Of course, that was the whole point of the re-enactment, that we ourselves became the ghosts…

This a deeply haunted book in a very disturbing (but not explicit) manner. It’s a coming of age novel and it involves a teenage girl kind of maybe slowly learning that she might be Queer by watching an older woman be an older woman, treat her earnestly, treat her well, and care for her.

So that’s the thematic pitch for this novel. The plot, however, involves a summer archeological/anthropological primitivism study where a group of college lecturers, students, and a family who’s just into it go to Northumberland and “live off the land” in a kind of “Iron Age” study.

Sylvie, our protagonist and narrator, is dragged along with her mother by her abusive father. He’s an outdoors enthusiast and kind of guide on the study, really getting into the different authentic aspects of the trip. Sylvie is not so into it, but becomes increasingly into Molly, the older college student who she falls in love with (and who treats her as a friend and respectfully). As she falls further into her feelings, she drifts more and more away from her father, who seeks tighter and tighter control over her.

It’s not a “thriller” by any means, and reminds me a lot of writers like Cynan Jones and Dorothy Allison, Ali Smith, and Jeanette Winterson — with some John Cowper Powys tossed in a little.

It’s a small book, but the voice, and narration, the pain and the heart ache at the center of everything is earnest, and real, and touching.

(Photo: https://kazoobooks.com/product/ghost-wall/)