Water Shall Refuse Them by Lucie McKnight Hardy
I picked up my copy of Water Shall Refuse Them back in October when Lucie McKnight Hardy appeared with Andrew Michael Hurley at an event in Manchester to talk about their respective novels and the influence of folk horror on their work. However, I didn't actually start reading the book, which Lucie kindly signed for me, until June. As it's set during the blistering heatwave of 1976, summer felt like the right time to read it.
Needless to say, as soon as I picked it up the weather turned into a solid fortnight of rain and cold and I'm writing this in July wearing a fleece-lined sweatshirt dress, sheepskin boots and leggings and drinking a mug of Bovril. But no matter. Water Shall Refuse Them is so strongly atmospheric that I could still practically feel the sun beating down and the sweat trickling down my back as I read it.
The story begins, as many of the best folk horror stories do, with a family moving from a town to an isolated rural village, this time in Wales, where …
Needless to say, as soon as I picked it up the weather turned into a solid fortnight of rain and cold and I'm writing this in July wearing a fleece-lined sweatshirt dress, sheepskin boots and leggings and drinking a mug of Bovril. But no matter. Water Shall Refuse Them is so strongly atmospheric that I could still practically feel the sun beating down and the sweat trickling down my back as I read it.
The story begins, as many of the best folk horror stories do, with a family moving from a town to an isolated rural village, this time in Wales, where …
