This shining star of a book has been so thoroughly praised I feel like a heretic in raising my lonely voice in disagreement! Andrew Michael Hurley has extended the audience of the British folk-horror revival. Photograph: Hal Shinnie 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. I think all cities have a darkness and edginess to them which one could associate with the Gothic. Though Manchester does have the Town Hall as a great gothic centrepiece and is, like other northern cities, haunted in a sense by the industrial buildings of the past. Coming in on the train through Castlefield, the Victorian railway arches and criss-cross of lines are reminiscent of Piranesi's etchings; they have that kind of ominous, cavernous feel to them. Hannay is more attuned to the import of the place than his brother. He is fascinated with the pregnant girl and her unborn child, and perhaps senses the implications of her presence for the child and for himself.

The answers to these questions are often unsettling, and occasionally horrific. But as we see Father Bernard’s faith in action and how it differs from Mummer’s and Father Wilfred’s, as we begin discover the powerful and primitive beliefs of the people of the Lancashire countryside, we are drawn—as Tonto and Hanny are drawn—into questioning the nature of belief itself and our own relationship to faith. Postmistress wrote:I totally agree that this book is an enigma but it is hard to decipher whether the inconsistencies result from the unreliable1st person account or just poor editing.... It left me so frustrated. Many readers have heaped praise on Hurley's characterisation but I felt that this was the books biggest weakness and the main reason why the plot felt peppered with irrelevance. I suspect this review will attract me my fair share of hate mail (well, maybe not literally) but my honest opinion is that this is still a novel in draft that would have benefited from a fair bit of further work. I don't in any sense begrudge Andrew Hurley his success with it and I'm surely open to the accusation that none of my books have yet won the Costa. However, I simply hope that when we see more from this clearly natural writer he and his editor will have taken more trouble to tie up the loose ends. Andrew Michael Hurley discusses his book The Loney which won the Costa First Novel Award in 2015. Recorded with an audience at the Liverpool Literary Festival and presented by James Naughtie. Some people may have a conception of ‘Gothic’ in their heads which means antiquated tropes, like creepy houses and twisted towers. Others see the ‘Gothic’ as more of a fluid thing; and that is inherent to its nature – the ability of literature to transgress and turn over barriers, bringing something else alive.This review was originally posted on my No Time is Passing blog: http://notimeispassing.wordpress.com/...

One merely became qualified to pass from one system to the next, that was all. Routine was a fact of life. It was life, in fact.” The Loney has been reviewed in The Guardian and The Telegraph. [6] [7] It is set in the area of Morecambe Bay in north west England, described in the text as "that strange nowhere between the Wyre and the Lune". [4] Hurley has said that the novel's two starting points were "to write a kind of dark version of the Nativity [...] and exploring ideas of faith and belief" and "various wild, lonely places on the north west coast of Lancashire [...] a sense of imminent menace or dormant power lying just under the sand and the water". [8] It is the winner of the 2015 Costa Book Awards First Novel Award [9] as well as the British Book Industry award for best debut fiction and book of the year. [10] Not particularly. I don't think in 'gothic' terms about what I'm writing, because that would mean I would have to conceive of where the edges of the genre begin and end and what is and isn't 'Gothic'. But because the "supernatural" plays a part in the stories that I write, it's inevitable that my work is categorised under that umbrella. The 'gothic' is one lens you can use to read my writing, but Devil's Day, for example, is as much about history, family, loyalty, identity as it is about hauntings and demons.” Can you tell us a little more about the dark Northern landscapes that have inspired you? Why the North in particular? Obviously The Loney was predominantly about faith. Devil’s Day is probably not quite so much about organised religion, but there are definite parallels between the two books. It’s a kind of giving over to something bigger, a faith in something much bigger than yourself, where the individual doesn’t matter so much as the group. They’re both about a kind of fundamentalism. Here we talk to Andrew Michael Hurley about his latest achievement, association with the Gothic genre, views on the ‘modern Gothic’ and much more: Hello, Andrew. Congratulations on The Encore Award! How does it feel to have won?

Media Reviews

There's a mysterious death at the heart of the novel; complicated and destructive family relationships, and running through it all a story of faith and superstition, imagination and fear. To the author's delight it was described as 'an amazing piece of fiction' by the master of modern gothic himself, Stephen King. One of the joys (and frustrations) of writing a novel is that what you set out to do isn’t always what you end up doing. It wasn’t my intention to necessarily write a gothic horror and since the publication of The Loney I’ve been asking myself how it became one. As far as I can make out, the answer lies in the landscape that first inspired me. Harrison, M. John (26 October 2017). "Devil's Day by Andrew Michael Hurley review – dark tales from the moors". The Guardian . Retrieved 8 April 2019. An unwholesome fecundity pervades the novel. Fr Bernard is the only one who seems immune to the airs of the Loney and to Mummer’s narrow vision. But solid good sense is not enough to avert ghastly events.

After Wilfred's death, a new priest comes in, Father Bernard, trying to find some fresh passion in the Church, and a chance for a piInstead I got to the end and wondered if had missed something and went to sleep questioning myself. Modern classics in this genre are rare, and instant ones even rarer; The Loney, however, looks as though it may be both. Apostolides, Zoë (3 November 2017). "Devil's Day by Andrew Michael Hurley — northern frights". Financial Times . Retrieved 8 April 2019.