David M Barnett
Published by the author, 2022
Available as: e
Source: Purchased
ASIN: B0BPJRVXS1
I bought this book after seeing the author mention it on Twitter.
Hob is an intriguing read, kind of Bridget Jones meets folk horror, with a dash of psychological thriller added.
Sophie Wickham is a dissaffected, thirtysomething woman living in London and working at a dead-end data entry job. She spends her salary as soon as she gets it, mainly on wine and Internet bought, wear-it-once-and-and-throw-it-away fast fashion. Mixing the two up, she often can't even remember what she order till it arrives. Most of the month Sophie's juggling creditors and cards, with minute amounts of money left for food.
Sophie Wickham has been living for nearly a year in the remote Lancashire town of Hob. She wandered into it naked and covered in mud and leaves, and was then prevented from leaving both by the locals and by a strange inwardness in the place. Now she's told that she can leave - but she has first to build her bower. (What's a bower?)
Both of these things are true.
This is the story of how one Sophie comes to be the other. It's a strange tale, involving an ancient remnant of older, sentient Nature; a group of cultists who target Sophie and lure her away; and a lot of free love in the woods.
There is a mystery about Sophie's earlier life, one she herself picks away at. It seems that her fate was entwined with Hob and its genius loci many years ago ('Do you know what happens to bad girls? ...Sometimes, Owd Hob takes them for his wife.') Exactly how, and why, though - and what that will lead to - well, that emerges slowly and I don't want to spoil the story. I will only say that the shut in, preserving-the-old-ways, town of Hob is not wholly divorced from the present day - though there are agendas here, and moral standards, that don't sit well with the modern world.
Hob is in some ways a shocking book, reminding us that the Perilous Realm is, well, just that - perilous, different and far from charming. In one of the more shocking scenes, the village carries out a sacrifice. In another, a folktale recounts how a 'bad' woman was consigned to Owd Hob. The thing about folktales, of course, is that you don't know whether they are meant as warnings of what might happen to you, or affirmations of the way of things, of what ought to happen... until it's too late.
This vivid and powerful book is folk horror done right, not just by the numbers. It leaves a lingering sense of unease.
For more information about Hob, or to purchase it, see the book's Amazon page here.
This sounds good!
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