Grey Dog

by Elliott Gish

“Gish’s prose is as sharp as a scalpel.” — Publishers Weekly, starred review

“Grey Dog is a bewitching tale of the horrors of spinsterhood in the early 1900s, with madness and magic threaded through every sentence.” — Heather O’Neill, author of When We Lost Our Heads and Lullabies for Little Criminals

A subversive literary horror novel that disrupts the tropes of women’s historical fiction with delusions, wild beasts, and the uncontainable power of female rage

The year is 1901, and Ada Byrd — spinster, schoolmarm, amateur naturalist — accepts a teaching post in isolated Lowry Bridge, grateful for the chance to re-establish herself where no one knows her secrets. She develops friendships with her neighbors, explores the woods with her students, and begins to see a future in this tiny farming community. Her past — riddled with grief and shame — has never seemed so far away.

But then, Ada begins to witness strange and grisly a swarm of dying crickets, a self-mutilating rabbit, a malformed faun. She soon believes that something old and beastly — which she calls Grey Dog — is behind these visceral offerings, which both beckon and repel her. As her confusion deepens, her grip on what is real, what is delusion, and what is traumatic memory loosens, and Ada takes on the wildness of the woods, behaving erratically and pushing her newfound friends away. In the end, she is left with one What is the real horror? The Grey Dog, the uncontainable power of female rage, or Ada herself?

Genres: Horror, Historical Fiction, Fiction, Queer, Gothic, Historical, LGBT

391 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 9, 2024

Reviews

[CaseyTheCanadianLesbrarian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Are you full of feminist rage? Do you revel in excruciating sapphic longing? Have you been a lifelong Anne of Green Gables fan? Then I have the horror novel for you! Set in a small farming town on Canada's East Coast in 1901, Grey Dog is an extremely satisfying slow-burn story about Ada, a schoolteacher and amateur naturalist. She has arrived at her new post, leaving the mysterious scandal at her last job behind. Through Ada’s diary entries, readers are immersed heavily in her perspective, so much so that the horror escalates so smoothly and subtly you don't realize you're in too deep to climb out until it's too late. At first Ada's strange visions have explanations; at first she can still blend in with polite society. But as the grisly and strange offerings continue — a rabbit mutilating itself, a swarm of crickets that magically disappears — the line between reality, delusion, and traumatic memory begins to crumble.

Take my quiz on Autostraddle to see if this excellent queer horror or another is right for you: https://www.autostraddle.com/quiz-wha...

Original review:

Ahhh WTF!! This is a very slow-burn queer feminist historical (set in 1901) horror that escalates so smoothly and subtly you don't realize you're in too deep to climb out until it's too late. In the middle of a Venn diagram of Anne of Green Gables fans, raging feminists, queers with lots of longing, and lovers of creepy woodsy nature horror is this book's perfect reader.

[megs_bookrack · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first line of the Publisher's synopsis for Grey Dog, by Elliot Gish, promised me the following good time:

A subversive literary horror novel that disrupts the tropes of women’s historical fiction with delusions, wild beasts, and the uncontainable power of female rage...



There is no way I could walk away from that and I'm so glad I didn't. This has probably been my most surprising read of the year in the best ways possible.

Words cannot express what I felt after reaching the conclusion of this novel. Grey Dog delivered EXACTLY what I was promised. I absolutely loved it!



It's 1901 when Ada Byrd, described as a spinster, schoolmarm and amateur naturalist, accepts a teaching post in the remote town of Lowry Bridge.

We get told this story through a series of Ada's journal entries, beginning as she arrives in Lowry Bridge for the first time. We follow along with her as she settles into her home and begins to navigate life in this new environment.

She arrives a wee bit before the school year starts, so she does have time to meet people and acclimate a bit to her surroundings. Ada is very happy to have this chance at a fresh start, around folks who know nothing of her past.



Ada makes friends, gets to know her students and explores the lush natural setting of the small farming community. Everything seems to be going swimmingly, but then Ada begins to notice odd things around her.

