Historical fiction is usually not my jam, but when I read the blurb and saw who it was by, I couldn’t resist taking a chance. My first book by this author was Sundial, which I loved for its complicated family relationships, atmospheric setting and twists. Little Eve has all of that plus a deliciously gothic setting!

For almost as long as she can remember, Eve has lived on the remote isle of Altnaharra. Led by Uncle, she and the other children spend their days gathering food and pretending to be normal when they must attend the village school with the Impure. Unlike them, they worship the Adder, who will come from the sea and remake the world. But when a murder in the village attracts unwanted attention, Eve is forced to reckon with everything she believes in.

It’s hard to say too much about this book without ruining bits of the plot, and this is definitely one of those books where you want to come in with as little foreknowledge as possible. Set against the backdrop of World War I, it’s the kind of cult horror novel that starts with a teen protagonist who has no understanding that her upbringing is, well, strange. Eve is an interesting character, protective of the bond between herself and Dinah, an older girl who she considers a sister, though that word is forbidden on the isle. Fascinated by Uncle’s tale of how the Adder will return, she’s a true believer who yearns for recognition from him – and the power that comes with it.

“What you are saying doesn’t make sense,” I say. “Why would I invent the eye?”
“To satisfy the great need that lies at the heart of us all.”
“Which is?”
“To be loved. To belong.”


Much like Sundial, this book explores the complicated bonds of family and love. Eve longs for Uncle’s approval, even as he harshly disciplines her for the slightest misstep. But it’s the relationship between Eve and Dinah that carried that book for me. From comforting each other over nightmares to holding on to secrets, they’re as close as sisters, both starved for affection. The isolation of Altnaharra deepens the bond between them while Uncle’s machinations also force them against each other for their own survival.

After the initial shocking scene, the plot is a slow unwinding of terrors, one after the other. The twists, when they come, are horrifying. There’s enough hints about each in the text to give you an inkling in advance of what’s about to happen, but the reality is always so much more disturbing than expected.

Overall, a very good slow burn gothic horror, perfect for October!

I received an advance review copy of this book from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

I just loved everything about the book "The Last House on Needless Street" so I thought this gothic horror story would be perfect for me. I'm not sure what changed, but this book doesn't even seem like it was written by the same author.

I struggled with this book for various reasons. The main one was I was so completely lost on what was happening. I'm not sure what exactly caused this, but it could have been due to the dual perspectives (I normally have no problem with this) being a little clunky, the far out there concepts that were not explained very well (I can typically figure this stuff out), and the story was kind of going so many different directions. The other reason was I just lost interest after a while. I couldn't connect and get immersed into the story.

I do plan to read her new book "Sundial" and I'm crossing my fingers that it has the same vibe and writing style as "The Last House on Needless Street."

Thanks NetGalley and publisher for the digital copy in exchange for my honest review!

This book was seriously dark, creepy, and disturbing! I’d expect nothing less from Catriona Ward! I was hit with chilling vibes from the outset, since the book started off with a gruesome tragedy and then worked backwards to show the reader what led up to that event. I find cults intriguing, so the premise combined with Ward’s atmospheric writing immediately sucked me in. My feelings about Eve were constantly vacillating, and I had no idea what was going on, so I stopped trying to figure it out and just enjoyed the ride. This gothic, suspenseful, emotional book shocked me with a twist I never could have predicted! I can’t wait to see what this talented author comes up with next!

One of the biggest strengths of this novel from Catriona Ward is that it is about a family with a twist, this is a family with secrets, dark and terrible. What makes it so distinctive and so compelling is the voice of Eve and her sister Dinah. As you read their stories, it is almost as if you can hear them. The historical elements add to the terrible horrific aspects because of how isolated the clan is from the rest of the world. Eve and her sister are rich characters and as a reader, you quickly become engrossed in their story.

This is a story of very human horror and it is fitting that as the novel delves into the past, that mysteries and intrigues emerge, secrets spill out into the light of truth. The story is about family but not in any traditional way and yet, Catriona Ward deftly explores the bonds of sisters and how love can enrich us or harm us. 

If you love stories with human terror and mystery, a story about family with a twist, I recommend this compelling novel of sisters and secrets. You will find you won’t be able to put the book down. It will keep you up long into the night.

My interest was initially piqued when I saw this was a gothic horror, because that is definitely up my ally. Then you throw in cult vibes?! Yes., please! The sad news is that I just couldn’t get into it. The story is told through two POVs with alternating timelines. The beginning was super confusing and a little dry. You hit 50+% before you even know what the hell is going on; and with all the build up the ending fell a bit short. Overall the book had a lot going for it, but I’m thinking Ward’s books just aren’t for me. And that’s cool. If the blurb grabs your attention, I’d give it a read!

