Starve Acre
"An impeccable work of folk horror" -- Irish Times
An atmospheric and unsettling story of the depths of grief found in an ancient farm in northern England—now a major motion picture starring Matt Smith and Morfydd Clark.
The worst thing possible has happened. Richard and Juliette Willoughby's son, Ewan, has died suddenly at the age of five. Starve Acre, their house by the moors, was to be full of life, but is now a haunted place. Convinced Ewan still lives there in some form, Juliette seeks the help of the Beacons, a seemingly benevolent group of occultists. Richard, to try and keep the boy out of his mind, has turned his attention to the field opposite the house, where he patiently digs the barren dirt in search of a legendary oak tree. But as they delve further into their grief, both uncover more than they set out to.
Starve Acre is a devastating novel by the author of the prize-winning bestseller The Loney. It is a novel about the way in which grief splits the world in two and how, in searching for hope, we can so easily unearth horror.
An atmospheric and unsettling story of the depths of grief found in an ancient farm in northern England—now a major motion picture starring Matt Smith and Morfydd Clark.
The worst thing possible has happened. Richard and Juliette Willoughby's son, Ewan, has died suddenly at the age of five. Starve Acre, their house by the moors, was to be full of life, but is now a haunted place. Convinced Ewan still lives there in some form, Juliette seeks the help of the Beacons, a seemingly benevolent group of occultists. Richard, to try and keep the boy out of his mind, has turned his attention to the field opposite the house, where he patiently digs the barren dirt in search of a legendary oak tree. But as they delve further into their grief, both uncover more than they set out to.
Starve Acre is a devastating novel by the author of the prize-winning bestseller The Loney. It is a novel about the way in which grief splits the world in two and how, in searching for hope, we can so easily unearth horror.
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Community Reviews
Starve Acre was a mixed bag for me. I liked it up to a point. It was well written and atmospheric, but the ending was too abrupt and open-ended. The image you're left with at the end is a shocker, but are too many unanswered questions.
One of the issues I struggled with was Richard giving into his wife's desire to move to his childhood home, given his own experience growing up there, considering that he is presented as the stronger, more stable, and more rational of the two characters. It also didn't make sense that once things started to go downhill, he didn't assert himself and move his family back to the city.
This book is 200 to 250+ pages, depending on the version you purchase. I felt the story would’ve been more impactful as a shorter novella, or a short story.
STARVE ACRE is about grief and loss, and the lengths people will go to when dealing with them. Neil Sharpton‘s THE BURIAL TIDE is also folk horror, and addresses the same issues, but in my opinion is a much better book. Hurley’s book is based on folklore that he created and needs further development, whereas Sharpton’s book is based on existing folklore, which he did a great job of building upon.
Although STARVE ACRE fell short for me, I would like to read more of Hurley’s work, in particular his first novel THE LONEY (2014) which won the 2015 Costa First Novel Award.
The beginning of the book had me drawn in with the atmosphere and the mystery. But it was lackluster by the end. I thought it would be this ending of some hideous creature lurking out in the field, but (SPOILERS) it’s just a regenerated rabbit breastfeeding on the wife. I had to look up what any of it meant. I like symbolism, but having something scarier lurking was better in my mind.
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