Chronister's writing is grounded, steeped in the Earth. She weaves a beautifully haunting family tale, laden with secrets, and nature. A modern classic for the folk-horror genre.

I had a hard time with this book. I found the plot difficult to follow, as well as the description of characters. The idea of the story is wonderful, and I hope it hits for others.

A dysfunctional family drama set in an isolated, dilapidated mansion sinking into a bog. This book would be perfect for readers who enjoyed Little Eve by Catriona Ward. It's part folk horror, part cult narrative, and all weird. The story follows the different perspectives of the family members as they each deal with the death of their father, the patriarch of their very strange and sequestered family, most of whom have never actually left the family property on a cranberry bog. Some want to uphold the family beliefs, at any cost, and others just want to escape. The bog itself is shifting and changing underfoot, an instability that is echoed by the family trying to navigate who they are and who they want to be, individually and as a family. Readers who like twisty slow-burn narratives that keep readers guessing what will come next.

Kay Chronister's "The Bog Wife" follows five siblings as the family's ritual to bring prosperity falls on their shoulders. We read as the Haddesley family struggle to figure out what to do when the ritual is unsuccessful. As described in the synopsis, "The Bog Wife" is incredibly atmospheric, Chronister does a wonderful job transporting the reader to Appalachian West Virginia.

Although I found it slow to start, Chronister's writing is raw, weird and at times speculative, which makes for a compelling title that I could not put down.

This was a campy, interesting read. I loved the ambiguous nature of the story, never knowing if the Haddesleys were actually experiencing the bog magick or if they were just conditioned to believe it. The different points of view kept things interesting and I found myself rooting for them to escape their legacy.

I was slowly sucked into the disturbing and atmospheric world of this book. The family secrets and various dramas of each character, not to mention the mysteries of the bog and the surrounding environment were characters on their own, helping to round out this creepy and interesting novel. It left me thinking about it long after I finished reading. I liked this more than I anticipated, one of the better books I've read in awhile. Great haunting read for the fall!

The lines between fantasy and reality blur in this moody, Appalachian tale. We follow the Haddesley family as their patriarch is dying and they must continue on with the covenant made with the bog in their care. Each sibling gets a chapter with their point of view, and reveals something intriguing about the story. I especially liked Wenna's perspective as she is the first of the siblings to leave the homestead and see the outside world. There were parts that were a bit murky for me, but I think they were intentional and kept with the overall theme of the story. I think I will keep this story in my mind for a long time to come, I am not exactly sure what else to say aside from it was an intriguing read and I'm glad I had the opportunity to read it!

Thank you NetGalley for the eARC of this book.

Disturbing in all the best ways. I finished over a week ago and I'm STILL thinking about this book. I could see it, smell it, feel it. It was a delight!

The author does an excellent job creating the environment within the author, both through the family home, but as well as the anthropomorphization of the bog. Each of the five Haddesley siblings are so distinctly characterization that when we switch between each of their positions, it's just so clear who's speaking without even needing the chapter titling. The tense, isolated Gothic family bleeds into all elements of this book that I found myself reading the entire novel in one sitting because I couldn't put it down. If you love the Gothic family set in rural Appalachia, this if for you!

I may come back and rate this higher but I think I need to sit back to take it in a bit longer. I will say it is outstanding at setting a gothic Appalachian vibe. It has impeccable description and the eeriness of the big mixed with the underlying hopelessness of the family really set an unsettling scene. The prose felt a bit too wordy at times and I found myself scanning sometimes but still not losing any of the plot which made me feel it could have been condensed in some places and maybe further explored the characters more. The book switches between all 5 siblings at random each chapter which feels overwhelming at times and doesn’t always feel like it’s going anywhere. I think that’s why I rated it so low. Sometimes it felt like the story just lost its way and started to wander to inconsequential places. In the end I think I like the way this book made me feel and the way the setting felt so real but the story itself and the characters could have used more depth.

I really liked this book. I ended up finishing it all in one setting because I wanted to see how the story ended. I think it does a nice balance of walking the line between fairytale and reality.

Wow - a compelling blend of magical realism, horror, gothic, and mystery. The characters are all painfully real: sometimes loveable and sad, sometimes deeply unlikable, but very well-developed, which made this novel stand out amongst other horror/fantasy/magical realism books I've read in recent years.

