Sophie awakens in Withered Hill, naked and with no memory of how she arrived. Trapped in this eerie place, she is told she cannot leave until she is deemed ready. But what must she do—or sacrifice—to prove her worth?

The story alternates between two timelines: Sophie’s life before Withered Hill, where she watched from the sidelines as her closest friends moved on with their lives while drinking herself into oblivion. Then her time within Withered Hill, a place filled with strange traditions, hidden meanings, and the journey toward self discovery.

This narrative evokes the unsettling atmosphere of M. Night Shyamalan’s The Village mixed with the disturbing folk horror of Midsommar. A truly polarizing read that will leave you unsettled. I was captivated by Sophie’s journey and intrigued to see how her story would unfold in this twisted, folksy horror tale.

Thank you Netgalley for this advanced digital copy in exchange for my honest review.

An unsettling and bizarre story - fantastic folk horror that really settles itself well into the genre. I found the timeline to be a bit funky. I do understand past and present but felt the back and forth of “days in Withered Hill” to be unnecessary and confusing.

I decided to read the first few paragraphs of this book as soon as I downloaded it and I didn't stop until I was finished. I loved this, it was well-paced, suspenseful, and gripping. It is split into two worlds - outside (with each para prefaced with Days to Withered Hill) and inside (with each para stating how many days Sophie had been in the village). This allowed the reader to take a breather from the strange goings-on in the village of Withered Hill, and be immersed in the regular life of a woman living in London, who drinks too much, has little care for herself or her friends, and drifts from temp job to temp job, with a murky past.

I couldn't predict what was happening at all, and at no point did the pace slacken. It was so visual, I couldn't help but imagine it as a movie like The Wicker Man, and I hope to see it on the big screen (or as a Netflix series) someday.

Another great read! David Barnett mentions people were surprised to hear he was writing a horror novel but he NAILS it. The story is well paced with some deliciously creepy scenes sprinkled throughout. The book waffles between WTF moments amid a fairly standard horror trope.

In this book we have Sophie who’s living a somewhat unsatisfying life in London. She drinks heavily and leads a life that doesn’t seem to fulfill her in any way. After starting a strange new job things get intense. The book is written as a dual timeline showing Sophie in various stages, from before she arrives at the mysterious Withered Hill to her first days in the odd town. Throughout, we also get snippets of her time later in Withered Hill and even though the time jumps are non linear, Barnett does a fantastic job at weaving a well written tale.

Sophie isn’t the most lovable character and we learn more about her past in bits. Honestly, none of the characters are particularly affable but they were well written and multi dimensional.

This isn’t a book that’s easy to see the path it’s taking. We wade through some deep weirdness until the pieces slowly begin to fall into place. It’s hard to figure out which characters, if any, are on the side of our protagonist. I loved the ending. Unexpected and took the book into some fantastically weird folk horror territory.

If weird books that unfold slowly are your jam then I’d definitely give this one a go. I was pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed this one. I hope Barnett continues to push out horror in the future because his mind clearly has some deep, dark pockets that made for an awesome horror story.

Folk horror at it's best. You will think you have this one figured out a few times, but you won't. I enjoyed the folk lore behind it, and the unique story line. I think this book will do very well. I highly, highly recommend.

Literally read this is two days because I couldn’t put it down!
The story was so intriguing from the get go with an interesting main character.
The setting and atmosphere were weird and a bit creepy with some odd people . Everything about this is strange and it keeps you turning the pages wanting to know what’s going on
Would recommend to folk horror lovers

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc

I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Wow! Did this book keep me guessing. If you like folk horror, Midsommar, and/or the game “The Excavation of Hobb’s Barrow,” this book will be right up your alley. The vibes are great and there are some really spooky scenes too. The ending is quite a shocker with some disturbing implications. The perfect addition to your spooky season!

“𝘋𝘪𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥 𝘓𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘺 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯 𝘥𝘪𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦?”

The small Lancashire village of Withered Hill seems to be of another world, drenched in Pagan traditions. When Sophie stumbles into the village, naked, alone and without any memory of who she is or where she came from, she soon realises that she is being kept prisoner, unable to leave Withered Hill until she is deemed ‘ready’. But who is preventing Sophie from leaving the village, and what must she do to earn her escape?

