Literary Fiction
By Andrew Michael Hurley
Paperback 368 pages
Publisher John Murray; 01 edition (7th April 2016)
This book is a strange one to categorise. Officially it's in the 'horror' genre but unofficially it's anything but. Yes, it's decidedly creepy and wonderfully atmospheric but horror it isn't. What you get is an intelligent and beautifully written story about the bond between two brothers; one mute and the other his protector.
The Loney is a Costa Best First Novel Award winner and Book of the Year at the 2016 British Book Industry Awards. For me it was a slow burner; not knowing quite what to expect or where the story was going but feeling compelled to see where it lead. I thought it was an accomplished piece of writing with excellent characterisation and a brooding storyline that slowly simmers and pulls you in.
Book Source: Purchased copy
Rating ⭐⭐⭐
Book Source: Purchased copy
Rating ⭐⭐⭐
📗The Blurb
Year after year, their family visits the same sacred shrine on a desolate strip of coastline known as the Loney, in desparate hope of a cure.
In the long hours of waiting, the boys are left alone. They cannot resist the causeway revealed with every turn of the treacherous tide, the old house they glimpse at its end...
Many years on, Hanny is a grown man no longer in need of his brother's care.
But then the child's body is found.
And the Loney always gives up its secrets, in the end.
📘The Author
Andrew Michael Hurley has lived in Manchester and London, and is now based in Lancashire. His first novel, The Loney, was originally published by Tartarus Press, a tiny independent publisher based in Yorkshire, as a 300-copy limited-edition, before being republished by John Murray and going on to win the Costa Best First Novel Award and Book of the Year at the British Book Industry Awards in 2016. Devil's Day is his second novel.
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