Whisper Cottage by Anne Wyn Clark

 

Whisper Cottage by Anne Wyn Clark.

Published 2nd September 2021 by Avon.

From the cover of the book:

How well do you know the woman next door?

When Stina and Jack move to an old rural cottage, they’re hoping for a fresh start. Their new home is run-down compared to their neighbour’s, but generous Mrs Barley quickly becomes a friend.

Until Stina sees a mysterious figure in the widow’s garden, and her happy new life begins to unravel. 

And when she hears strange noises in the night, she is forced to question if Mrs Barley is what she seems. 

Why do the other villagers whisper about her? Why is she so eager to help the couple? And what is she hiding in her picture-perfect home?

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Young couple Stina and Nick head for a slice of rural peace and quiet when they swap the busy city of Birmingham for the Warwickshire countryside. Although their new cottage needs more than a bit of work, Stina hopes this will become a happy family home for them and the baby she is carrying, giving her the chance to put her own disturbed childhood well and truly behind her.

While Nick is out at work at the rural veterinary practice that has drawn them to this neck of the woods, journalist Stina passes the time with some freelance work for a local magazine, making friends in the village, preparing for the birth of their baby, and getting to know their next door neighbour elderly Mrs Barley - whose house and garden are practically picture perfect. 

Although Mrs Barley seems a little odd at times, Stina finds it difficult to reconcile the picture of this little old lady with the one she starts to hear from the other villagers. No one seems to have a good word to say about her, which seems strange given the kindness she has shown to her and Nick. What lies behind these whispers about a woman who seems perfectly harmless, if eccentric? But when Stina starts to see a strange man hanging around Mrs Barley's garden - one it seems no one else has seen - and she hears strange noises and chanting coming from next door, she begins to wonder exactly what this old lady is hiding, and whether there might be any truth in the belief of the villagers that her intentions are evil. Have they made a mistake letting this woman into their lives?

Whisper Cottage is a great mix of domestic noir and mystery tale, with some lovely spooky undertones that draw heavily on themes of witchcraft and otherness. Anne Wyn Clark plays up the notion of outsiders in a close rural community beautifully throughout the story, examining how behaviour viewed as out of the ordinary can be woven into village gossip as tales ripe with suspicion and rumours of the supernatural.

This is a book that finds you second guessing yourself almost as much as Stina does, as she tries to come to terms with the whispers she nears about Mrs Barley and the woman she gets to know. As the strange happenings play out in the present, intertwined with the details of Stina's youth, the history of her relationship with Nick, the clues she puts together about Mrs Barley's past, and the worries Stina has about her own mental stability, the story becomes completely engrossing - and it takes you places you do not see coming, with a few poignant, and sometimes chilling, surprises to finish off everything nicely.

I read this book in a single entertaining sitting and thoroughly enjoyed the way Wyn Clark wove themes of folklore, paganism, forbidden love, trust, loneliness, mental health and motherhood into a slow burn tale that keeps you on your toes! Highly recommended in the run up to spooky season!

Whisper Cottage is available to buy now in paperback, ebook and audio formats from you favourite book retailer, or from the link HERE.

Thank you to Avon Books for sending me a Natgalley copy of this book, and to Rachel Gilbey of Rachel's Random Resources Tours for inviting me to take part in this blog tour.

About the author:

Anne Wyn Clark lives in the UK, in the Midlands, with her husband, son and a feisty chinchilla. She has three (now grown-up) children and five grandchildren. She is particularly partial to Italian food, decent red wine (or any coloured wine come to that...) and cake - and has been known to over-indulge in each on occasions. She is passionate about animals and their welfare. Whilst she has enjoyed writing for many years, a love of all things gothic inspired her to try her hand at producing something dark and twisty, culminating in the haunting Whisper Cottage.