As soon as you know what the hell is going on its good! Would recommend.

Couldn't take my EYES off the book. Great world building, interesting characters and pacing was overall pretty solid.

I first encountered Catriona Ward's story-telling in the Flame Tree Press anthology, After Sundown. That led me to The Last House on Needless Street which is one my top reads of 2021.I have to admit, I was a little unsure about this one after reading the first two chapters, but the more I read the more addicted and immersed I became. It truly is such a clever novel. Atmospheric setting, superb characterization, and a creepy cult, woven with folklore elements. There were time when I had to stop a...

This one is the pure definition of a slow burner - and so, so worth that first effort.I probably read those first few pages five times over twice as many days, never progressing past the same lines (Dinah writes a letter, father's room lies empty, books wait unread, visit butcher's shop, rinse and repeat)It took a weekend away with no other unread books around to push past those pages into the most unsettling read I've found in a long time. Eerie creepy dark and twistytwistytwisty - you can't tr...

Our Book Club: 5(Jack's pick)I think I liked it...but I'm not sure yet.

Up until the last 10 pages this was going to be a glowing 5 star review. Much of that is still true - Ward’s prose is utterly gorgeous, easy to lose yourself in the rhythm of the words and the strength of the world she is depicting. This is an excellent northern gothic which utterly gripped and made me care deeply about the characters. Which is why the end left me really flat, it all seemed to just fizzle out. Ward is an excellent writer and I’m looking forward to reading more of her work.

Haunting and mysterious. Pacing was off.

Winner of the 2018 Shirley Jackson award!This book is like The Wasp Factory with a flourish of cult craziness and a good helping of We Have Always Lived in the Castle.If that sounds like something you’d be interested in, then don’t bother reading any further. What a weird, wild, and wonderful book. I’ve never read anything quite like it.The plot is a before and after: a fever-dream rendition of the past where young Evelyn describes her strange life on a secluded island in a damp castle with her

A gothic tale with a mystery at its heart. the story of a cult, led by one man and consisting of two women and four children, who live in a remote Scottish castle two hours from the nearest village, slow burning, intense, atmospheric and beautifully written, full of interesting characters, none of whom you entirely trust. The story was somewhat convoluted but extremely compelling, growing ever more disturbing as it progressed and the mystery became more twisted. I really enjoyed this, it's one o...

After loving her memorable debut Rawblood, particularly the hallucinatory brilliance of its climactic chapters, I knew I would want to read whatever Catriona Ward wrote next. That turns out to be Little Eve, a gothic tale of two girls' lives within an isolated cult. It begins in 1921 with a scene in which Jamie, a butcher in the small town of Loyal, takes a delivery to the Castle of Altnaharra, reached from the Scottish mainland by a causeway which the sea swallows at high tide. The gate is open...

Another magnificent example of Northern Gothic, with all the winning elements of her previous novel RAWBLOOD: the fille fatale; the mysterious cult, the ritualistic lifestyle, the isolated house, the creeping menace. The author handles language beautifully, sustaining the mystery throughout, and the whammy is nicely satisfying. There are shades of Shirley Jackson here, and shades of THE LONEY; my only (small) complaint is that, as in RAWBLOOD, the reader is given no inkling of which actual relig...

I have never felt the need to use the word "masterwork" to describe a book before. But I use it now.You don't know what this book is when you start it. Whatever you've heard, or think it might be, I can tell you that it's not that. I don't quite know how to quantify exactly what it is. It's not supernatural horror. It's not literary fiction. It's something kind of between the two and neither, taking all of the best of those genres and somehow creating something else. It feels unique in that rega...

Another absolutely brilliant novel from Catriona Ward. I wouldn’t call it either horror or crime, although it’s a little of both. Like Rawblood it’s about what happens to the mind when it’s placed under impossible strain; in this case, when it’s exposed to currents of torment, abuse, love and religious mania. The story of the island of Altnaharra, ‘Uncle’ and the four children he raises there is both horrific and beautiful in equal measure. The writing is gorgeous: measured, poetic, compassionat...

"Little Eve" is the sinuous, coiling story of a cult and of a mystery. It's Gothic and rich, but full of surprises, and the writing exquisite. The tongue slips in and out of my mouth, black. I see through it. I taste the world. Each tony current of air is a brushstroke. It paints a great ringing canvas. The sea a cauldron of minerals and rot. Bruised grass rising green, each flint buried in the chalky earth of a dark exclamation. The splintered scent of a grasshopper, the fizzing midges in the a...

I listened to the audio narrated by Carolyn Bonnyman - perfect voice, accent and tone to deliver this gothic horror cult madness!Little Eve is a great mix of untrustworthy characters, murder and mystery set against a ruthless landscape. There is a consistent dose of horror throughout be it psychological manipulation, self delusion, torture, self mutilation, suicide and multiple murders. The split narrative is interesting and the character voices are strong. But it was Evelyn who had me hooked as...

An ingeniously-written novel with more than a few moments of genuine dread and an ending that's damn near perfect.

I have seen a lot of fellow readers gush over Catriona Ward's novels, and took the opportunity of borrowing a copy of her 2018 novel, Little Eve, from my local library. I am, strangely, always drawn to books about cults, as they tend to really intrigue me. Little Eve won the Shirley Jackson Award in 2018, and various reviewers have called it 'magnificent', 'sublime', 'smart' and 'moving'.The protagonists of the novel are Eve and Dinah, and we are told their story through their alternating perspe...

Stunning gothic thriller that unnerves and delights. 'If there is any grace or god in this world, I beg for mercy...'New Year's Day, 1921. Seven mutilated bodies are discovered in an ancient stone circle on a remote Scottish island. The victims are 'the Children' - members of a nature cult ruled by the charismatic, sadistic patriarch, the adder, who believe a huge snake is going to come and end everything.Two accounts of the events are presented - from 'Dinah' who claims that Eve is the murderer...

I think I would give it a 3.5 star review. Was a bit confusing but I loved how things clicked and I was glued for the majority

My second Catriona Ward and my second big thumbs up.Little Eve concerns a small cult on an island in the North of Scotland, mainly focusing on two of the younger girls, Eve and Dinah. The book starts with gruesome murder and then flashes back to a couple of earlier moments in time. I was worried it would be a book which starts with the end and then explains how that point was reached. But beyond the opening chapters there's lot to find out in this cleverly layered story. Much like the other book...