✨ 𝗥𝗘𝗩𝗜𝗘𝗪✨

@davidmbarnett ‘s Withered Hill was my first ever ARC and wow did I love it! Not only is it set in my home county, but right from the first page you’re thrown into Sophie’s story, equally as confused as she is. As you piece together the story from snippets of Sophie’s time before and after entering Withered Hill, the suspense continues to build with an eerie and unsettling sense of foreboding throughout the whole novel. The twisty narrative kept me hooked all the way through, never really knowing what would come next. The ending was completely unexpected, leaving me with yet more unanswered questions and a story that will play on my mind for a long time.

Preorder: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Withered-Hill-unsettling-British-horror/dp/1804367516

📖total read time: 6hrs 53mins

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

This is my favorite book I’ve read this year. If you like folk-horror, or want to try it out I would totally recommend. The book is laid out with different timelines, and I think it was done in an engaging and successful way. Legit loved everything about this book. BRB, must commune with nature.

Withered Hill was FANTASTIC. All capitals. A wild ride. The dual storylines were written perfectly and both resolved in a crazy, satisfying way. One of my favorite folk horror stories for sure. We have a hot mess character, hell bent on ruining her life. She was a unique, interesting main character to follow and I kind of loved her POV. My jaw hit the floor at the end, it was soo good. Can’t wait for other horror fans to read this one!

Enjoyable and eerie tale in the classic folkhorror vein. This worked so much better that a lot of the similar stuff I’ve seen recently – respecting the genre’s conventions and leaving the reader with an unsettling feel rather than overt horror.

This is a very good addition to the 'Folk horror' subgenre. It had some nice creepy elements that were done quite well, however I personally didn't find it particularly horrific overall. The story kept my attention with an abundance of dark pagan rituals and supernatural mysteries, though things did get a bit repetitive at times.

The plot follows different timelines of the character Sophie Wickham. It plays out in a non-linear fashion so as to keep us sort of in the dark while we learn about Sophie's life both outside and inside the town of Withered Hill.

I did enjoy this book, although it's not one I would read again. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who enjoys folklore. Also anyone who liked 'The Wicker Man' or 'Midsommar' would find a lot to like here, as it very much had those vibes.

This is a horror novel based on English folklore. We follow a non-linear timeline of our main character, Sophie, who is a lush, the last of her friends to seemingly want to do anything productive in her life. This story goes back and forth in time, time spent in London and time in Withered Hill.

I found this story very creepy and unsettling. Within the first few chapters, I truly felt scared for Sophie, I didn’t know what was coming next! There were parts of this book that reminded me of other things I’ve seen, like the movie Midsommar, the show Lost, or (very specific) the show True Blood, the episodes featuring the character Maryann Forrester… I don’t want to give anything away, but if you know, you know!

This author did a great job of holding the readers attention to the very end.. I could not have guessed that ending. It’s a child’s nightmare brought to life. I loved this, and I definitely will recommend it to anyone looking for a quick spooky read for Halloween!

Thank you Canelo and NetGalley for providing an advanced readers copy of this book for an honest review.

Thank you to Canelo and NetGalley for this ARC of 'Withered Hill' by David Barnett.

This is English folk horror at its finest. It takes the atmosphere of the likes Ramsay Campbell's earlier works and The Wicker Man and brings it into the social media age of the 21st century.

We follow Sophie Wickham (was that a nod to The Wicker Man!?) through her life via multiple time jumps and storylines as she battles with her family history of tragedy, her own destructive personality, and tangles with an ancient force and its acolytes based in rural Lancashire.

Throughout the folk horror narrative the very real context of the destruction of the environment globally is the thread - technology aside - that really anchors the story in today's news cycle. It's cleverly done.

The structure and pacing is very well done. The different timelines all click eventually and just as I thought the author was going to lose me an a couple of stars towards the end he very cleverly pulls everything together again.

This would make a superly twisted and twisty series for TV, let's hope someone picks it up.

I highly enjoyed this. Very haunting and tense. At first, I was a bit put off by the time line jumps, but it really aids in story development and the speed with which you figure things out. It's not a mystery that you automatically know the answer to.