Like insects and animals behaving in unnatural ways. Her senses tell her to be afraid. The longer she's there, the more unsettled she seems to become. It starts to weigh heavily on her mind. It's taking a real toll.

How much of Ada's story can we believe though? She's a tainted woman, after all. Maybe it's in her head, the result of some previous issues? Or is there something actually evil lurking in Lowry Bridge?



I had the pleasure of listening to this on audio and highly recommend that format. The narration of Natalie Naudus was perfect for the voice of Ada.

Being presented as journal entries, and listening to it, it made it feel so personal; like I was getting a secret glimpse into Ada's life. It made for a gripping reading experience.

In addition to this, I found Gish's writing style, in and of itself, to be a fantastic fit for my tastes. It was very fluid and engaging. Highly readable. The historical feel of this was spot on. I felt transported.



When I was reading this, I was so invested. When I wasn't reading this, I was thinking about it and wanted to be.

I liked how it felt subtle and understated. There was an overall gothic-sort of feel that stayed eerie throughout. I felt ill at ease frequently without being able to pinpoint why.



I wouldn't say it delivers earth-shattering levels of action, or suspense, but it's just uber-intriguing, the human nature of it all. It gets under your skin and stays there.

Overall, I was very impressed with this. The ending had my jaw on the ground and a wicked laugh escaping my lips.

It was a perfect conclusion; wow. I definitely plan to get a hard copy for my collection. I'd love to reread it someday and annotate.



Thank you so much to the publisher, Dreamscape Media, for not only providing me with a copy to read and review, but also for introducing me to the talent of Elliott Gish.

I cannot wait for more!!!

[Jessica Woodbury · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the best horror novels of the year. An eerie slow burn set in a small Canadian town in 1901 about a schoolteacher escaping her past. I enjoyed this very much but it's almost hard to review because I just want to push it into people's hands and tell them to read it.

While it takes a little time for the horror-y bits to pick up, I didn't find the book itself a dull read. Instead from the beginning we know Ada has a complicated history and that she is struggling to figure out who she is and what she wants. It's no help that she has basically no options as an unmarried woman nearing 30, and cannot tolerate her restrictive father's home. I liked spending time with Ada, and as the book is in diary form it was always nice to have her sit down to tell me about her day.

We slowly build the horror, it's never a straight up scare, but there is a fair amount of gore on the page. (Near the end there is some actual violence, though before that it is mostly the corpses of woodland creatures.) But this is one of my favorite kinds of horror novels that is actually About Something. While modern feminist horror is often quite muddled, once you go back in time over 100 years it's a clearer story. Ada is a feminist character, a woman who wants freedom, a woman who feels the pain of the limitations put on her life. She is also someone who is so used to those limits that she doesn't fully realize what she wants and how she feels. Following her own journey of self-discovery as she comes closer and closer to a supernatural force, becoming more animal is the very kind of thing that starts to appeal to Ada and her love of the natural world. It works quite seamlessly, considering feminism, sexuality, freedom, patriarchy without making you feel like you are being hit over the head with the themes.

A confident debut and I hope we see much more from Gish.

[Sadie Hartmann · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is for all women who resist society's norms of being a "good woman".
-1900s, historical fiction
-journal entries
-MC is a naturalist/scientist/school teacher
-one room schoolhousee
-religious/patriarchal community/church
-creepy woods/something out there
-creepy kids
-isolated widow
-sapphic desires
-madness and delusions
-identity/conformity
-fear of the "other"
Full review on my Patreon, Monday

[Queralt✨ · Rating 3 out of 5]

I want to preface this by saying this is the type of book you go into blind. The only ‘relevant’ things to know is that it follows a 29-year-old woman named Ada Byrd when she moves to a small Canadian village to teach. It’s set in the early 1900s, it’s a slowburn horror novel, it’s LGBTQIA+, and it’s feminist. I recommend it to anyone who supports women’s rights and wrongs.

