Synopsis:

A year on from the loss of Lord Pelagius Hunt of Mirecoombe, new Keeper Nancy Bligh is still struggling. She can banish the spirits and keep peace between the spriggans and piskies, but every time Nancy sleeps, she dreams of drowning. She is haunted by loss, and by whispers from all around of The Mother, and Nancy’s witchcraft.

As the only witch left, Nancy is eager for any guidance she can have. When she discovers the possibility that her grandmother, the most powerful witch of her time, might still live, she seizes her chance.

Desperate for answers, Nancy journeys across the Cornish wilds to find her grandmother and uncover the secrets of The Mother, before it is too late.

Review:

Mirecoombe has faced a time full of troubles after the events of the year previous. Nancy Bligh is struggling to fill the shoes of ‘Keeper’, drowning in her dreams and haunted by whispers of The Mother when she wakes. Desperate for guidance, she undertakes a journey away from her beloved moors to the coast, in a bid to find her long-lost grandmother, said to be the most powerful witch of her time.

I adore Nancy. She is such a complex and very real character. She’s struggling with so many things here – grief, the burden of protecting the moor and the village, and the frustration of not understanding her own magic. But Nancy is also strong, determined, and compassionate, and I loved following her on the journey she took in this book. Her growth was truly wonderful.

The writing, as in Gorse, was fantastic. Horton’s writing drips with atmosphere and brims with Cornish folklore. Everything felt alive, and I honestly believed I could walk out my door and up onto the moor and bump into Nancy or catch a spriggan out of the corner of my eye. 

As with book 1, I love that there is no fairytale here, the moors and the Little Folk that live there are as wild and as dangerous as they should be. I really enjoyed venturing down to the coast in this instalment and meeting a different side of the Cornish Fae too.

Another beautiful book in the Eythin Legacy, and I truly hope we are treated to another. I highly, highly recommend picking this series up if you want something that is richly detailed, atmospheric and portrays folklore as something other than a fairytale.