In true folk horror fashion, this book starts off quite weird. As the story progresses, it only gets weirder. The dual timeline leaves you a bit disoriented. To help weave the story together, you go back and forth, jumping throughout her time in Withered Hill and London. It has all the creepy elements that make a good folk horror story. It starts off slow, but in no time at all you’re quickly pulled in, anticipating and dreading what comes next.

Sophie seems like a typical woman in her thirties. Her friends are all getting married, having kids, or moving away. To help bury the loneliness, she drinks heavily and blows her money on frivolous items she doesn’t need. After getting a new job, strange things start to happen. Someone is trying to warn her. Maybe she should have listened.

The story goes back and forth between the “outside” Sophie and the “inside” Sophie. One day she’s living her life and the next she’s naked with no memories, walking into a town called Withered Hill. She’s not a prisoner, but she can’t leave until she’s ready. But who is getting her there? And what do they want?

Thank you to NetGalley and Canelo for an ARC of Withered Hill.

I can't remember another book I've read where multiple timelines worked as successfully as it did here...what a masterfully woven story. The vibe was so odd and unsettling, I felt like I was watching a season of American Horror Story (although, I suppose, it would be British Horror Story 😅). This book will definitely live rent free in my head!

5 stars

Thank you, David Barnett and NetGalley, for the ARC. I leave this review voluntarily and happily. Also, thank you publishers for your hard work!

This book was delightfully twisted in so many ways. I would think I knew what was going on, and then something new would happen completely throwing me off. The timeliness the way they are written I can understand why some can get rather confused by them, but I was able to follow and enjoy it to the fullest. You definitely go into this book wondering what am I getting myself into, and by the end of it, you're still like, "What did I just read?" There is so much put into this book: lore, death, beauty, and more. This book will definitely have you questioning things.

Two different lives soon merging to one. The same person but completely different personalities. Is she free in this village where she lost all her memory, or is she a prisoner to all the people there and whatever may lie in the woods surrounding it? Who was this woman before she came to this place, and why is she there? Can she escape, or will there be consequences? Read to find out.

As I said before, this book was an absolute delight to read. This definitely went into my favorites. This book makes you think about the question: How many chances is too much and am I a bad person. Can also make you worry. I won't go into details as that would spoil things. I will say this, though. This was definitely worth the read.

This novel brilliantly skips back and forth through time to create an overwhelming sense of dread that sucks you in and doesn’t let go. The town of Withered Hill is such a well drawn place, with so many great characters and a few of the most horrific scenes I’ve read in a very long time. This is one that really sticks with you and has a seriously messed up ending.

3.5/5

This book was a mixed bag for me.

To start with the positives, I think the overall idea and story was really interesting. The weaving of folklore into the setting was intriguing and ultimately was what kept me reading. I wanted to understand more, to make sense of the strangeness. There were some really fresh ideas here that I was excited for and I did like the ending overall.

However, this novel really suffers from a few flaws. The biggest of which was just how disjoint things felt. There were a lot of good ideas that were not very well woven together. There were whole sections that felt unnecessary even with the eventual explanations. It just didn’t feel like it flowed well enough and the complexity of the structure didn’t really help either.

I also can’t really call this a horror novel. It had some horror elements yes, but the way it was delivered really undermined any of the atmosphere and tone horror novels usually have. There was no real tension or dread, no fear of the unknown. There was a mystery with some creepy pieces but not really horror.

The main character was also rather bland. I wanted to feel the spooky nature of what’s happening through her, but all I got was barely any acknowledgment that weird things were happening. It really sucked out any tension from the book. The portrayal of the villagers also did not help either. They were far too normal and forgettable, and not enough creepy for the kinds of things they were doing throughout their many festivals. I just needed more from them.

There was also a weird sexualization of women in the book. To the point where I had to double check the authors name to know if it was written by a man and sure enough it was. It just felt weirdly inserted into places it really didn’t need to be and gave off a bad vibe throughout the book. Using it in some key places makes sense, doing it everywhere does not.

Overall it just felt disjoint and underbaked. I liked the folk horror vibes and ideas I just wish it was refined more.