While not as complex and layered in themes as her recent works like this year’s “Sundial”, Catriona Ward’s “Little Eve” is still an impeccably written gothic horror tale set in the early half of the 20th century in Scotland, involving a prophet-like “Uncle” and the cadre of girls, young ladies, and one boy who have somehow come to live with him by one reason or another and are bound by his beliefs and words about how they came from the sea, are for the sea, and that the world will end when a great serpent encircles the earth.

Catriona Ward knows how to cast a spell with her words and sentences: her writing could almost be mistaken for a cantrip with how the time passes so effortlessly as you read her books. Reading Catriona Ward is never a chore, for she knows the economy of words and the magic that comes from imparting just the right amount of information at the right time and leaving some more information for later. You have to leave them always wanting more, and she knows that. Like someone who’s been starved, you can’t just feed them a feast or they will get sick. You give them a little bit of what they need at a time until it’s okay for them to have more. That’s what good horror and good suspense is supposed to be like. That’s what good editing is like. A steady line that never slacks off or sways. You are fed a steady diet of horror, exposition, characterization, imagery, inner thoughts, side characters, and a bite of subplot here and there as you turn page after page after page.

The theme, while relatively simple and classic, is turned sinister and poisonous by its origin: competing for a father figure’s affections. Longing to appease the parental figure in your life and coming to realize that parental figure is human and fallible. While “Sundial” also deals with themes of family, “Little Eve” deals with it in a twisted and stained manner, with the word and notion that these people are “family” banned by their “Uncle” as if he can truly dispel the ties and bonds that come to form between people kept together in seclusion for so long together in an isolated castle by the sea.

The characters are complex, traumatized, and have that inherent vulnerability that emits from those who you know are inevitably damned, whether they live or die at the end. The plot arc is rich and satisfying, even if some of the great turn was easily guessed. Nonetheless, even a Catriona Ward book that loses one star is still well worth reading.

Thanks to NetGalley and Tor Nightfire for granting me access to this title.

Themes: Gothic Fiction/Horror Fiction/Gothic Horror/Horror Literature/Cult Horror

ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.

After I read the first few chapters of this book, a lot of the details reminded me of Outlander, which is one of my favorite series. A lot of the details like places and characters names are similar but that is where the comparison ends. The story itself has a spooky ghost story feel that I really enjoyed, with a heavy religious influence. I really liked the way it ended and the twists that I never say coming!

Little Eve is a dark gothic (thiller, horror?) novel set in Scotland. It follows a family that lives in the castle of Altnaharra, where the town of Loyal has all but shunned them. The Adder, or Uncle, rules behind the castle walls, the small cult he has created. The story shifts between characters points of views.

The writing is beautiful and haunting, if not a little confusing. The timelines were a bit confusing at points, but I was able to understand the general flow. The plot was okay, but didn’t blow me away. It’s a neutral 3/5 for me.

3.5 out of 5 stars

This book is told in alternating POVs and I enjoy this style of writing, as I like seeing the story unfold from different perspectives. We start this book near the end of the story and then we jump back and forth in time to tell the story of how we go to everyone dying. This was a little confusing at times; overall the story was twisty and I would read more books from Catriona Ward in the future.

DNF at 40% - unfortunately this one just wasn't for me. I loved the culty and gothic aspects, but wasn't a huge fan of the historical setting. Her writing style is so enthralling though, which is what got me to the 40% mark in the first place. I may pick this one back up, but it just wasn't right for me now.

Little Eve was a read that I thought had some good potential, and it does, but overall it proved to just not be the best book for me.

The idea of an isolated castle in Scotland mixed with a cult and some questionable shenanigans sounded like a great read.

What worked for me:
- the opening was great and set up the mysterious aspect of Altnaharra very well.
- the writing was great - very atmospheric and brought me into the story.
- the cult element - it's always infuriating and an interesting element to me.

What gave me pause:
- I found it really slow, and as much as the writing brought me in, I struggled to stay engaged in the story, and it just dragged. It was missing a more powerful tension and urgency to it for me.
- some challenges with mixing timelines and following everything that was happening.
- I found the characters a bit flat and overall just wasn't invested in their emotional journey.

Thank you Macmillan Tor/Forge and NetGalley for my digital review copy!

I felt like this was a bit more of mystery/thriller than a horror but it definitely had strong gothic elements. You don't now who or what to trust which makes the twists hit harder. Definitely different than her other novels to me, but strong elements. Gothic thriller/horrors typically lend to an unreliable narrator as the characters seem to crumble in the same way as the setting. This book was an excellent addition to that canon.

