Barrowbeck by Andrew Michael Hurley

BookNotes author: [[ Andrew Michael Hurley ]]

Set of connected folk horror short stories set in the same cursed town over many years. These were great, giving you just enough detail to see where the strangeness is creeping in before often finishing on an odd detail or moment of horror. It left a lot to the imagination as good horror often does. A real sense of place as well, I feel like I know what Barrowbeck is like.

Themes of Nature-is-an-Elder-God and similar to Lanny-Max-Porter

• In each, nature lurks but is twisted. A baby growing in an allotment, tiny animals that may or may not exiwst, a river turning someone into a monster.
• Starting story of the gods has the idea of a cursed land.
• A place where ghosts never leave, the dead don’t stay buried.
• Last story is in the future, where climate change has rendered the town uninhabitable. It’s the ultimate threat coming down the line and horror is a perfect genre to explore this.
• Each story has a glimpse of something horrible- but not enoiugh.