Atmospheric and tense, this book follows Norah as she leaves Glasgow in the late 19th century for Corrain House in the far north east of Scotland. Her purpose is to marry Lord Barland - a man she has never met before, but who held the majority of her late father's debt. Used to the noise and gossip of the city, she knows it will take time to adjust to her remote and austere home, with superstitious villagers and desolate surroundings.

But her new husband is remote and vague, despite the friendship they had struck up over correspondence before the marriage was agreed. She can't make out if the housekeeper, Agnes, wants her there. The house is forbidding. And she starts having disturbing dreams...

Gothic horror isn't a genre I turn to often, but this book is very readable and once I'd started I'd often do 'one more chapter' when I should have been putting it down. The undercurrent of dread as Norah becomes more sure something is wrong gradually cranks up the tension, and her relationship with Agnes is well drawn. I could almost smell the misty landscape and dark, damp house as I read. The ending felt a little rushed, but it might just have been that I wanted to spend more time with the characters.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

'The Needfire' is a fabulously gothic tale that reminded me strongly of 'Rebecca' by Daphne du Maurier. I don't think I can give greater praise than that!
Set in the remote wilds of Scotland, the story follows Norah, a woman with a secret in her past who is desperate to escape from the confines of society. But marriage is a trap, her new home a crumbling cage, and her haunted heart is burning with a longing she can barely name.
It's always a dream to read a beautifully written and well-crafted novel, as it forces me to slow down and savour every word. This one is definitely worth taking the time over.

This was an absolutely phenomenal read - it belongs with the great classics of Gothic Horror. The atmosphere was chilling and tense, the mystery had me intrigued and eagerly reading to see what would happen next, the characters were complex and interesting, and the setting was hauntingly beautiful. I cannot praise this book enough. And on top of all that, we get a dynamic and gripping queer relationship! This was absolutely fantastic, if I could give it more than 5 stars I would.

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

Deeply atmospheric, this story lingered in my mind.

A woman arrives at a desolate piece of Scotland to marry a man she's never met. Fleeing a past and pain she can't bring herself to consider, she welcomes this chance to start again. To build something, but in the wildness of her new land, her new house, her new relationships, she finds nothing is as it seems or she expects.

There is a deliberate slowness to the build up, a skilled luxury that allows the tension to creep in, slowly but surely. Just like the fog that presses in on the house, the sense of 'wrongness' grows more and more intense. In less skilled hands, it would have been too easy to rush to the drama, to the moments that caught in the mind but thankfully the authors allow it to grow like the herbs that are scattered throughout the text.

What follows is a delicious gothic horror, and a tale that leaves you constantly doubting the motives and actions of everyone within.

~Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in return for a honest review~

The Needfire by M.K. Hardy is a haunting and atmospheric sapphic Gothic horror, steeped in eerie suspense and evocative Scottish folklore. Perfect for fans of Rebecca and The Hacienda, this debut immerses the reader in a world of isolation, longing, and creeping dread.

Fleeing her past mistakes in Glasgow, Norah Mackenzie enters a marriage of convenience, hoping for freedom in her new life at Corrain House, an isolated estate in the wilds of northern Scotland. But something is deeply wrong. Her husband, once warm in his letters, is distant and unknowable. Shadows flicker at the edges of her vision, ghost ships haunt the coastline, and the land itself seems to pulse with a sinister presence. Her only source of solace is the enigmatic housekeeper, Agnes Gunn, whose allure is as unsettling as it is irresistible.

As the walls of Corrain House close in, Norah must unravel the secrets that shroud her home, her husband, and Agnes—before she is consumed by them.

With lyrical prose and a chilling, immersive setting, The Needfire is a masterfully crafted Gothic tale of desire, entrapment, and the supernatural. It is the kind of book that demands to be savoured, its creeping horror lingering long after the final page.

Read more at The Secret Book Review.

A new bride is drawn to her enigmatic housekeeper in this gothic sapphic tale of supernatural magic, the legacies of witches, and repressed longing. An immersive novel that fills the reader with creeping dread through the decadent prose dripping with blood and the darkly horrifying supernatural elements.

𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐨 𝐑𝐞𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧 | 𝐒𝐨𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐝𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐝𝐯𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐩𝐲 𝐯𝐢𝐚 𝐍𝐞𝐭𝐆𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐍𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐛𝐲 𝐌𝐊 𝐇𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐲