In the asylum he painted medieval style paintings of demons, which have been rediscovered and lauded.ĭoubt is now being cast on his guilt, and suspicion is being cast on Maud instead, spearheaded by Patrick Rippon, journalist on the Sunday Explorer Magazine. The novel begins with the now 69 year old Maud Stearne, whose father was committed to an asylum after murdering a local person when she was a child. The overarching religion of the time is controlling and powerful, with locals attending the ornate medieval St Guthlaf's church, with its ornate demons and fallen angels. The isolated manor house of Wake's End is owned by local landowner, historian and scholar Edmund Stearne, in the midst of Guthlaf's fen, an area bursting with superstitions, folklore, myths and legends, of the dreaded 'fen tigers' a savage people doctoring their 'ague' with a powerful home brewed opium. This is a glorious piece of Edwardian gothic historical fiction from Michelle Paver, it has elements of horror and madness, set in the remote village of Wakenhyrst, surrounded by the fens of Suffolk at the start of the 20th century.

Wakenhyrst is a terrifying ghost story, an atmospheric slice of gothic, a brilliant exploration of the boundaries between the real and the supernatural, and a descent into the mind of a psychopath. And when he lies awake at night, he hears a scratching sound – like claws on the wooden floor.

The stench of the Fen permeates the house, even with the windows closed.

But the doom keeps returning to his mind. It's horrifying in its depiction of hell, and Edmund wants nothing more to do with it despite his historical significance. His terror is only briefly abated when he discovers it's actually a painting, a 'doom', taken from the church. When Maud's mother dies in childbirth and she's left alone with her strict, disciplinarian father, Maud's isolation drives her to her father's study, where she happens upon his diary.ĭuring a walk through the local church yard, Edmund spots an eye in the undergrowth. Edmund dominates his family tyrannically, in particular daughter Maud. It is the home of Edmund Stearn and his family – a historian, scholar and land-owner, he's an upstanding member of the local community. 1906: A large manor house, Wake's End, sits on the edge of a bleak Fen, just outside the town of Wakenhyrst.

Wakenhyrst novel