Hare House: An Atmospheric Modern-day Tale of Witchcraft – the Perfect Autumn Read

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If I hadn’t laughed before, I might have then, except that we had reached the churchyard gates and were standing staring at them. Her landlord, Grant Henderson, and his rebellious teenage sister Cass are still reeling from the untimely death of their shell-shocked brother Rory. To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average.

There’s the odd tease and the odd flashback, but none of it really built up to anything and just seemed a tad repetitive. The unnamed narrator is a disgraced teacher who leaves London for a rental cottage on the Hare House estate in Galloway. The male characters have little depth (though I quite liked Davey and the ghost of Rory), Cass is a shrill hysteric, and the other women are either poorly sketched out (Helen, Kirsty) or tedious (the malevolent Janet). The blurb in the back mentions “a deeply unsettling modern-day tale of witchcraft” - it never got there. Although, to be fair, none of the characters came off that well overall: the dog was quite endearing but unfortunately failed to make it to the end.I don’t like what the reveal suggested because it invalidates a lot of what the reader suspected was happening. It is well written, very atmospheric, the descriptions of the crumbling old country house, the remote but beautiful location, the freezing weather and of course the spooky goings on in this picturesque corner of Scotland. The unnamed, unreliable narrator (two pet hatreds of mine) is both dull and creepy, and I object to the way that Hinchcliffe implies (through both her and Janet) that unmarried women above a certain age are unhinged. We have an unnamed narrator; a woman whose teaching career came to an end after a seemingly innocuous incident involving her A-Level students. It is very lonely, with only her gloomy elderly neighbour Janet for company - until she is befriended by her landlord Grant and his beautiful adolescent sister Cass.

Sally Hinchcliffe was born in London but grew up all over the world in the wake of her father's diplomatic career.So, I think it’s likely I just wasn’t a good fit for Hare House and I imagine that readers who enjoy these kinds of stories - rather than get trapped in them against their better judgement - will find it well worth their time.

I really enjoyed the writing style, the beautiful descriptions of the Scottish setting and the tension that was created as odd, creepy things began to happen. In the first brisk days of autumn, a woman arrives in Scotland having left her job at an all-girls school in London in mysterious circumstances. I loved reading about the interactions with the characters but especially between Cass and the protagonist (who isn’t named). The 103 third parties who use cookies on this service do so for their purposes of displaying and measuring personalized ads, generating audience insights, and developing and improving products.As the story progresses the lines aren't so clear and the forces that are taking effect seem to be surrounding, if not coming from her.

There was quite a lot I liked in this book - the setting and the people are quite interesting, and I‘m very fond of hares. The narrator thinks little of the remark, but it will prove to be far more significant than she realises.

I expect a book - even one billed as a psychological thriller - to have some kind of build up in the first chapter or so, but I got 1/4 of the way through and felt nothing had actually happened. Whilst all the ends aren't quite tied up, the writing is exquisite and the heart-racing conclusion is just as satisfying. The narrator’s relationship with Hare House reminded me of some other favourite novels with an imposing house at their core: at first The House at Midnight, and later, as things grow more sinister, The Little Stranger.