Hare House is a novel based around the mythology that witches can shape-shift into hares in order to avoid detection and as the title would suggest, the hare is a prominent theme throughout this book. It features an unnamed, unreliable narrator, which adds to the sense of mystery and suspense, as the story unfolds at a steady pace.
The narrator has a mysterious past. She was once employed as a teacher but was forced to leave the school where she worked, for reasons that become known as the tale progresses. At the opening of the novel she has decided to make a new start as a private tutor, setting up home in a pretty cottage in Scotland where the local manor, Hare House, is home to her pupil. Set in the beautiful landscape of Dumfries and Galloway, here she attempts to put the past behind her and move on with her life, but circumstances seem to conspire against her.
Her pupil, Cass, is a troubled young girl of seventeen, who comes from a family that has seen more than its fair share of tragedy. Her next door neighbour is the local busy-body, gossip her main currency, spitefulness dripping from every interaction. It is a tight knit village, where newcomers are regarded with some suspicion and the narrator worries that her past will soon be revealed.
Hare House is a very cosy book. I had expected it to be set in spring and summer, when hares are most active, but this is actually a very wintry book, beginning in early autumn and ending in the deep snow of a Highland winter, where homes and villages are cut off for days, sometimes weeks, due to power cuts and impassable single-tracks roads. The novel is very descriptive, setting the scene beautifully and adding in those lovely domestic details of blazing fires, cosy chairs by the hearth-side and hot cups of tea and coffee, that make the reader feel very present in the story. In that sense, it reads like a hug, keeping you warm as you endure the harshness of being snowbound, without heating or electricity, along with the characters as you read. For that reason, I almost wish I had saved this book for the dark winter nights, but once I started reading, I just couldn't bear to put it down and leave it untouched for several months.
It is an interesting novel with Gothic themes of secrets, madness, witchcraft and deception, subtly worked into the text. The narrator, though unreliable, has a strong voice throughout and it is a book that keeps you turning the pages, eager to read the next revelation of her past, which are used as chapter openings and work effectively as hooks. The ending is suitably ambiguous, in perfect alignment with the main character. It made me wonder if there is going to be a sequel of some sort.
Overall I enjoyed this book very much, and if you like witchy novels then you should certainly give Hare House a try. If you are a seasonal reader though, you might want to save this novel for the winter nights, or at the very least, a rainy summer's day. One thing is for sure, you will probably never look at hares in quite the same way again! Enjoy.
BB Marie x
AD; This book was sent to me by the publisher for the purposes of review. It is available now in hard cover and digital download formats.
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