This is a very dark, gothic tale that I’m sure will be appeal to all those who enjoy such tales. I have to confess this is not a genre that I usually read but felt I should give such a popular author a try. However, it was a little too dark and disturbing for me, so I can’t say I enjoyed reading it, but I can appreciate it was well written and plotted, with a chilling and atmospheric setting, steeped in horror and tension.

On an island cut off from the north coast of Scotland by a causeway, the crumbling castle of Altnaharra sits on an island of the same name, isolated and secluded. Inherited by Col John Bearings in 1898 on his return from India, he has taken up residence with two women and a number of foundling children, establishing a strange cult. Iron gates keep visitors out and the members of his household segregated from the world, ready to accept his beliefs and punishments as they ready themselves for the end of days. Goods would be delivered to the gates where payment was waiting and it was in 1921 on one such trip to the island that led the local butcher to discover a gruesome scene. What led up that event is gradually revealed as members of the cult tell their horrific accounts of life on Altnaharra.

The cult itself is well imagined, with its members competing against each other for Bearings attention and love but also needing to cling together to survive their daily struggles. The tension builds slowly as the bleak setting and the characters set the scene, and there are some clever twists and turns in the tale that fans of Catriona Ward are sure to enjoy.

This is a thoroughly gripping story of a strange cult on the northern shore of England during the 1930’s. The story begins with the ritual murder of several people. From there, the plot backtracks to show how the events played out.
The story is told through the eyes of two primary characters. The interesting thing is how the characters see their lives as being completely ordinary when, in fact, they are horrible. The cult is ruled by a man who calls himself Uncle, and he rules the women and children with an iron fist. As the story unfolds and more and more clues are revealed, it becomes clear that he is a madman.
I could not put this book down!

This book started out a little slow. But Ward knows how to bring the slow burn into a raging fire. There were so many twists and turns - some I saw coming and others that just smacked me up the side of the head. I enjoyed reading this book. Ward is a great author and I can't wait to read more books from her.

I don't believe there is anyone writing in the Thriller/Horror genre that does psychological horror as consistantly well as Catriana Ward. She takes the twists and turns that revitalized the Mystery/Thriller genre years back and applies them to reach the tortured depth of the human soul again and again. For this reason she is an auto-read for me!

If Catriona Ward ever writes a phone book, I am here for it! I'll read anything by her! Little Eve was fantastically creepy gothic at its best! More twists and turns than a gothic staircase. Great writing and the story kept me glued to the very satisfying end!

Catriona Ward blew me away with The Last House on Needless Street and Sundial. I was thrilled to hear that she had another book coming out this fall and I am grateful to have been given an advanced copy. Little did I know that this is not a new book to her catalogue, but actually the second book she's ever written. It has never been published in the US, but it will now. And THANK GOD! Boy, this book did not disappoint one bit. It was gothic, atmospheric, mysterious and disorienting (in the best way possible). See synopsis from Amazon:
—
From Catriona Ward, the international bestselling author of The Last House on Needless Street comes Little Eve, a heart-pounding tale of faith and family, with a devastating twist.

Winner of the Shirley Jackson Award for Best Novel.

“A great day is upon us. He is coming. The world will be washed away.”

On the wind-battered isle of Altnaharra, off the wildest coast of Scotland, a clan prepares to bring about the end of the world and its imminent rebirth.

The Adder is coming and one of their number will inherit its powers. They all want the honor, but young Eve is willing to do anything for the distinction.

A reckoning beyond Eve’s imagination begins when Chief Inspector Black arrives to investigate a brutal murder and their sacred ceremony goes terribly wrong.

And soon all the secrets of Altnaharra will be uncovered."
-
The author did such a great job of creating a sense of place. It was very evocative and I really felt like is was on the isle of Altnaharra.. The storyline twisted and turned in such an awesome way and I loved how it unfolded. I'm learning that, when reading a book by this author, it is best to let it happen, to wash over you and experience it as it's happening. Don't try and figure it out. Just go with it.

This book was just excellent. Many thanks to NetGalley and Tor Nightfire for the advanced copy. It was a pleasure to experience this story. Little Eve will be available October 11, 2022.

