And The Trees Crept In
Author: Dawn Kurtagich
Grade: B
Two sisters leave behind an abusive situation and take refuge with an Aunt at a strange family manor in the woods. Everything goes well for a little while and then Aunt Cath goes off to crazy town, the food dries up, the house begins to rot and the trees… Well, the trees are getting closer.
Silla lasted far longer than I would have. I would have been out the door at the snake thing that happens early in the book. Don’t care if the woods won’t let me leave, as Aunt Cath warns. Let them try to stop me.
I was looking for a Halloween read and really liked Dawn Kurtagich’s book The Dead House so I decided to give this one a go. It’s told (mostly) through the eyes of Silla, a very unreliable narrator. The writing is beautiful. The whole set-up is creepy, atmospheric and very movie like. I could so easily imagine the house and the woods and the creeping doom of the two as they intertwined.
Just a warning there are some serious abuse elements in this book. The younger sister Nori has long-term injuries inflicted upon her and there’s the death of another child at one point in time. The book is not what I thought it was going to be either and it definitely didn’t go where I thought it was going to go…
I think some people honestly might not like that part of the book. Overall I found myself more incredibly sad than scared as the ending played out.
I also wasn’t big on the “love” story or Gowan’s character overall. I think the problem there was so much of his character is kept in the dark for so long and I let my mind go one way with it. His character does make a bit more sense at the end but I was still left with the question, “Well, why did she love him?”
This book is hard to talk about without giving away spoilers. In the end though it was a fast moving read and Kurtagich is a really strong writer that I’ll definitely be picking up again with future books.
Recommend: If you’re looking for a scary read this might not be for you. But if you’re familiar with the writer and want something more creepy, unsettling and character drawn I would recommend And The Trees Crept In.