Review | Starve Acre by Andrew Michael Hurley

When their son suddenly dies, Richard and Juliette withdraw into themselves, stricken with trauma. They seek comfort elsewhere. Richard digs for a lost tree on a land rumoured to be cursed. Juliette enlists the help of a medium to contact her dead son. As unexplainable events happen, they remember their lives before the death of their son and discover how grief can linger. But with grief, comes something else too.

𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒑𝒐𝒆𝒕𝒓𝒚 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒚 𝒔𝒑𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒏 𝒂𝒔 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒏 𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏. 𝑶𝒏 𝒂 𝒅𝒂𝒚 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔, 𝒊𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒚 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒅𝒐𝒖𝒃𝒕𝒔.

Starve Acre is a folklore horror about grief, faith, and guilt between two parents. I feel so mixed about this book! I found both Richard and Juliette to be really unlikable even before their son, Ewan, died. When Ewan was alive, he had some behaviourable problems which they could not accept and instead handled in their own ways – Richard with denial, Juliette with anger. This makes their guilt after his death worse, as they both felt they had let him down.

But this story is more than just about a family. Things get super weird! There’s a hare, old woodcuts, a buried oak tree. I have to admit I have so many questions by the end. Are the characters ill or are they haunted?

The plot isn’t terribly original. It employs familiar tropes of suspicious voices, children behaving strangely, haunted historical grounds. However, I found the blend of old folklore tales and modern parenting made for an unsettling read. The writing is lovely and elegant which makes the rare moments of violence and horror really distressing. As the story moves towards its conclusion it was like watching a car wreck – I knew a disaster is coming yet I couldn’t turn away. And what a jaw-dropping ending! It’s the kind of horror that is mundane yet terribly wrong. It gave me shivers.

Starve Acre is a horror story about how far a parent would go for their child and the heartbreaking, lingering effects of grief. Recommended!

I received a copy from the publisher for review purposes.

About the author: Andrew Michael Hurley

Photo by Mimi di Cianni