This book was exactly what I thought it’d be. I saw a YouTuber talking about it for maybe 30 seconds and I already created my own idea of the content of the book, and it was pretty much that until it went crazy. What it did, it did very well. I enjoyed the writing and I loved that it was diary entries. The horror creeps into the story slowly. For the most part, I found the characters to be way more interesting than whatever was going on with the animals. I was curious about the strange child Muriel and Agatha. My favorite thing was just everything about her sister and sisterhood.

I can’t really review much without ruining the book. I liked Ada until the 30-40% of the book and then I didn’t. It just goes in a direction I don’t particularly enjoy in books and my idea of female empowerment clashes a bit with it, I guess? This being said, I loved how quirky, bitter, and opinionated Ada was in the first chapters.

Honestly, this book was amazing until it wasn’t. The first chunk was nothing original and slow, and when the ‘out of the ordinary’ stuff started going downhill, the pacing continued being slow. In short: first chunk has good writing but nothing special, second chunk is slow and goes in a direction I don’t like. This will get into spoilers so I’ll just list my main issues. Disclaimer that I am very nitpicky with books and just sensitive to some stuff:

1) The grey dog thing sort of stalking/grooming Muriel if that makes sense? Like I get it but leave the kids alone. (this is just nitpicky me lol).

2) I don’t know how to word this. This book seems to force freedom and (animalistic) wildness with the concept of female empowerment (or female rage). This makes sense because of the time, the patriarchy, the asshole father, the anti-LGBTQIA+ everything, religion, Ada’s past sexual assault, big long etcetera. But I don’t know how we stretch this concoction to hurting children and sexual and physical assault against women (aka: the ending). I’m probably just being a snowflake. I think there are other ways to highlight or show Ada’s descent into wildness (?) (FOR EXAMPLE: Ada’s only ‘friend’ gets to be lowkey assaulted and killed, but Ada’s father gets… what? A little talkback? OK then). The ending was very off-putting to me.

3) I think Ada is written to be disliked. The book starts with constant reminders that she isn’t a proper lady (ugly, fat, wearing pants, lesbian) and it just kinda rubs me the wrong way when the ‘ugly’ character becomes ‘evil.’

[Praveen · Rating 5 out of 5]

" It happened again. God help me, it happened again."

The story begins in 1901. A lady is going to fill the post of teacher in a small village town, 20 miles away from Portsmouth. The train she is on is stuff-packed. Mr. Grier, an acquaintance of her father, will come to pick her up from the station. At his house, she will board. She is Miss Ada Elizabeth Byrd. This is her story. She writes down everything date-wise. She had been posted at Willoughby before coming here.
She is pondering after looking at a door in Grier's house. She is always worried about how much Mr. Grier has been told about her year in Willoughby, the place of her previous employment.

"I stumbled looking at that door, and not only because my legs were stiff with disuse from the journey, for there had been another red door, only a year ago, that had irrevocably changed the course of my life. As I looked at Grier house, I felt that I could see that door laid neatly over this one—that I was in Willoughby again, watching that door open onto my ruin."

She joins the school where most children are farmer's kids, she teaches them in her unique style, takes them to the woods, and shows them insects and animals. I witnessed some beautiful natural settings. Wilderness, grassy, woody, and full of insects and skulls. She also portrayed the social setting and demarcation between the families in that small place.

"They were of course from the other side of the bridge—the side where, as her husband had said, people ain't quite like us."

Then there are some queer and creepy things that happen to her again and again. She does not know what it was all—her illusion or some impending danger chasing her. She wants to tell all those hideous, horrible things that were happening around her. But she shies away, yet she wants to unburden her soul to someone. I enjoyed how these scenes were depicted. The characters in the book are unique and developed really well by the author. I liked them. That strange Melville girl child and her strange father, Agatha. They stay with you.

In the past month, I have read so much women's writing and women's-centric themes. I have requested this book to change my taste, to get some horror, as it is claimed in the blurb, gothic horror in historical fiction. Though creepiness was there, there were some scary, macabre scenes. But they were kept under control and beautifully incorporated into the plot. But as I ended, I found that it was another book that was nothing but all about a woman's fury, frustration, sensuality, shame, and emancipation.

