Little Eve

Product Information

He came to the door that gave on to the east of the isle and greeted the air and the sky with relief. In 2022, following the success of Ward's novels The Last House on Needless Street and Sundial, it was republished in the United States. This one is for fans of cult stories (like me) and the gothic (also me), with dynamic characters and intense pseudo-religious psychology.

Still, this was a great fall read and I still feel unsettled when thinking about the story-the sign of a great horror book!The reclusive, crumbling castle, Uncle’s cruel punishments, the sense of gloom and darkness that hangs over the characters’ lives—all of it adds to the creepy feeling that things just aren’t right in Altnaharra. I picked up an ebook copy of The Last House on Needless Street so I’ll likely try that one first, but I could see myself also trying and enjoying this one. There is an ancient stone castle there that houses the likes of a handful of young girls and the limping old man known as "Uncle". Are the secrets held at Altnaharra even more dangerous than any of the members of this group could ever predict?

Ward works in so many motifs—Bible resonances, colonialism, science versus faith, and the pall of war, to name just a few—that the play of imagery is as engrossing as the plot twists, making this a rewarding outing from any angle.And it is slowly and carefully done – the whole book and setting are so atmospheric, and the narrative is so strange. I can understand why these books have been used as reference points, since most people will be at least vaguely familiar with what they're about, but Little Eve is nothing at all like The Loney, and not much like The Girls either since that book was barely about life within a cult.