First published in a print run of just 300 copies by a small press, The Loney went on to win The Costa First Novel Award and Book of the Year at the British Book Industry Awards 2015. This gothic novel is set on a bleak stretch of the Lancashire coast near Morecambe Bay called The Loney, which is infamous for its dangerous waters.

Well, some of my words are neither here nor there considering the novel but my point is that there is a small group that creates really close community, with strong touch of religiousness - I’m reluctant to call them sect- though sometimes their devotion had something very unhealthy under the surface. I can understand that in such an insecure times, in such disfunctional balance in the world people need reassurance and encouragement. Some people are strong enough on their own while others need support. Flood, Alison (9 May 2016). "Debut novel The Loney wins book of the year at British Book Industry awards". The Guardian . Retrieved 11 August 2017. I still have some lingering doubts/questions/problems, however. When Father Wilfred finds the homeless guy's body, I didn't really buy that scene as motivation for him losing his faith. I expected the cause to be something much more extreme. And the situation of Father Wilfred with his "secretary" Miss Bunce--just when it seemed there was going to be a big revelation there as to their relationship it's immediately dispelled. Not sure if I missed something. And when Tonto tries to pass off the diary to Father Bernard, he emphasizes its importance at being able to help Father Bernard understand how Father Wilfred lost his faith and/or to explain whether or not he'd committed suicide. So that build-up had really led me to think there would be something earth-shattering (or at least reputation-shattering) revealed in the diary, but it was nothing more than him finding the dead vagrant from the beginning of the story washed up on the beach. Meh. How does that make one lose one's faith? He'd even told himself that the tramp "was from the Other world and got what he deserved." That rationalization perfectly fits with his portrayed personality. I was expecting his faith to have been lost due to either: 1) something involving him and Miss Bunce together, or 2) something involving him discovering the "witchcraft" at work on the Loney. But we have some big defects as well. It is a tedious read & there are more loose ends than Penelope’s loom after she’d undone her day’s efforts. Just how did an American WWII army rifle find its way to an old house on the English coast, complete with ammunition? How did Hanny manage to load it without instruction & without ending up with a very sore thumb? Not to mention tossing it about as if it were a baton - an M1 weighs 9.5 lbs & is rather awkwardly balanced. An Enfield would have been a better choice, lighter, better balanced, easier to load & much more likely to be found in England. We are never told why the narrator’s parents are called Mummer & Farther & I kept wondering whether these were pet names or dialect pronunciations. In a non-rhotic London dialect I expect the former would sound to a North American ear like “mummah” but how would the latter sound different from usual? Also how could there have been a 300 year old shrine to St. Anne in England after the Reformation? There’s also a Catholic church with a frightening Day of Doom picture on the wall that’s supposed to have survived from the Middle Ages. Not likely. In the end, the ungodly will not be denied, although the nature of their victory is surprising. Mummer’s burning piety is no match for the devices of the impure. Fr Bernard’s workaday Christianity would have served her better. The virtuous are undone, blinded by their own certainty. Once more the Devil rides out.Meet the man whose debut novel delves into the modern Gothic, went from small print-run to big success and teaches at MMU Discuss "Reconfigurement: Reconfiguring Your Life at Any Stage and Planning Ahead" by E. Alan Fleischauer I pretty disliked the mother of the boys, Andrew had a brother who is the narrator here, her actions- though I understand her motives, I’m a mother too – felt so unexcusable and wrong at times. She so desperately needed a miracle that I thought she wanted it for herself, for without the sign from God her faith could fall apart as proverbial house of cards. After the death of father Wilfred she constantly scolded their new shepherd for everything, for not being Wilfred mostly, and wanted everything was as before. I believe she loved Andrew but she was totally dismissing his needs and not paying attention to his fear.

I've been dreading writing this review simply because I don't know what to say. It's a strange book, if someone asked me to give them a rundown of the plot it really wouldn't take very long and I'm not even sure how I'd go about explaining it. So, as I've described in the brief synopsis, a deeply religious family embark on a pilgrimage to the Loney, a bleak place off the coast of England, along with their parish priest, where they are seeking help for Hanny, who is mute. The story is really about Hanny and his brother, who is the unnamed narrator. Their relationship, and how they communicate, is one of the best things about the book. Hurley seems to have a skill for intricate character development, as the members of the party who go to the Loney are quite distinct and easily recognisable. So, that's one huge positive.

I also think maybe Colliard etc, were perhaps just trying to intimidate Tonto and everyone into leaving as they didn't want to be discovered on Thessaly (or what they were doing) rather than actually harm them?