Being the debut novel of the author, I will highly appreciate the story-telling skill; it is clean and
figurative language. Very imaginative. At some places, her sentences are explicit in meaning, and at other places, they are non-literal. A push factor, which I consider an incentive for a reader, was present. The author pushed me ahead in the plot with her off-centre yet lucid writing. Her way of keeping the reader engaged in a scene was amazing; she will force you to keep thinking, like, 'Was it about the wind in the trees? or about an animal moving around in the brush? Or was it about derangement? or was it just deceptiveness? or the cleverness of the characters involved? Was it about the shame and scandalous past of the characters?'

I will especially mention the scene when 'Ada' is stuck inside the school and there is a storm outside. She is preparing new words for the kids, and a danger lurks from outside, and all those scenes where Ada turns violent and loses her temper are impressively written. This book was an almost five star reading experience for me throughout. The writing, story telling, and historical Gothic setting were all to my taste, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. Only the ending was not as per my expectations; it would have been made a bit bigger, both in message and in story. Also, while incorporating so many mysterious and hideous scenes, somewhere the author stretched the story out and made it a bit slow in the middle. The title Grey-Dog remained a bit deceptive, as I kept yearning for the appearance of that hideous creature after every macabre scene. But for me, overall, this book was an amazing read, and I will recommend it to all. It had a greater message than a mere horror tale. A promising author.

Read this story of a woman's rage and rescue, of a woman's frustration and freedom, of a woman's shame and sensuality, of a woman's fear and ferocity!

"Have you not guessed it yet? I am not a place where nature can be weeded and tamed and kept in order. I am tree roots- and dark hollows- and ancient moss- and the cry of owls. I am not a thing that you can shape, not anymore. I am no garden, but the woods, and if you ever come near me again, every bit of wilderness in me will rise up to bite you. I will tear your throat with my teeth."

At the end, I will say, I felt like 'some gelatinous clouds of frogspawn were turning into wriggling pollywogs'!
Thanks to Netgalley and ECW Press for an advance copy.

[Netanella · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Have you not guessed it yet? I am not a place where nature can be weeded and tamed and kept in order. I am tree roots - and dark hollows - and ancient moss - and the cry of owls. I am not a thing that you can shape, not anymore. I am not garden, but the woods, and if you ever come near me again, every bit of wildness in me will rise up to bite you. I will tear your throat out with my teeth."

In 1901, Ada Byrd is a disgraced spinster, a school teacher who has been sent off by her overbearing and abusive father to the farthest school house he can find, the remote farming community of Lowry Bridge. There Ada tries to fit in to the quaint, religious society, keep a low profile, and teach her children what she loves best - natural history and the environment around her. But the study of flora and fauna is frowned upon by the locals, who see Ada as strange and unseemly and not quite ladylike.

But as the months progress, Ada starts to see things and hear voices - a bloody tale in a flower arrangement, a dead bird, a deformed faun, a grey dog - and she fears she is slowly losing her mind. At the same time, the hidden trauma of her family and childhood - and what seems to be the typical plight of every woman who is stuck in her 'place' during this time - is slowly revealed.

There is a lot of trauma around birthing - the deformed faun, for one, and then the deadly pregnancies of the women who surround Ada - her mother, her sister, her friend, herself. When Ada begins to recall her memories of her mother - that she thought it was only natural for her mother's illnesses to be accompanied by bloody linens - I was aghast. No wonder Ada seeks to rebel about a woman's 'place.'

This is a slow burn, but one that I read and relished while reading it. It is literary and subversive and feminist, and filled with love and pain and longing that slowly and ultimately transforms into something truly horrific. 5 stars from me. I really loved this!

[Cynthia · Rating 2 out of 5]

“But there is only one way to be a good woman. It is such a narrow, stunted, blighted way to be that I wonder if any woman throughout history has been up to the task. Perhaps none of us ever have.”

