gibson’s Evocation and Saltburn, then you will love this book.

"It was beautiful and horrible all at once."

Thank you 4th estate for asking me to review this book! When the request landed in my inbox I knew I was in for a treat.

I read it almost exclusively late at night by my fake oil lamp which was perfect. Reading it felt like walking down a familiar road late at night, when before you know it a fog has rolled in and someone might be following you and also it might not be human and can you hear that scratching sound?

This book is about so many things:

Fear, love, ghosts, grief, music, friendship, obsession, the occult, memory, class, academia, magic.

It's quickly become one of my favourites of the year and I'm in awe of how beautifully it's crafted. This made me FEEL THINGS !!

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Out: 16th January 2025

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When I tell you I RAVED about this book as I was reading it to anyone who would listen, I'm not exaggerating.

Looking beyond this incredible title and cover and there exists the most incredible first chapter I've ever read. It was so instantly terrifying and unnerving that my instincts told me to put it down, but the writing style had its hooks in me from the first description and wasn't going to let me go. Thank god it didn't.

The familiar imagery of a working class northern household was so clear on the page before class was even mentioned. The description was so vivid and so concise. Sharp observations that immediately stick the picture in your brain. It's the kind of writing style I wish I had. Then the contrast to the rich world our narrator is transported to is so clear.

The masterpiece of this novel is the horror. So subtle and perfect, it feels like a delicate thread holding all the themes together. It perfectly captures the all too familiar and unique terror of not belonging.

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I could compare it to If We Were Villains (another fave), I could say it's everything that Saltburn fell short of, I could use "dark academia" buzz words, but this story is in a whole new genre of its own.

10/10 can't wait to read again when it comes out next year

The unnamed male narrator has been musical from birth, his talents securing him a place at Cambridge around the turn of the millennium. A state school attendee, he arrives from a small northern town, the gifted proverbial fish out of water. Maybe this is a chance for reinvention though perhaps Cambridge will put him in his place as he doesn’t really understand the rules, the routines and the game playing. A few weeks in he becomes riveted by the enigmatic, charismatic and magnetic Bryn Cavendish into whose orbit he is lured, charmed, mesmerised and probably bewitched. Bryn is at the centre of the Cambridge universe, a modern day Sun King around whom many orbit. Bryn is from a wealthy background and at the heart of every Cambridge function at which he often performs magic tricks. As the narrator gets deeper and deeper into Bryn’s world, an obsessive feverish friendship develops. Has he given his soul to the devil? Has fate brought them together and what will fate have in store as two worlds collide. The story is told in dual timelines, from the Cambridge days and in the present day which flows as organically as the River Cam.

This is a stunning haunting debut novel which is so powerful with several layers to the storytelling. I love the dark academia trope so this is tailor made for me. It’s perplexing, intriguing and has me in its thrall from beginning to end. It’s a fantastical novel of obsessive friendship, steeped in magic and mystery with a strong ghostly gothic element with a dream like or even nightmarish quality. It has me puzzling and questioning what is real and what is illusion or even delusion but maybe potentially both. The storytelling is vivid, there are moments of high tension, some scenes are electric and for much of the narrative there’s an unsettling, off kilter sensation. It’s all consuming and mesmerising, at times it’s horrifying and certainly haunting and at others it’s sad and tragic.

As well as the dynamic between Bryn and his circle and the narrator there are so many other noteworthy aspects that form the novel. There’s the juxtaposition of the privileged like those surrounding Bryn versus our narrators background and that of his true friend, Tim. There’s a strong musical element too which gives it a very different vibe from other novels in this genre. The narrator’s obsession with the mysterious Peter Warlock is a touch of brilliant as it works so well alongside the unfolding drama between the two young men. Wrapped around the whole is a superb atmosphere, it positively drips with it. There’s not only that of Cambridge itself which provides colour, unease and danger but there’s an ever present elusive ghostly creepiness. In addition, the characterisation is exemplary although some are far from likeable.

Overall, I’m sure this will be one of my books of the year. It gives me so much to think about as it builds to an excellent ending where all the emotions are on display from love to jealousy to guilt. I will continue to reflect on what are true recollections and accurate memories and what are distorted for whatever reason. It’s beautifully written and I’m in awe of what the author has achieved in this stunning debut.

I really like the cover too.

With thanks to NetGalley and especially to 4th Estate for The much appreciated arc in return for an honest review.

The Scret History meets Saltburm in this powerful twist on the dark academia genre.

Its themes of obsession, jealousy, dark magic, abandonment and class are deftly explored.. Meticulous plotting throws up surprising twists. The prose is gloriously accomplished. But what shines is the depth of characterisation that makes the story feel authentic and tense and keeps readers hooked to the storyline.

A masterpiece of writing and a brilliant addition to the genre that is surely set to become a bestseller.

A dark compelling read!

The Secret History meets If We Were Villians. Having never read If We Were Villians I only had The Secret History to go by which I had mixed feelings about.

Do I dare say I enjoyed this more than The Secret History? The first quarter of this book was slow but for what it built into it was worth it. It had a dark creepy feeling throughout that left me uneasy especially when reading at night. While the chapters are long it didn't seem to be an issue with this book as I felt some kind of pull to keep reading. A brilliant debut novel I look forward to reading more by this author.

I do love a good dark academia tale but this book is just so much more. It has great depth that is not usual in this type of novel. It was really immersive. More please ......