Little Eve by Catriona Ward
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This is the story of Eve. She lives on Altnaharra Isle with the rest of her people on the coast of Scotland. They keep to themselves on the Isle and wait for the end of the world. Until the day the bodies are discovered.
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What I liked:
-This book had a great creepy factor to it. There was an ominous vibe to the whole thing that worked very well here.
-I loved the past and present POVs. We have Eve’s POV for the past and Dinah’s for the present and it was great to see them slowly cast light on the whole picture.
-I was trying to guess how the whole thing would end and was getting it wrong left and right! I really liked how it ended though.
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4⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ That’s all I’ll say about it to avoid spoilers. If you love creepy and unsettling stories then you’ll enjoy this one.

Little Eve tells the story of a clan (i.e. cult) who have secluded themselves on a remote isle off the Scottish coast and who hope to bring about the end and subsequent rebirth of the world. Almost all of the members are young and susceptible girls who are entranced by an older man called the Uncle. He tests his flock, brainwashes and makes them dependent upon him all in the hopes that one of them will receive great powers from the Adder. Eventually they land on the radar of an inspector who refuses to let them go on as they always have, putting everything in jeopardy.

It was primarily told from the perspectives of Dinah and Eve with shifts in time to before the sacrifice (murder?) and after. I'll admit that cult novels are hit or miss with me. Plenty of the characters were unlikable and I didn't really connect with any of them. I didn't particularly enjoy the pacing of this one...it was a slow burn gothic novel where not much was revealed until the very end if you managed to keep with it until then.

Rating 3 stars.

Special thanks to @netgalley for the electronic ARC of Little Eve for review purposes. All opinions are my own.

Catriona Ward has done it again! I was thoroughly impressed with the writing style as well as the character development. 10/10 would recommend to a friend!

Catriona Ward is an absolute master at creating a dark and chilling atmosphere! I actually shivered while reading parts of this book! "Little Eve" has everything I want from a spooky read; a crumbling castle in an isolated location, a stone circle, a cult with some really bizarre beliefs and whose members are preparing for the end of the world, mass murder...and a twist I did NOT see coming! This book is gothic horror at its best; it is very disturbing but I couldn't put it down! It is a creative and gruesome tale; perfect for Spooky Season.

Many thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for the privilege of reading an advanced digital copy of this fabulous book in exchange for my honest review.

Catriona Ward does it again. I truly loved The Last House on Needless Street and Sundial, so I had high hopes for Little Eve…and boy did she deliver 🤌🏻

I’ve probably mentioned it before, but her books are not for everyone. They’re weird, gothic, atmospheric, eerie, dark, and did I mention weird? Reader be warned ☠️

But if this *is* the right book for you, I hope you get as swept up in the world, secrets, and rituals of Altnaharra as I did 🌊

There were some truly excellent twists that had me excitedly flipping back to hints I didn’t initially pick up on, jaw on the floor. Some very vivid, horrifying imagery. And cult vibes if you’re looking for that this October 🙌🏻

Little Eve comes out in the US today, 10/11. Big thanks to @macmillanusa @tornightfire and @netgalley for the chance to read and review the ARC!

"𝑰 𝒅𝒐 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒊𝒔 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒔𝒆 - 𝒔𝒖𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒆𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝒊𝒕. 𝑴𝒆𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒚, 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒔, 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒊𝒕 𝒅𝒐𝒆𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒆𝒏𝒅."

I know I'm late to the party with Catriona Ward; I've been meaning to read Sundial and Needless Street, and when I saw her latest, a re-issue of a book first published in 2018, on NetGalley, I knew it'd be a great place to start.

I love any Gothic type story that has an isolated setting, which this does in leaps and bounds. There is a reference to detective fiction (Agatha Christie in particular) and the detective featured in the story is much like Poirot: ruthless to the search for the truth, in this case what happens on Altnaharra. The opening chapter is full of suspense as Jamie discovers the five bodies, and the narration flips back and forth from past to present. This is the year of the "cult book," and this one seems particularly gruesome in places with references to snakes (my biggest fear!), the removal of eyes, the death of a horse, and the fact that the "Uncle" takes advantage of lost children. I found Eve's narration hard to follow at times, jumping around in places. However that does add to the overall confusion of what is truly happening and puts doubt in the reader's mind, adding to the atmosphere.

Little Eve is a Gothic story of the need for belonging, belief, truth, and memory. If you like historical fiction and mysterious cult families, this will be for you. I've heard Ward's writing branches in a different direction for her last two releases, and I am excited to see more from her! Thank you to Tor and NetGalley for the ARC!

