I loved this historical tale of queer medieval nuns and an isolated community trying to survive out on the fens in the face of escalating bad luck, or is it a curse? Hilda is a very relatable narrator – a sceptical, practical, loving infirmarian, trying to do her best and keep those she loves safe. The fens are brought alive so captivatingly by the writing – vacillating between a generous place of big skies and peace that Hilda clearly loves, and a threatening wild force curling its claws around the people trying to eke out a huddled life in its midst. You can almost taste the distant salt on the air, feel the breeze scudding over the great flat watery expanse, carrying an edge of... wait, is that something burning? It’s got a wonderful level of folk horror and landscape-uncanniness, a melding of Christianity and other older beliefs and practices, and, without giving anything away, I felt it had a very satisfying ending. Definitely recommend.

Eerie and poetic debut about dysfunctional nuns living in an isolated convent slowly losing their minds. The writing here was brilliant. It transformed me right back to England during the Middle Ages, a world of brutal realism, paganism and blind fellowship. The book has so much heart and soul, deep love, suffering and sacrifice. I will remember it for a long time.

Beautifuly written full of belivable detail this novel deals with the period in Britain when belief in the old gods vied with belief in christianity & finds a path betwen both in a near fantasy resolution.

Having lived near the fens and knowing how remote and bleak they can be, it was easy to take myself back to 990AD. An isolated convent ruled by the Abbess with the aid of her most senior nuns. Sister Hilda, the infirmarian, does her best to keep everyone as healthy as possible with her limited means. The Mere takes a young child and confuses his mind, a curse appears to be brought on the convent and the sisters discover a darkness that has surrounded them. I found this book a slow read but very atmospheric and supernatural. I think it's a book you'll need to read again to understand it fully. I certainly will.

I liked the oppressive setting of this book, the strangling isolation creeping around this already isolated place. But the people are far from isolated, even if Hilda in her infirmary feels totally cut off from the rest of the convent and the church she serves - they're viciously, naively, and desperately all ontop of one another and in the way. A little belaboured at times in dropping hints we got the first time, and a main character who wavers between detached authorial voice and snapping presence. (Also please, "winters" or "years", please pick one.) The horror moments are definitely creepy, the setting feels so real, and the ending!!