This is a kind of f*ck the patriarchy, “let women be who they want to be” book, and I like that. I really do. And I like that it tackled the way these gender expectations (for women) seemingly provoke madness. I was on board with these noble ideas, but I don’t think, aside from the many moments of overt telling, the story communicated what it was supposed to communicate. The symbolism was muted throughout most of the story. When it came, it was more of a cacophony, and the novel’s final scene really missed its mark, eradicating anything I might have deemed praiseworthy.

Matters were not helped by the fact that this was a rather dull slow burn. Grey Dog felt so mundane and normal for so long that I had to go reread the synopsis to ensure I hadn’t mixed this one up with something else. I expected a weird tale, and it did eventually meet my expectations with its strangeness, but that wasn’t enough to salvage the experience.

I am immensely grateful to Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for my copy. All opinions are my own.

[Shannon · Rating 1 out of 5]

I am utterly confused about why this has been so highly praised as a novel depicting feminine rage and the triumph of a woman scorned.
Maybe I didn’t understand it the way others interpreted it. Maybe I’m missing something.
I will agree that it’s definitely subversive to have Ada embrace ‘madness’ as she shucks off societal expectations of what a ‘good woman’ is like, but I don’t know that it’s necessarily empowering? At least, it didn’t feel that way to me.
Ada has suffered horrible abuse in her life, and I’m not going to say that she doesn’t deserve to lash out after what she’s experienced, but the only interaction that felt satisfactory and justifiable was her confrontation with her abusive father. Her increasing desire to harm her young students, her nearly blinding one of those students, her taunting of Mrs. Greer by bringing up her deceased young son, and her assaulting of Agatha (multiple times, including Agatha’s death) made her a completely unlikable character for the wrong reasons. I don’t understand the intention behind making a character, whom you presumably want your readers to sympathize with, to be so insufferable. Listen, I’m a fan of morally grey or complex characters, but this really feels like an odd choice.
I really, really dislike ‘feminist’ literature that pits women against each other. Sure, you can have female characters that don’t get along or even are at odds with one another, but why is Ada horribly punishing the women (and young girls) of this town, when it has mostly been men that have wronged her in her life?
Her father has done terrible things to her, and yet he only gets a stern talking to? I’m confused.
By the end of the book, Ada has nearly become an animal, and it is at this point that she is her happiest and most free. But it feels like such an exclusionary form of feminism or empowerment. Rather than using her new confidence and power to encourage other women or punish her abusers, she goes feral and turns her back on everyone in the town besides the one other person who heard the call of the Grey Dog.
Is Ada becoming so animalistic and returning to nature supposed to be empowering? I can understand that she has progressed past the point of caring what other people think about her, but it leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Especially because of the ending.
What brought this book down to one star for me is how Ada assaults and murders Agatha at the end of the book. The language that is used when Ada pins Agatha to the floor with her weight and strength, then kisses, licks, and bites her neck is very reminiscent of language used when authors typically describe men sexually assaulting women. Why, in a book that has already condemned sexual assault, would you have your main character exhibit this behavior, especially with the language used? I don’t understand the intent, and it leaves me feeling more sick and disappointed than impressed or satisfied.
Beyond these points, the first half of the book dragged terribly. I know it’s supposed to be a slow burn, but it didn’t even feel like there was a fire going. I was just looking at cold coals for 60% of the book before the spark even lit.
Maybe I am a bad feminist, or maybe I’ve completely misinterpreted the author’s intentions, but this book totally unimpressed me :/

EDIT: I mentioned it in a below comment, but I want to clarify that I am mostly responding to reviewers that labeled this book as “feminist”, as it very much is not (in that it is not traditionally empowering in the way you would think). The “female rage” mentioned in the description is also not satisfying, as the victims of Ada’s rage (despite having made mistakes/hurt Ada) aren’t the ones who would be most deserving of her wrath. These reviews are what influenced my experience with the book, and I wouldn’t want anyone else to go into it with false expectations. I stand by my rating, but that reflects my opinions on the scenes with Agatha, as well as my dislike of the pacing and the conclusions we are left with.

