The Lost Village

How it reads

The Lost Village is horror (folk horror mystery, specifically), and its dominant mood is eerie. It's atmospheric and uncanny, with a sense that something is wrong. It moves fast: plot-driven and hard to put down, the kind of book that carries you along even when you're tired.

It's set in the wilderness or at sea, in the recent past, told in the first person by several narrators. Its central concerns are secrets, loss and grief and survival. In weight it sits in the middle: substantial without being heavy going.

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 340 pages it's an ordinary novel's length. It's moderately known: read by plenty of people, but not a household name.