The Heralding

 “In the woods between the church and the river, a little east of the mossy bank and down by the blackberry thicket, lay an old path. It led nowhere – at least, nowhere that anyone wished to go.”

– Ashley McCarthy, The Heralding

🐺I received an e-Book of this story in exchange for a fair review!🐺

Taking place over several years in the early 14th Century, The Heralding reads like the meeting of a dark fairytale or fable with the morbid reality of rife plague and starvation in feudal England. The story follows Matilda and the other residents of her village as they struggle through this time of hardship. As the hunger and sickness tightens its stranglehold over the community, theft and delirium swiftly follow. The arrival of a mysterious stranger, seemingly unaffected by the issues plaguing the land, arouses suspicion in the village – particularly as it coincides with a string of animal attacks.

History is not a particularly strong suit for me, but this is actually one period that I’m fairly familiar with, and I felt like the time period and setting were captured perfectly. The location, characters, and overall atmosphere were imbued with authenticity, and were quite clearly well-known and researched by the author too. It was a vivid read, and easy to picture every scene and situation. Despite being a relatively short read, there is a hell of a lot of themes and ideas packed into those pages, from the supernatural and mystical elements, romance, through to religious corruption and the class divides between the rich and poor.

McCarthy’s writing is strong, engaging, and poetic, and the language of the characters never felt artificial, which can sometimes happen in historical fiction. These characters are very well-written as well, especially Matilda – a strong-willed and pragmatic individual, who is likable and easy to relate to. The enigmatic outsider Finn is also a very intriguing person, and the dynamic between the two was terrific, and felt natural.

Although this wasn’t a horror story, there is a very palpable and very real undercurrent of dread laced throughout the narrative. The situation starts off bleak for Matilda and her neighbours, and steadily deteriorates as time goes on and the plague worsens. As she and Finn become closer, the seeds of mistrust blossom, and soon enough accusations of witchcraft are bandied about. I felt that the way this all-too-real hysteria was developed over the course of the book was fantastic.

My only real issues were that I felt the time-hopping of the narrative was a little too frequent for my liking (the chapters are relatively short, and alternate to different years and months each time), and the ending is a tad abrupt, but even with that taken into account, this was a fantastic read. I’m not sure if this is going to be the first part of a planned series – although the ending was open enough that a continuation would be possible – but if it is, I’d be more than eager to follow any sequels.

VERDICT: The Heralding is a superb debut that marries together the fantastical and the romantic with the dark and morbid reality of its setting. The prose is lyrical and very compelling, painting the tapestry of the story perfectly. This was a little outside of my (spooky) comfort zone, but I’d definitely be eager to read more from this author in the future.

It’s a high ⭐⭐⭐⭐💫/⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ from this reviewer. I also want to say a humongous thank you to Ashley McCarthy for providing a copy and giving me the chance to read and review it.