Match BookSlewfoot: A Tale of Bewitchery
Brom
2021 · 305 pages · Historical fiction
How it reads
Slewfoot: A Tale of Bewitchery is historical fiction (folk horror, specifically), and its dominant mood is eerie. It's atmospheric and uncanny, with a sense that something is wrong. The pace is moderate — neither a page-turner nor a slow burn — so it holds up whether you read it in long sittings or short ones.
It's set in a rural setting, in the historical past, told in the third person, staying close to one character. Its central concerns are nature, faith and survival. In weight it's heavy and literary — denser, more serious, and more demanding of you.
It stands alone, so there's nothing else you need to read first or after. The ending is dark — no rescue, no neat bow. At 305 pages it's a quick read. It's well known, the kind of book most keen readers have heard of.
Pick it up if…
- you're in the mood for something eerie
- you want something to chew on
- you want a complete story in one book
Maybe not if…
- you need something cosy or heartwarming
- you need a happy ending
All 15 dimensions
- Genre
- historical fiction
- Author gender
- male
- Author experience
- established
- Setting: place
- rural
- Setting: time
- historical
- Mood / feeling
- eerie
- Pace
- moderate
- Tone / weight
- heavy and literary
- Length
- medium
- Narrative style
- third person, one viewpoint
- Publication era
- recent
- Popularity
- well known
- Series vs standalone
- standalone
- Themes
- nature, faith, survival
- Ending style
- dark
What these mean: the 15 dimensions of a book.
Books with a similar reading
The closest books in Match Book's catalogue across the same dimensions, and what they share.
The Essex SerpentSarah PerryShares: historical fiction, eerie mood, heavy and literary tone, moderate pace- Desert CreaturesKay ChronisterShares: eerie mood, heavy and literary tone, moderate pace, dark ending
- The Witch of Tin MountainPaulette KennedyShares: historical fiction, eerie mood, moderate pace, set in rural
- Annie and the WolvesAndromeda Romano-LaxShares: historical fiction, eerie mood, heavy and literary tone, moderate pace
- Mr. ShiversRobert Jackson BennettShares: eerie mood, heavy and literary tone, moderate pace, dark ending
The WonderEmma DonoghueShares: historical fiction, eerie mood, heavy and literary tone, set in rural
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