Okay I don't know what is going on here.. The Last House on Needless Street was absolutely amazing. I listened to it as an audiobook and was absolutely enraptured by the way Ward used language and the world she created. Since then I've tried to read both of her subsequent books and simply struggled from the opening pages.. I'm wondering if this is a case where the audiobooks somehow resonate better with me. That doesn't usually happen - I am a reader not a listener by nature - but I can't imagine what other explanation there is for the wildly different response I've had to the three books.

This one did not work for me, in the same way that Sundial did not. I was drawn in by the description, as I was with Sundial, and yet somehow just never connected to the characters or story. With Needless Street that connection happened straightaway - and my only surmise at this point is the audiobook versus written word format. So I will definitely be checking that out in future because I am highly intrigued by the concept here and would dearly love to be able to make it through to the end...

Catriona Ward’s dark stories are masterpieces. The beginning of this was a little hard to follow, however I find that is common with these kinds of stories. Cult + semi-paranormal + unreliable narrators. Once I got into the flow of the writing style I was completely immersed in Eve and Dinah and Altnarharra’s story. This was absolutely insane, and yet could easily be a true story the way the world is.
I loved the small secrets that lead you toward the end of this story and what ultimately happened. The little stepping stones to where the madness of Uncle’s disturbing world was headed were so well done. I absolutely love CW’s style of writing and her way of doing horror in non-traditional ways. She is able to easily use popular tropes and completely bend them to her will. I read Sundial first and then this and she is now an auto-buy author for me.

Little Eve is so dark and creepy! I loved every second of it. It opens with a disturbing crime scene off the coast of Scotland and then jumps back to years before the crime while you try to figure out how our characters ended up there. This novel is more of a slow burn with rising tension on each page. There are a few different character perspectives and timelines to really keep you guessing. I also love a good twist and Catriona Ward definitely delivered. If you’re looking for a sinister, culty, gothic novel, THIS IS IT!

I am a ride or die Catriona Ward fan. Months after I finished Sundial, I still have nightmares about it. That's impressive. So impressive, in fact, that I will read anything else you put in front of me by Catriona. Enter Little Eve.

Little Eve is set on the Scottish isle of Altnaharra in the early 1900's. The story follows Evelyn and her "family" as they're being indoctrinated by "Uncle", the family patriarch and a self proclaimed deity of sorts. The book opens with a gruesome tragedy and walks the reader back in time through the journey the family took to reach such a climax.

The way Catriona is able to unravel the threads of a plot and slowly weave them back together into something entirely new multiple times over is truly what sets her apart. I am such a fan of the dark and atmospheric backdrop the book had. I felt several times like I had "figured out" what was going on, only to be completely shocked several times. I thought the book started off slow and it took me some time to truly grasp the plot, but I came to appreciate that as it lent an even starker contrast to the ride I felt like I was on by the end. Once again, Catriona has left me thinking of a book over and over even after the last page.

Thanks so much to Tor Nightfire as well as Netgalley for the opportunity to read this and share my thoughts ahead of the US release.

A truly gothic, creepy, unsettling and engrossing story from Catriona Ward. Every single character in this story is fascinating in their own right but you will be captivated by Eve and her struggles with her perceptions of reality, right and wrong, and the faith she puts into her family. This is a story of murder but true to Ward’s storytelling it becomes so much more. Don’t miss this one. Thanks to Nightfire and NetGalley for an advanced reading copy in exchange for an honest review.

Catriona Ward has done it again with "Little Eve". Gives me creepy-horror vibes and I am all for it. Great book!

Little Eve was a dark, sad, psychological spiral into near-madness. The things the characters endure are so far beyond rationality, you find yourself reading back a few sentences more than once.

An enjoyable read, if a bit hard to stomach at times. Nothing too graphic in description, but the atmosphere is near terrifying.

Trigger warnings include: Self-harm, child abuse, alluding to child sexual abuse and mentions of violence and death

Thank you to Netgalley, Catriona Ward and Tor Nightfire Books. All opinions are my own.

