This is a curious book and I'm still not sure how I feel about it. It was very atmospheric; the setting of the south west of Scotland really came to life. I love anything to do with hares, and this story was full of them, in all their mystical and mysterious wonder. There was an unreliable narrator escaping from a troubled past, a woman who seemed to bear a serious grudge, another person who kept appearing randomly out of nowhere, talk of witchcraft, folk charms and possible hexes (and TW: some animal death). As I read it I had that feeling of creeping dread; that there was some kind of malevolence around Hare House. But... it never really materialised into anything, and I was left feeling a bit confused at the end of it. What had it all been about?

I really enjoyed this book, more than I thought I would. It tells the story of a newly graduated nurse called Ruby, who gets a job looking after the children of Mr and Mrs England. Unusually for these kinds of stories, the children's father is loving, attentive and engaged with them, whereas their mother seems distant and aloof. However, Ruby begins to realise that not all is as it seems with the family. As well as this, she is also dealing with past trauma from her own childhood. There was a sense of unease throughout the book; I was never sure who could be trusted, or what was motivating certain behaviours, and that uncertainty made me want to keep reading to find out. I'll definitely look out for other novels by Stacey Halls.