Water Shall Refuse Them

When I was younger I used to love watching the old British hammer horror movies, there was a certain elegance to them that you just didn't get in other movies. This book is based in 1976 and in the middle of a long heatwave, everything feels slightly washed out, right from the off I got the same feeling of awe that I got when I started a hammer horror as a kid. Due to the heatwave, in the book, characters like Nif stand out more than they normally would. It's very clever writing to have created something so visual with words.

One of my favourite things about this book is the witchcraft, it is nothing like the billions of YA paranormal books, this witchcraft has a rawness to that makes it more real. Nif's family have had a recent tragedy and are struggling to hold themselves together. Nif in particular is struggling and has had way too much responsibility put on her, after a series of finds she develops a new religion based around The Creed. The family then borrow a cottage in a weird little Welsh village, where Nif tries to complete her spell.

This is a wonderful book, the plot draws you in nicely, it is one of those rare books that is always on your mind when you've put it down. A fantastic debut, I'm gonna miss this one.

Blog review: felcherman.wordpress.com/2019/10/26/water-shall-refuse-them-by-lucie-mcknight-hardy/