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Twisted Branches
Twisted Branches is a dark domestic noir on familial love, poisoned loyalty and how we, knowingly and unknowingly, mess up and light up each other's lives.
Artist and matriarch Effie clings to the house five generations of her family called home. But are its ghosts haunting her or is she summoning them? With Effie's death, rejected protégé Kerry-Alice and daughter-in-law Veronica fight to lay her influence to rest in their own lives, but who is truly haunted and who is doing the haunting?
Artist and matriarch Effie clings to the house five generations of her family called home. But are its ghosts haunting her or is she summoning them? With Effie's death, rejected protégé Kerry-Alice and daughter-in-law Veronica fight to lay her influence to rest in their own lives, but who is truly haunted and who is doing the haunting?
220 pages, Paperback
Published October 26, 2023
11 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
October 29, 2023
Really uniquely told family saga focused on secrets and misinterpretations that lead to wrong assumptions but told in non linear alarmist short story chapters within occasional supernatural elements too. Fascinating and engrossing
Full review - https://www.runalongtheshelves.net/bl...
Full review - https://www.runalongtheshelves.net/bl...
November 5, 2023
In Rachel Knightley’s latest collection, the acts of individuals ripple through the generations in a tightly woven domestic noir that reveals itself to be a delicious cat’s cradle as you turn the pages.
While the tales can more than stand up on their own two feet, Knightley’s interlinked approach to the collection’s structure, with magnifying glass poised over the family unit, yields a thoroughly absorbing and beguiling story of the darkness that can eat away at the fabric of home and security.
The key to this is Knightley’s astute storytelling. In deploying a fragmented and displaced timeline, ‘Twisted Branches’ has all the feels of a jigsaw puzzle being gradually assembled. This is supplemented by Knightley’s well-realised characters, with the structure adding layers over time as we get under the skin of the family members, where even the simplest of acts can echo down the generations. Knightley is a beautiful writer, and the evocative descriptions add essential texture to the situations, compelling the reader to follow the breadcrumbs that have been sprinkled along the way.
‘Twisted Branches’, like Knightley’s previous collection ‘Beyond Glass’ is published by Black Shuck Books who are renowned for their strong horror and dark fiction output. Knightley’s writing here does skew more towards the darkness found in everyday lives, but there are a couple of memorable instances that lean into the supernatural side. Knightley is a canny writer; these elements are used in such a disciplined way that they add further goodness to the mix without diluting the overall result.
Overall, ‘Twisted Branches’ is a superb collection of tales that make up for an excellent whole.
While the tales can more than stand up on their own two feet, Knightley’s interlinked approach to the collection’s structure, with magnifying glass poised over the family unit, yields a thoroughly absorbing and beguiling story of the darkness that can eat away at the fabric of home and security.
The key to this is Knightley’s astute storytelling. In deploying a fragmented and displaced timeline, ‘Twisted Branches’ has all the feels of a jigsaw puzzle being gradually assembled. This is supplemented by Knightley’s well-realised characters, with the structure adding layers over time as we get under the skin of the family members, where even the simplest of acts can echo down the generations. Knightley is a beautiful writer, and the evocative descriptions add essential texture to the situations, compelling the reader to follow the breadcrumbs that have been sprinkled along the way.
‘Twisted Branches’, like Knightley’s previous collection ‘Beyond Glass’ is published by Black Shuck Books who are renowned for their strong horror and dark fiction output. Knightley’s writing here does skew more towards the darkness found in everyday lives, but there are a couple of memorable instances that lean into the supernatural side. Knightley is a canny writer; these elements are used in such a disciplined way that they add further goodness to the mix without diluting the overall result.
Overall, ‘Twisted Branches’ is a superb collection of tales that make up for an excellent whole.
December 4, 2023
What a fabulous, weird, excellent collection!
July 30, 2024
Full review at Happy Goat Horror:
https://happygoathorror.com/2024/02/1...
Rachel Knightley is such a talented and intelligent writer. This short story cycle charts the lives of a family over time, and each story is as peculiar and odd as the next. Personal favourites are The Moth, and The Moth Part 2. Bloody brilliant!
https://happygoathorror.com/2024/02/1...
Rachel Knightley is such a talented and intelligent writer. This short story cycle charts the lives of a family over time, and each story is as peculiar and odd as the next. Personal favourites are The Moth, and The Moth Part 2. Bloody brilliant!
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews