This one caught me by surprise. The kind of low-key literary fiction that draws you in and holds you in the grip of an usual tale told well. If you had told me this was a long lost classic novel of some past master from the late 19th century or early 20th century I would not doubt it a bit.

A young American writer goes in search of a story in post-World War I Paris. He is initially seeking information from an old man about what it was like to grow up as a member of a persecuted and ostracized minority (a very small part of the overall story), the story he gets is so much more bizarre and disturbing.

This has aspects of some of the great Russian authors - melancholy - as well as a dash of the oddity of someone like H.G. Welles. There are suggestions of the Supernatural; folklore and superstitions that may or may not be true. Starts slow, a little mundane, then once you get into it it's absolutely spellbinding.

3.5 rounded up
Interesting story and characters. It took me a bit to get into this. Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book

Chills at her Living Cry by Kevin St.Jarre opens in Paris of 1922. A 24 yr old newspaper reporter is working on an article about the history of a certain community called ‘Gens des Marais’ (crudely referred to as Cagots). Believed to be heretics, carriers of plague, descendants of carpenters who built the cross of the Christ, Cagots faced social exclusion & discrimination for years. Hoping to get a story, the reporter arrives at the house of a 79 yr old Cagot man Alcide. Alcide has a story to tell, albeit a different one, drawn from his experiences on the Arsenaults’ farm in Montagnat where he worked as a farmhand in 1914 - the year of WWI when young men left their homes and jobs to go to the warfront and the old were needed for work. 

Henri Arsenault’s wife Seraphine is expecting their first child, so is their mare Esme. The couple’s quiet & comfortable existence on the farm, their good rapport with animals slowly changes after Henri leaves for war. Disaster strikes brutally when on a stormy night Seraphine delivers a stillborn daughter and Esme delivers a filly, Elise. Seraphine’s trauma of losing her child, absence of her husband or any emotional support; mysteriously & concurrently Esme rejecting her newborn Elise firmly, everything pushes Seraphine to obsess over Elise. As pages turn, Sepharine’s depression, her abnormal fixation for Elise reveal she’s damaged beyond repair. Reasons- rational, supernatural, bizarre - are attributed to the havoc on the farm and the bunch of characters ensure an element of suspense stays jacked up till the denouement. 

Did the reporter get a story on ‘history’ he wanted? What’s history if not a story of ‘ghosts of the past that haunts one forever’.

Chills at her Living Cry bundled the tension I felt while reading The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Gilman & watching The Exorcism of Emily Rose. Well-written, mostly rightly-paced, its focus on how fractured mental health may take forever to heal is its strength. Had the book ended at its penultimate chapter without trying to prove things to readers, it would have been perfect for me. This one spooked me, loved it!

Thank you Netgalley & Encircle Publications for the copy.

Publishing date: 30.10.2024 (DD/MM/YYYY)
Thank you to NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for the ARC. My opinions are my own.

TLDR: A woman becomes obsessed with a filly, the onlookers are convinced the filly is evil and the woman is mad, everything goes wrong

A woman and a horse have the same due date, the horse births a healthy filly, the woman's daughter is stillborn. Soon the woman becomes obsessed with the newly born filly and takes her as her own child. Our main character attempts to help on the farm as well as he can while everything around him crumbles.

The characters here are a really interesting read. No one is purely in the right or wrong, they have nuances and reasons to believe what they believe. No-one is purely two-dimensional, but I wish a few of them had more exploration of their character or maybe a few more pages dedicated to them.

Pacing can be a bit all over the place. Sometimes it is very slow, suddenly time moves quickly again, then we are back to slow ramblings. There isn't any proper consistency, but with the theme here that might be fitting.

Story ... I loved it. It had lots of intrigue and questions. I was at the edge of my seat wanting to know what happened next. The suspense, the mystery, the grief, the anger, the madness. This is a great blend of it all. However, the ending is open-ended to some extent and might feel a little dissatisfying to some readers.

I really enjoyed the portrayal of grief. How much it can change a person, how you might seem mad while grieving, and how you can actually turn mad while doing so. It felt so raw and deeply personal. This is very much an emotions based book, and I loved that.

This book might be successful with any readers. Maybe especially those who enjoy some surrealism. It isn't strictly fantasy or surrealism, but it has glimpses of both. Age range is adult to new adult.

