'Since time immemorial, the Haddesley family has tended the cranberry bog. In exchange, the bog sustains them. The staunch seasons of their lives are governed by a strict covenant that is renewed each generation with the ritual sacrifice of their patriarch, and in return, the bog produces a “bog-wife.” Brought to life from vegetation, this woman is meant to carry on the family line. But when the bog fails—or refuses—to honour the bargain, the Haddesleys, a group of discordant siblings still grieving the mother who mysteriously disappeared years earlier, face an unknown future.
'Middle child Wenna, summoned back to the dilapidated family manor just as her marriage is collapsing, believes the Haddesleys must abandon their patrimony. Her siblings are not so easily persuaded. Eldest daughter Eda, de facto head of the household, seeks to salvage the compact by desecrating it. Younger son Percy retreats into the wilderness in a dangerous bid to summon his own bog-wife. And as youngest daughter Nora takes desperate measures to keep her warring siblings together, fledgling patriarch Charlie uncovers a disturbing secret that casts doubt over everything the family has ever believed about itself.'
The Appalachian mountains is an area of the United States that seems to come up in horror a lot. It's remote setting, the ancient feel of the land, and almost sinister beauty that it possesses makes it a great setting for the unsettling and horrific. Kay Chronister's The Bog Wife taps into this beautifully, but moves away from the more common forest setting that Appalachian horror tends to set itself in, and takes readers instead into an ancient bog.
The Haddesley family have lived on the bog for generations, tending to the cranberries there. But the Haddesley's aren't a normal family, and their lineage holds unique history. Generations ago, a member of the family was cast into the bog as punishment for a crime, rocks loaded into his pockets. He sank beneath the surface, and was gone forever; but it seems that he made a deal with the bog as he died. Emerging from the bog was a woman, made from peat, and sticks, and swamp waste. This bog wife married the eldest son, the next patriarch of the family, and together they created the next generation. When it was time for that patriarch to die his body was fed to the bog, and a new bog wife was created for the new heir.
This is how the Haddesley family has operated for as long as they can remember, isolated from the outside world, living in this ancient, mystical tradition. However, as the Haddesley children, Charlie, Wenna, Eda, Percy, and Nora, gather to feed their dying father to the bog their lives are changed forever when the bog fails to provide them with a new bog wife. Now, with their father gone and their future uncertain, the Haddesley siblings must try to find a new path.
The Bog Wife is an interesting type of horror story, in that a lot of it almost doesn't feel like it is one. When the bog fails to produce a new bog wife part of me questioned if perhaps the stories were untrue, that the siblings had been raised to believe a lie. None of them can remember their own mother that well, her having gone years before, so was she not a bog wife as told, but perhaps a normal human? The story continues this way for much of the book, with no overt signs of the supernatural or paranormal, leaving the reader to try to decide for themselves what might be happening. There are answers by the end, but the unsettling journey to them is what made me really enjoy this book.
Instead, a lot of the book is unsettling instead of outright horror, and much of that comes down to the characters. The Haddesley siblings have been raised in something of a cult-like setting, listening to stories from their father telling them how they're special, how they have a connection to the bog, and how the bog itself will provide for them. It's disturbing at times as I came to feel bad for them, and I could see the trauma that they'd been through even if them themselves were unaware of it.
Their isolated upbringing is also reflected somewhat in their characterisation. The siblings are all adults, with Wenna having moved away from the family and set up a life for herself in the normal world. But they all read as somewhat younger than they should be. They act more like teenagers or children at times, and whilst this at first felt a little odd to me I came to the realisation it was because of how they were raised. They'd been isolated, taught by a single father, brought up to believe some strange things, and as such their emotional maturity was somewhat stunted as they'd not had the kind of interactions and growth they'd need to become regular adults.
Each of the siblings also reacts to the sudden shift in their fortunes in different ways. Charlie, the eldest son kind of gives up, doesn't do much, and becomes disengaged from things. Eda, the eldest daughter, steps into the role of head of the family, and tries to keep things together as best she can. Percy intends to make sure the bog and the Haddesley's continue on as they always have, and retreats into the bog itself to try to find a solution. Each of them displays a very different reaction to their world view coming into heavy challenge, and with Chronister splitting the book into various point of views we're able to really get into their heads and see how they're handling it.
The Bog Wife is an eerie book, one filled with suspense and thought provoking characters. The setting also feels wonderfully unique, and Chronister brings the bog to life in ways that serve the story perfectly. For those looking for a slower burn horror story with a creeping sense of dread and lots of characters to get your teeth into The Bog Wife makes for a perfect read.
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