Grateful thanks to NetGalley and the publisher Tor Nightfire for the ARC on this book.
After reading "The Last House On Needless Street", I felt the same way I'd felt after reading Stephen King's "Carrie".......I'd become an author's fan for life and couldn't wait to be the first reader to get my hands on their next book.
And once again, Catriona Ward does not disappoint with this book, one of her earlier novels.
In many ways, I found it even more ambitious, multi-layered and sweeping than 'Sundial' and 'Needless Street'. The remote gothic setting, a crumbling. ancient Scottish estate in the early 20th century, provides a home for a warped family of adults and children, led by a man they call 'Uncle'. In reality, the group's a brainwashed,, snake-worshipping, quasi-religious cult, horribly abused in every possible way by their infinitely evil 'Uncle'.
Torture, murder and cruelty beyond description surround this corrupted, vile imitation of a family and inevitably involves victimizing some of the townsfolk unlucky enough to cross paths with them.
Against the backdrop of a countryside forever traumatized by the emotional cost and casualties of World War 1, the story follows the fates of two young cult members Dinah and Eve, one a survivor, the other mysteriously disappeared after a pivotal, horrific night at that forbidding castle....(complete with a crashing, lethal sea around it, like something you'd see in one of those old Vincent Price-Edgar Allen Poe movies.)
As in her subsequent books, Catriona Ward freely shifts the timeline and narrators, as well as creating a cast of characters swept up in heartbreak, events beyond their control and a tragic fatalism that hangs over everyone undone by unspeakable violence, both homegrown and by a world at war.
Grandly dense and detailed in its plotting, "Little Eve" does take its time in unraveling its secrets and delivering its final major twist, but I didn't mind that at all. This is one those dark, disturbing journeys to immerse yourself in completely......just let it suck you in and prepare for a 5 star read.

A beautiful modern Gothic thriller that extends Poe-esque tropes (twisted families; dark secrets; heart-pounding and horrifying set-pieces) and mixes it with a healthy dose of Agota Kristof surrealism. The atmosphere here is magic and the beautiful prose captures that haunted and dreamy manner of one's childhood (except the childhood here is exceptionally strange). The setting (late 1800s Scotland) is as much a character in this captivating thriller as the human characters as well.

Little Eve is one of the finest gothic horror novels I've encountered in quite some time. Focused primarily in the coasts of Scotland, the book brings tremendous promise for its readers: a story full of mysteries, isolated settings, and tense horror just about perfect for spooky season.

Ward has one of the finest voices for horror fiction in the field today, and her work here elicits some strong classical allusions through its atmospheric setting and its unsettling mysteries. As the story continues to unravel and reveal its secrets, it only seems to delve deeper into the haunted, gothic spaces that make the book both immediately recognizable to fans of the genre and fresh, with Ward's nuanced take on the novel's characters and their twisted relationships.

And fans of Ward know that they can expect some gruesome imagery with some pulse-pounding horror beats. Even if you haven't encountered Ward's work before, Little Eve is definitely a great place to start.

Such a goooood book!! A nice combination of “Who Done It” & Gothic Horror; which I love. This one kept me guessing the whole time & was very suspenseful. Will recommend to others.

I have great love for this author's previous work and remain enamoured with her writing style, ingenious premises, and the dark depths of the human psyche in which she invites the reader to venture. The historical setting and more abstract focus worked a little less for my personal reading tastes, than with her other works, but I remained impressed and intrigued throughout, regardless.

Catriona Ward did it again. Another hit! Here's a beautifully intricate novel about relationships and a cult 100 years ago. There's creepy religious stuff, tons of mystery and intrigue, and a tangled web of relationships all written in Catriona Ward's captivating prose. This book sucked me in and engulfed me in the story.

Evelyn, in 1921, is blamed for the murder of her cult family, but she disappears. That timeline follows the lone survivor, her sister, Dinah. The other timeline, beginning in 1917, follows Evelyn as she navigates the back half of her teenage years in this glorified cult preparing for the end of days. Most of the book takes place in the latter timeline while the former adds layers to the question of "just how in the world is this all going to play out?"

It's incredibly smart and engaging. I'm so glad it's getting a US release. Thank you Netgalley and Tor Nighfire for letting me read this phenomenal book in advance of its release.

The description of this book sounded great, but the execution for me fell a little flat. The clan’s world at Altnaharra was confusing to get into at first with their terminology, plus there were several timeline changes in the first few chapters. Once I got more into the story and it made more sense, the plot picked up. It was interesting to see the cult from the different POVs of the characters, and how they behaved and believed/didn’t believe certain things they were told from their leader. I did not see the twist towards the end coming and thought it added a lot to the plot. Overall this was an interesting and suspenseful-at-times story, but the confusion throughout knocked it down a couple stars for me.