I am giving this the full 5 stars. Mightily enjoyed my time with it, ticked all my boxes, and was very refreshing. Highly recommend.

A fascinating story during WWI. The characters are so believable and the author wrote them so well. I only wish the story would have lasted longer. Loved it!

This was a fascinating read that hooked me from the beginning,a and I couldn't put down. I thought the characters and story were both planned well. The author did an excellent job with the flow of the story and keep me, as a reader, interested. I can't wait to read more from this author. I recommend this book to other readers.

Thank you Net Galley, Books Go Social, and Kevin St. Jarre

In 1914, France conscripted men to defend their lands. One young man called to duty was Henri Arsenault, a farmer. An isolated farm in Montagnat, near Lyon, was worked by Henri, his wife Seraphine, with the occasional assistance from a mysterious boy named Olivier. The nomadic boy worked diligently, but only on days when he was hungry for bread, cheese and milk. In anticipation of immediate marching orders, Henri hired seventy-nine year old Alcide Chretien of Paris. Both Seraphine, Henri's wife and Esme, Henri’s bay mare were pregnant and due to give birth about the same time. Alcide was hired to work on the farm in exchange for room and board and to keep an eye on Seraphine in Henri’s absence.

In 1922, an American journalist in Paris wanted to write an unusual World War I story. He chose to research the Cagots, a marginalized population historically found in the Pyrenees Mountains between France and Spain. Treated as outcasts, it was surprising that Monsieur Alcide Chretien, a Cagot, was currently residing in Paris. In a dual timeline, Alcide as storyteller, weaves a tale of traumatic experiences on the Arsenault farm. What was real? What was delusionary?

The unsettling occurrences were jump started by a violent storm. Both Seraphine and the mare, Esme go into labor. In the distance, a neighbor’s child is shrieking in an outlying field. The tone for the disaster is set, producing incredible tension. While Seraphine is delivering a still-born girl, the mare delivers a foal to be named Elise. In an unusual turn of events, Esme rejects her newborn foal while Seraphine obsessively nurtures Elise and moves her sleeping quarters to the barn, no longer occupying the farmhouse. Did the soul of the stillborn child enter the body of the foal? Olivier takes over the care of the bay mare. Olivier feels Esme must be protected from the devilish forces within Elise’s soul.

Slowly, steadily, the Gothic atmosphere surrounds the protagonists. Each in their own way becomes more grief stricken, isolated, obsessed and disconnected from life; the despair is palatable. The reader can’t help but be drawn in. It seems appropriate that this scary Gothic novel was left unresolved.

Highly recommended.

Thank you Encircle Publications and Net Galley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Kevin St. Jarre’s Chills at Her Living Cry is an evocative novel that delves into the haunting interaction of isolation, obsession, and the human mind's fragility, set against the backdrop of World War I-era France. The story follows a pregnant female, deserted via her husband who leaves for conflict, as she navigates lifestyles on a farm with most effective an aged farmhand and a mysterious boy for guide. Her fixation on a newborn foal bureaucracy the core of a story that blurs the boundaries between truth and delusion.

Pros:

Rich Atmosphere: St. Jarre’s vibrant descriptions of the French nation-state and the eerie tone of the farm create an immersive reading experience.
Layered Storytelling: The twin timeline, with a farmhand recounting events years later, adds intensity and maintains the reader engaged.
Psychological Depth: The protagonist’s descent into obsession is dealt with with nuance, making her a complicated and compelling person.
Themes of Trauma: The novel explores the effect of struggle, isolation, and grief with sensitivity.
Cons:

Pacing Issues: Some sections experience slower, specifically in the course of the protagonist’s inner reflections.
Ambiguity: While the open-ended elements add intrigue, a few readers may find the shortage of resolution frustrating.
St. Jarre’s prose is both poetic and unsettling, drawing readers into a world of quiet despair and lingering mystery. The narrative’s awareness on mental anxiety makes it a standout in ancient fiction. However, its slower moments may additionally project readers in search of a extra motion-pushed plot.

In conclusion, Chills at Her Living Cry is a superbly written, idea-scary novel that leaves an enduring impact. It is a have to-study for lovers of atmospheric, character-pushed tales that assignment the bounds of truth.