I thought about this book more once I had finished it, than when I was reading it. There was so much to dissect and still so much not understood (so, great news that book two set in the same world is already out!). But this books refusal to offer easy answers is what has set it apart from many others and it truly resists clear genre classification, skirting with psychological drama, dystopian, sci fi-esque ghost stories.
Themes of identity & belonging are strong within this book, woven around nature, folklore and tradition. Lorraine has an art of creating atmosphere but at a gentle pace, this book won’t surprise you whilst you’re ready it, for example, but your thoughts at the end might. The story is reflective, the characters gentle, the questions… difficult. It’s about the lives we have lost, the ones we have gained, and what, if anything, we have truly left behind.
About the Book
When the internet collapsed, it took the world with it, leaving its digital ghosts behind – and they are hungry. Former photojournalist Katerina fled the overrun cities to the relative safety of her grandmother’s village on the edge of a forest, where she lives a solitary life of herbal medicine and beekeeping.
When a wordless boy finds her in the marketplace with nothing but her name in his pocket, her curiosity won’t allow her to turn him away. But haunting his arrival are rumours of harvest failure and a rampant digital disease stirring up the ghosts, and the mood in the village starts to sour.
Accused of witchcraft, Katerina and Stefan escape into the forest, searching for his missing father and the truth behind the disease. If there is a cure, Katerina alone might find it, but first she must find the courage to trust others – because the ghosts that follow her aren’t just digital.
About The Author
A conservation scientist and third culture Scot, Lorraine lives by the sea writing stories influenced by folklore and the wilderness. She has a PhD from the University of St. Andrews but left academia and turned to writing due to disabling illness. Her debut novel, the dystopian thriller This Is Our Undoing, was a multi-award finalist. The follow up, a dark folkloric mystery The Way The Light Bends, was longlisted for the BSFA Best Novel award; her third book, Mother Sea is an exploration of motherhood, climate change and belonging, and was called ‘complex, rich and beautifully crafted’ by Claire North, author of The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August. Lorraine has been stalked by wolves and befriended pythons, she also runs the Rewriting The Margins mentorship scheme for marginalised writers.
Purchase the Book
This book can be purchased in our store either on its own or in a cosy Book Box.
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