Brown Flopsy's Book Burrow: The Naseby Horses by Dominic Brownlow

The Naseby Horses by Dominic Brownlow.

Published in paperback, hardcover, digital and audio formats on 24th August 2020 by Louise Walters Books.
Read August 2020.

From the cover of the book:

Seventeen-year-old Simon’s sister Charlotte is missing. The lonely Fenland village the family recently moved to from London is odd, silent, and mysterious. Simon is epileptic and his seizures are increasing in severity, but when he is told of the local curse of the Naseby Horses, he is convinced it has something to do with Charlotte’s disappearance.

Despite resistance from the villagers, the police, and his own family, Simon is determined to uncover the truth, and save his sister.

Under the oppressive Fenland skies and in the heat of a relentless June, Simon’s bond with Charlotte is fierce, all-consuming, and unbreakable; but can he find her? And does she even want to be found?

Drawing on philosophy, science, and the natural world, The Naseby Horses is a moving exploration
of the bond between a brother and his sister; of love; and of the meaning of life itself.

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There is something about The Fenlands that make them the quintessential backdrop for an eerie story, loaded with supernatural undertones and lashings of folklore, so Dominic Brownlow has chosen perfectly by basing his mesmerising story, The Naseby Horses, here.

This is the story of a missing girl, so it would be easy to think that this is a novel based on the hard facts and rigid lines of a police investigation, but you would be wrong. Instead, we are treated to somewhat of a genre busting, creepy and portentous tale, and it is all the better for it.

Charlotte is missing, but her twin brother Simon is sure that she is still alive and somewhere close by, and the special bond of twins that he shares with her tells him this is true. He is convinced that there is something rotten at the heart of the Fenland village their parents have moved them to, related to the curse of The Naseby Horses - a tragic folklore tale connected to a carriage transporting gold sent from Charles I to bribe members of Cromwell's army prior to the fateful Battle of Naseby, during the English Civil War - and the cult that subsequently grew up around the village. It seems that the villagers who took part in the rebellious act that led to the tragedy marked both themselves and their descendants for misfortune, although no one in the village wants to talk about it. Whatever the truth, children have gone missing, never to be found. Something is going on here, and Simon is determined to break through the web of secrets and lies and save his sister.

There is something so beautifully lyrical in Dominic Brownlow's writing that draws you in completely to this tale and although the rhythm of the writing is languorous and dreamlike, switching seamlessly back and forth from the present to the past, as Simon recalls pivotal moments he has shared with his family members, I found myself racing through the pages of the book. I loved how our author used Simon's epilepsy to explore the idea of a kind of "otherness" associated with the condition, drawing on superstition and the unreliable nature of Simon's narrative and memories, and twisting this with the paranormal aspects. Does Simon actually see ghosts and feel the resonance of the past? We are never quite sure.

And although this is a novel that sets up the reader to think of horses, it is, in fact, birds that are the major theme of the book. Simon is obsessed with birds, and they are constantly referred to - from the presence and characteristics of different species, especially the beauty of swans, the hypnotic dance of a murmuration of starlings, the sharp-eyes of birds of prey and the brooding omnipresence of corvids; to the passages from Bewick's Swan that he uses as a kind of mantra to anchor himself to the present when he feels himself falling into the blackness of his condition. It is often the birds that tell us how we should be feeling and I found this rather clever.

This is an impressive book, which is heavy with supernatural suspense, and delicious little nods to The Wicker Man, and naturally The Birds. It enthralled me from the start and completely broke my heart by the end. This is a fine example of the wonderful books available to buy from small, independent publishers and I can't recommend it highly enough.

The Naseby Horses is available to buy now from your favourite book retailer, or via the links below - although in the spirit of supporting independent publishing, I recommend buying direct from Louise Walters Books.

Louise Walters Books Amazon UK Amazon US Waterstones

Book Depository Blackwells Foyles

Thank you to Emma Welton of Damp Pebbles Blog Tours for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.

About the author:

Dominic Brownlow lives near Peterborough with his two children.

He lived in London and worked in the music industry as a manager before setting up his own independent label.