The Bone Weaver’s Orchard by Sarah Read

Journalstone-Trepidatio, 2019

ISBN-13: 978-1947654686

Available: Paperback, Kindle edition

A young boy. A boarding school with dark secrets. Familiar ground for experienced horror readers, yet there’s something fresh and entrancing about Sarah Read’s debut novel that is utterly poetic in its horror. Expect a one-sitting reading if time permits. The writing is like a smooth blues ballad, sung by a virtuoso. Read has a voice that might remind one of Shirley Jackson melded with Neil Gaiman.

Charley Winslow finds himself at the Old Cross School for Boys, a tired boarding school that was once much more than what it now seems to be. Young boys are dropped there to be raised and educated by a faculty that is mostly apathetic. He attempts to fit in, but finds his only true companions are the ones he brought with him in his insect collection. Immediately bullied and beaten, Charley seeks to find a place for himself, and discovers that students tend to go missing.

He finds aid with the staff nurse and school gardener, who help him discover the building’s dark history, but it is his many-legged friends who lead him to a pool of blood hidden behind a wall, where the adventure truly begins.

The tall gray figure that visits at night is trying to tell him something– is it warning him or something much worse?

The Bone Weaver’s Orchard is best described with as little backstory and plot as possible. The secrets unfold quickly in this tale that will leave a scar, yet one that is so pleasantly attained. This is an auspicious debut that comes highly recommended.

Reviewed by Dave Simms