An eerie and compelling ghost story set on the dark wilds of the Yorkshire moors. For fans of The Witchfinder’s Sister or The Silent Companions, this gothic tale will weave its way into your imagination and chill you to the bone. ’Spine-tingling… the scariest ghost story I have read in a long time’ Barbara Erskine ’Brooding and full of creeping menace’ Laura Purcell, author of The Silent … ’Brooding and full of creeping menace’ Laura Purcell, author of The Silent Companions
’Like something from Emily Bronte’s nightmares’ Andrew Taylor, author of The Ashes of London
Maybe you’ve heard tales about Scarcross Hall, the house on the old coffin path that winds from village to moor top. They say there’s something up here, something evil.
Mercy Booth isn’t afraid. The moors and Scarcross are her home and lifeblood. But, beneath her certainty, small things are beginning to trouble her. Three ancient coins missing from her father’s study, the shadowy figure out by the gatepost, an unshakeable sense that someone is watching.
When a stranger appears seeking work, Mercy reluctantly takes him in. As their stories entwine, this man will change everything. She just can’t see it yet.
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Ghost stories are quite possibly my favourite kind of story. Don’t get me wrong, I love twisted thrillers about terrible people and their dastardly deeds, but nothing quite beats the eerie atmosphere of a good ghost story.
The Coffin Path has creepy atmosphere in abundance. Set in the late 1600s, on a failing sheep farm, the simple farming life adds to the intensity of the book. In fact, the very first chapter begins with the farmer’s daughter, Mercy, delivering a lamb under harsh conditions. The immediate struggle grabs you from the beginning and never lets go.
This is a slow-build horror with fascinating characters and many, many twists. Evil is ever present, always lurking in the background, keeping the suspense going throughout.
Ghost story fans will really enjoy this book.
THE COFFIN PATH, by Katherine Clements is a book I honestly struggled to finish. It wasn’t that the style was bad, or anything fundamental such as that. The story DID have a lot of atmosphere going for it, and it may have worked if not for a few factors.
First, the repetition on the sheep farming: scents, wool, flies, finding sheep, watching sheep, birthing sheep…. One mention would have been good to establish the scene and working environment, but hundreds (or what felt like) pages of the same things being endlessly repeated did nothing except cause me to want to get on with another book. I’ll add tallows to this as well (there’s only so much you can read about the scent of tallows without wanting to end the story).
Secondly, the book was simply not what I was expecting. Yes, there were some strange happenings, and a few eerie moments, but these were quickly eclipsed by more sheep farming, the romances (or lack thereof) of the characters, and the worst–the ending of the book did nothing to shed any light on this.
The end did get more exciting, but not for any of the reasons you’d expect. A great twist, but since it took up so little of what was otherwise a book that I thought was to focus on ghosts, even that just didn’t make me feel like it fit in with the premise of the story.
I’m going with this book was just “not for me”. I know others have liked it much more, and maybe engaged better with the characters (who I’ll admit, I never really connected with). While the gothic atmosphere was there, too many questions that I WANTED answered were pretty much left dead-ended. The final scenes were more exciting, but not at all in the way I expected after reading an entire 90% of the book and then having it morph into something else.
So the Coffin Path By Katherine Clements was a strange one for me, I was really looking forward to this but it didn’t quite deliver and left me feeling a tad confused by that unexplained ending.
So this book tells the story of Mercy Booth who lives at Scarcross Hall with her father and an old servant called Meg.
Scarcross Hall is at the end of the old coffin path that winds up from the village to the top of the moor, hence the stories name.
Stories Abound about the evil that resides up here.
But Mercy isn’t afraid she loves this land.
And when a stranger appears seeking work Mercy reluctantly provides it.
So the stranger, Ellis Ferreby and Mercy’s tales are on a collision course and the fallout is going to be epic.
So this is what I would class as a gothic ghost tale, set in the seventeenth century on the bleak Yorkshire Moors amid sheep country.
The Coffin Path gives vivid descriptions throughout of the bleakness of the times.
The first visual upon starting this is a graphic portrayal of Mercy aiding a sheeps labour and this book continues to provide vivid optical delights.
The atmosphere created throughout hangs heavy with an extremely ominous feel.
Despite this, I struggled at times to fully connect and though the mood was set there never seemed to be an adequate explanation for any of the events occurring.
The Coffin Path mostly relies on its ambience, setting an aura of terror for the reader.
I also felt there were just too many bloody sheep stories being told.
I know where it was set, and the author did show her great knowledge of sheep farming back in the day, which is awesome, but for me, it was just a tad too much information.
I was sick to the back bloody teeth of sheep.
So the ending for this book took me completely by surprise, I saw some of it coming, but there was other stuff that I really wasn’t expecting at all, and if I’m honest I actually feel rather sad and heartbroken for Ellis, poor bloke.
I would have definitely prefered an alternative ending and actually felt that Mercy was a complete cow to the poor bloke.
And also, as I said earlier, I am not quite sure what has actually happened here.
It was all a bit weird if I’m honest.
I was left feeling a bit deflated, this showed so much promise but for me fell totally flat in places.
Saying that this was very well written and had such a lyrical prose you couldn’t help being enthralled by the language and also the overall setting.
So, in conclusion, this was a somewhat solid read but with some issues that I failed to overcome.
I was provided with an ARC of “The Coffin Path” By Netgalley of which I have reviewed voluntary.
All opinions expressed are entirely my own.
Reviewed By Beckie Bookworm
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