Thank you to the author, publishers HarperCollins and NetGalley UK for access to this as an advance reader’s ebook. This is an honest and voluntary review.

 

A perfectly spooky gothic horror/thriller shining an important light on the ways women’s autonomy and sexuality have been policed.

 

Set in 1959 and 1965 the story is based around a private home for unwed mothers. Lichen Hall appears to offer a haven for women to complete their pregnancy and arrange for an adoption. But, the rumours about witchcraft and revenge in the surrounding ghost woods cast as much of a shadow over the occupants of Lichen Hall as their status as outcasts from their families and society.

 

I love the way the story is told. We start with Mabel, who arrived at Lichen Hall in 1959 with her own feelings of ghosts in her body and struggling to believe that she is actually pregnant. Nervous, unworldly Mabel makes a stark contrast to Pearl who arrives six years later frustrated that she’s been forced out of her career as a nurse because she fell pregnant.

 

The switches between Mabel and Pearl’s stories are handled wonderfully, showing their opposite approaches to the challenges presented to them while also allowing a much more thorough exploration of the residents and inherent weirdness of Lichen Hall from their two different perspectives.

 

It’s a properly unsettling, spooky thriller exploring themes of equality and human rights which feel very modern despite being set around sixty years ago.