Blog Tour Review – The Garden Of Bewitchment by Catherine Cavendish @RandomThingsTours @FlameTreePress

Welcome to Dark Reads stop on the Random Things Tour for The Garden Of Bewitchment by Catherine Cavendish. Thanks to Anne, Catherine and Flame Tree Press for inviting me to take part.

About The Book

Don’t play the game.

In 1893, Evelyn and Claire leave their home in a Yorkshire town for life in a rural retreat on their beloved moors. But when a strange toy garden mysteriously appears, a chain of increasingly terrifying events is unleashed.

Neighbour Matthew Dixon befriends Evelyn, but seems to have more than one secret to hide. Then the horror really begins.

The Garden of Bewitchment is all too real and something is threatening the lives and sanity of the women. Evelyn no longer knows who – or what – to believe. And time is running out.

Paperback: 240 Pages
Publisher: Flame Tree Press
ISBN: 9781787583412

Get your copy directly from Flame Tree Press or Via Amazon

Dark Reads Review

Wow, that was a creepy little tale!

The Garden Of Bewitchment is a Gothic, Supernatural Horror set in 1893. The first thing that I would like to point out is that Cavendish has written this time period perfectly, it read like a much older book and was reminiscent of Wilde and Poe in all of the best ways.

The imagery was immersive and captured the bleakness of the Moors, a perfect setting for an eerie horror story.

I really loved the premise of this book, spinster sisters Claire and Evelyn move into a quaint cottage together for privacy and to embark on writing a book together. The characterisation between these two main characters is brilliant, they both have little quirks and are multi layered and the relationship between sisters is captured flawlessly.

The Garden Of Bewitchment is a slow burning creeping tale, the fist 60 pages or so we are getting to know the sisters and their story, this is a plus for me, I like a good bit of character building, I care much more about the story if I care about the characters. Don’t be fooled by the smooth beginning, it isn’t long before the story takes a sinister turn which gets darker and darker with every page! I was hooked as soon as the ominous toy turned up, it was like a delicious mix between Jumanji and Ouija and I loved it!

Overall I was really impressed with this read, the Gothic period done perfectly, rich characterization and a brilliantly written plot. This was my first Cavendish read and certainly won’t be the last. This is a must read for any Gothic Horror or Supernatural horror fans, go get a copy!

About The Author

Cat first started writing when someone thrust a pencil into her hand. Unfortunately as she could neither read nor write properly at the time, none of her stories actually made much sense. However as she grew up, they gradually began to take form and, at the tender age of nine or ten, she sold her dolls’ house, and various other toys to buy her first typewriter– an Empire Smith Corona. She hasn’t stopped bashing away at the keys ever since, although her keyboard of choice now belongs to her laptop.

The need to earn a living led to a varied career in sales, advertising and career guidance but Cat is now the full-time author of a number of supernatural, ghostly, haunted house and Gothic horror novels and novellas, including The Haunting of Henderson Close, the Nemesis of the Gods trilogy–Wrath of the Ancients, Waking the Ancients, Damned by the Ancients – The Devil’s Serenade, Dark Avenging Angel, The Pendle Curse, Saving Grace Devine and Linden Manor. She lives north of Liverpool with her long suffering husband and black cat.

you can check out her website here

Be sure to check out the rest of the Tour!