Very mixed feelings on this one, and I strongly suggest you check content warnings before reading if you might need them. Little Eve is somewhat of a gothic horror set in Scotland in the 1920's and 1930's. It begins with a ritualistic murder and then goes back to unpack the history of this sort of cult led by a man who adopted young children and was incredibly abusive to them. I was not anticipating how much abuse of children was going to be in this book and I very nearly didn't finish it.

While there are moments that are atmospheric, creepy, and evocative, I didn't feel the author handled the topics in the book with enough care. Various kinds of abuse are used to horrify the reader, or even used as twists. I've read books that are in this genre and tackle these issues, but do it in a way that is unpacking the horror and trauma rather than simply exploiting the victims. This did not effectively do that and it left a bad taste in my mouth. Given things I've heard about Wards other books, I'm not sure she's the author for me even if her actual writing is pretty good. Note that I found the audiobook a bit hard to follow at times and ended up switching back and forth between audio and e-book to follow everything. I received a copy of this book for review via NetGalley, all opinions are my own.

Content warnings for this book include graphic physical, psychological, and spiritual abuse on page, including of young children. This includes starvation, gaslighting, mutilation, drugging, ritualistic bleeding and more. Grooming (on page), repeated references to sexual abuse of adults and young children (not depicted on page), graphic childbirth, stillbirth, forced removal of an infant from their mother, murder, grief.... there's a lot.

I finished this darkly Gothic thriller in only two spellbound sittings, a small miracle given how my days are packed with myriad interruptions. The narrative was so absorbing that I managed to fend off almost all other demands on my time until I could finish that last, atmospheric page.

Little Eve is the somewhat derisive nickname given to Evelyn, one of the foundlings who lives on the isle of Altnaharra, connected to mainland Scotland and the village of Loyal by a gated causeway that’s exposed only at low tide. Uncle, a former soldier who returned from India some decades earlier, is the head of their household, and is attended to by Alice Seddington and Nora Marr. Together the three adults take in unwanted children and raise them on the remote island. The four children – Dinah, Abel, Evelyn herself and Elizabeth – go to school in Loyal until the shocking murder of their schoolteacher.

An inspector from Inverness is summoned to investigate and finds his curiosity piqued by the half-feral children of the island just as much as by the slaying, which seems pretty open and shut. Inspector Christopher Black takes an especial interest in quiet Evelyn, who claims to have the gift of second sight. He’s disbelieving, telling her:

QUOTE
“I do not think you a liar,” Christopher Black says gently. “I can see that you believe in your gift. Do you know what autosuggestion is? A man named Emile Coue discovered it. It is used to treat shell shock. One resolves to believe a certain thing–<i>I am not in pain</i>, or perhaps, <i>I can read minds</i>--and the body obeys.

“You can read people–the tiny tics and tells. The skills of a confidence trickster. That, and a wee, mental sleight of hand. I can see that it would be possible for you to believe in your own magic.[“]
END QUOTE

Unsurprisingly, Evelyn refuses to believe in this or in anything else Inspector Black has to tell her, especially since his words are so completely at odds with how she’s been raised. Evelyn knows that there’s something special about herself, and that she and her family are destined for great and miraculous things.

After the scrutiny that the murder brings, the islanders of Altnaharra decide to keep to themselves, communicating with the village only through notes posted on their gate. This goes on for years, until the local butcher comes to make a delivery one morning and discovers the gate unlocked and the portcullis half-raised. Assuming that the inhabitants of the rundown castle want him to bring his heavy delivery inside, he obliges… only to find scenes of carnage that have him running back to the village, calling for the authorities.

Fast-forward several years more and Dinah, the only survivor of the massacre, is still trying to come to terms with her upbringing on the island. She wants to make as normal and loving as possible a life as she can for herself and her new family, but the secrets of Altnaharra keep haunting her, urging her to write confessional letters even as she tries to suppress her memories of murderous Evelyn, the girl who destroyed everything.

For Evelyn had a taste for violence, turned inward until a schoolyard brawl showed her the power of inflicting harm on others:

QUOTE
I have blood under my nails and a handful of yellow hair. Shedding my own blood was one thing–this is different. No wonder Uncle keeps this power for himself. It is wonderful. I do not know how long we have been fighting. We are all deep in a world of heavy breath and colour and flesh on flesh.
END QUOTE

Written in hypnotic prose, the story moves back and forth in time between our two viewpoint narrators, Dinah and Evelyn, as the mysteries and terrors of both Altnaharra and its lingering aftermath finally come to light. It’s a tale of trauma and loss and healing wrapped in a fascinating puzzle box of a novel, with deeply satisfying revelations and resolutions. Little wonder that it won the Shirley Jackson Award despite not being released in the United States until now. American readers of Gothic thrillers should not miss snapping this up now that it’s locally available.