#Spooktober ‘Little Eve’ by Catriona Ward

About the book…

From Catriona Ward, the international bestselling author of The Last House on Needless Street comes Little Eve, a heart-pounding tale of faith and family, with a devastating twist.

Winner of the Shirley Jackson Award for Best Novel.

“A great day is upon us. He is coming. The world will be washed away.”

On the wind-battered isle of Altnaharra, off the wildest coast of Scotland, a clan prepares to bring about the end of the world and its imminent rebirth.

The Adder is coming and one of their number will inherit its powers. They all want the honor, but young Eve is willing to do anything for the distinction.

A reckoning beyond Eve’s imagination begins when Chief Inspector Black arrives to investigate a brutal murder and their sacred ceremony goes terribly wrong.

And soon all the secrets of Altnaharra will be uncovered.

Due to be republished with a lush new cover by Tor, ‘Little Eve’ was originally released in 2018, and is available in paperback, e-book and audiobook formats. You can download a free preview, courtesy of Tor , here ,who have published it in the US today.

A dark and deeply twisting tale,this gothic nightmare set in a decaying castle off the coast of Scotland, begins with a nearly new Year tragedy.

Delivering the new year beef to Altnahara, in 1921, the local Butcher finds a scene more akin to his shop than a family awaiting a home delivery of provisions.

A tragedy set amongst the standing stones in the grounds, a shocking act if betrayal and a missing person all combined to knock the socks off this reader.

The story then goes back and forth between 2 young women, Evelyn in 1917 and Dinah in 1921, both foundling babies, 2 out of 4 bought to the castle by the elusive John Bearings.

He brings with him 2 women, Nora a Alice who share his vision of the great snake who created the world,who will rise again from the sea to rid us of ‘The Impure’, or outsiders in other words.

The 4 children, Eve , Dinah, Abel and Elizabeth straddle the world of the main land where they go to school and the castle, where they are inducted,almost cult like,into what is expected of them.

Using a snake named Hercules to ‘see through’ , regular rituals are performed and stories told over and over again so the children are in no doubt as to what will be expected of them.

Except…there are secret being shared, doubts which begin to grow until the cataclysmic event at the start of the novel is finally revealed from inception to consequences.

The dark, melodic descriptions of the castle and the way of life seeps into your bones like the smell which lingers on your clothes after paddling in the sea. The insidious nature of cult life and the way that the society they abhor reinforces the way they live through horrible scenes, such as that in the local school, builds a skillful scaffold of menace before relentlessly breaking your peace of mind with a long drop.

Dinah and Eve tell their versions so convincingly that it is difficult to work out who you want to be telling the truth.

Both are victims of a deluded person with dangerous notions -his want to live away from society is easily understandable, but the duping of young minds is awful.

The need to belong, and the damage which you do in creating your sanctuary that then improsons you, is a terrifying notion.

A mystery to be solved, a murderous plot, interlaced with scenes that wring you dry for fear of, and for, these children, Catriona Ward has once again reaffirmed her position as one of the finest modern gothic writers.

About the author…

Catriona Ward was born in Washington DC and grew up in the US, Kenya, Madagascar, Yemen and Morocco. She studied English at St Edmund Hall, Oxford followed by the UEA Masters in Creative Writing.

After living in New York for 4 years where she trained as an actor, she now lives in London and Devon.

Links-https://www.sublimehorror.com/books/interview-catriona-ward-rawblood/

Twitter @Catrionaward @tordotcom