Five siblings live in a crumbling manor house on the edge of a bog, which they have an ancestral (and biological/spiritual) connection to. They are all adults, with adult problems and personalities, but this story has echoes of middle-grade fiction adventures where orphans have to survive strange circumstances after the death or disappearance of their parents (i.e. Narnia, Series of Unfortunate Events, The Boxcar Children, etc etc). The story is told from the (third person) perspectives of the five main characters, as they process being thrust into the unknown after the death of their father, the patriarch, who previously kept a tight control on information and ritual. Their mother emerged from the bog before they were born, and returned there at some point when they were children, never to be seen again (like a kind of bog-selkie). The rituals that are supposed to keep the relationship between the bog and the family functioning have failed...and the siblings start to discover that the rituals, and their whole family history, might not be exactly as their father led them to believe.

I finished this novel in 2 days. It's not long, and I never felt like it dragged. This is one of those books that seems like it is the exact right length for the story being told. Some questions are answered, but not all.

Although I read this in July, it is definitely a perfect Autumn read (which is perfect since its release date is October 1st). Thanks to Netgalley and Counterpoint for the advanced copy in exchange for a review.

I really enjoyed The Bog Wife by Kay Chronister. It is unlike much of the contemporary fiction that I read, so I really appreciated that change of pace.

It has all the elements of a truly bizarre Southern Gothic:
- Eccentric characters - look no further than the Haddesley siblings and patriarch
- A derelict manse - oh yeah, including portraits of each patriarch lining the parlor and a tree that fell through an entire wing still waiting to be removed
- Themes such as the pressure of the past upon the present - did I mention the portraits of the patriarchs looking down on our characters? Once one passes, it is up to the next to perform an arcane ritual to maintain the family and the bog.
- The tension between reality and the grotesque or occult - you’ll have to read to story to find out all about the “compact” between the Haddesley family and the bog that their decaying mansion sets upon.

In addition to being a fine example of Southern Gothic literature, Chronister wove in the intricate relationship between the human and the natural world as she spun up this family tale in a way that borders on eco-fiction.

Even with a somewhat (for me) unsatisfying ending, I loved this book.
Thank you Netgalley and Counterpoint press for this early reader edition.

If there is anything true about me, it's that I love a Gothic horror, and I love a story set in Appalachia. This book is the perfect combination of those two things, all tied up with an atmospheric folk horror ribbon.
The story is immediately immersive, and you're transported into the dilapidating ancestral home of the Haddesleys, with the quasi-sentient bog that controls their entire existence. You can feel the isolation and smell the decay. From the unsettling rituals to the all-encompassing mysteries of what exactly the bog is and what really happened to their bog wife mother all those years ago, this book was SUCH an intriguing treat.
Some other reviews that I've seen floating around mark the elevated prose as a turnoff, but that wasn't something that I found to be distracting, for the most part. The book does lean into the literary aspect of what horror can be, and it felt correct for the story being told.
I quite enjoyed this one, and already have another of the author's books on my TBR!

I wanted to like this. It is an interesting concept, but I feel that it fell short. It drags in places, and I had to force myself to keep at it. Some things are not explained well enough. The horror aspects are definitely there. If you have a problem with implied child abuse (not graphic) and abandoned children, then you might want to skip it

The Bog Wife details the story of a reclusive family who is tied, generation after generation, to the bog where their family lives. They know only each other, the bog, and the various rituals taught to them by their stern father.

It was interesting to try to decipher what was true in the story to what was kind of a shared family perspective rather than true reality. I really enjoyed the focus of connection and loss between siblings and the difficulties of navigating unhealthy family dynamics. The siblings’ journey really focused on how the bonds of family connect people, but that each person is still an individual with different desires and perceptions.

I don’t think I’ve read anything quite like this before, and I really enjoyed it!

I was immediately hooked by this strange and wonderful story! The plot was unique, the pace was perfect, and I didn't even mind the open ending! I think this one is going to stick with me for awhile.

When Southern Gothic meets environmental literature meets magical realism, you get The Bog Wife. The story of a family in a covenant with a cranberry bog is so intimate that the characters are children of the bog itself. Every generation, the bog produces a bog wife for the male heir. This superbly written book raises questions about how we treat or mistreat women and the environment. How using without returning or loving harm, and hope that there is a brave new way forward.

I want to give this more than 5 stars. This book had be absolutely hooked. I loved all the different perspectives of all the characters and how there is magical realism sprinkled into lies and rumors and superstitions and how this is a horror and a family drama and a supernatural folk tale all woven into one spectacular story.

I tried to get into this one, but I really struggled with the dialogue in the beginning. I am still really thankful to Catapult Books, Kay Chronister, and Netgalley for granting me advanced digital access to this one before October 1, 2024.