[Bethany (Beautifully Bookish Bethany) · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars rounded up

Historical fiction meets queer feminist horror in this quietly disturbing novel about gender constraints, bodily autonomy, and female rage. Set in 1901, Grey Dog follows a teacher & amateur naturalist taking up a new position in a small town. Ada befriends a local widow who is a bit of an outsider and begins seeing strange things in the forest.

What's very effective about this is that the reader can't tell if Ada is a reliable narrator, or if she is losing her mind as the story progresses. It leans into expectations of feminine respectability, and of the constraints placed on women's sexuality and interests, especially during this time period. It's a quieter novel, but the horror elements slowly grow and become more disturbing towards the end. And I'm still not sure how I feel about the ending. It is both unsatisfying and entirely appropriate. And even the part that's unsatisfying seems intentionally so. The audio narration is excellent and creates a sense of foreboding atmosphere as well as place and time. I received an audio review copy via NetGalley, all opinions are my own.

[Yvonne (the putrid Shelf) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, ultimately, I’m unsure how to process this one. The central narrative as I took it was – being a woman is enough to drive a woman mad. This was a beautiful story with inflections of the time period. I love some historical horror, but this took me over a week to finish and I can usually finish a book in a couple of days. I'm unsure if that is a me problem or what but I found myself sighing when I needed to pick it back up, perhaps if it hadn’t been an arc, I would have DNF’d it.

Ada Byrd is a thirty-year-old teacher in 1901. She has sought employment in the small town and almost imediately she can feel the presence of something strange, something strange about the women, about herself. She has boarding with the minister and his wife and makes friends with a couple of the women but soon finds something unknown calling her from the woods. It calls her by name, its sweet lilt pulling her toward the woods on the wrong side of the bridge.

There is a bit of emotional disconnect for me. I felt the writing was hauntingly beautiful, but I just failed to connect with it and the FMC. So much doesn’t happen for the longest time and then when it did, I felt like the reader had a carrot on a stick floating just out of their grasp.

[Aubrei K (earlgreypls) · Rating 4 out of 5]

4⭐️

Grey Dog is a sapphic slow burn historical literary horror about a teacher who moves to a small town in 1901.

It is written in the form of a journal, with the main character taking a detailed account of her move to this town.

I loved that the story was written as a journal. Most of the entries were fairly short which is probably one of the only reasons I was able to finish it as quickly as I did - considering it was 400 pages and very slowly paced. At the beginning I was immediately drawn in and excited to see where the story would go, but by 40-60% I was starting to get a little bit impatient. The book is very atmospheric and moody, but most of the book veers more towards literary fiction about female rage than it does horror. If you go into knowing this there is no way you will be disappointed.

"A woman laughing is always a disturbing thing for a man to witness."

*Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the free digital ARC in exchange for an honest review*

[Adrienne L · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wow, and I expected to really like this one.

[Stacy (Gotham City Librarian) · Rating 4 out of 5]

UPDATED REVIEW, 12/23: I’m so glad that I decided to pick this ARC back up and give it another chance. Though it took a while for me to get into it, (the first fourth of the book was a lot of setup and repetition), the story eventually got more exciting and the horror kicked in. It still kind of felt like a long read, but I ended up enjoying it.

I stand by my stance that the journal format doesn’t work in long form. After a particularly long paragraph of dialogue, Ada writes that she “transcribed the speech from memory.” Actually, you’ve transcribed all of this dialogue from memory. The entire book. There are a couple of things that happen that are difficult to picture Ada picking up her journal and writing about immediately after. (The ending specifically comes to mind.) But I digress.

This is a very, very slow burn. It’s also one of those books where the narrator constantly alludes to the mysterious and dark things that happened in her past and teases you with that information, but takes forever to give you any details. Though you finally start to get the tea about halfway through and it’s interesting.

The strongest point here is the language and descriptions. This author is wonderful with prose. The scary scenes are a bit sporadic at first but well written. Once Ada begins to see things that don’t appear to actually be real, they are visceral and atmospheric and frightening. When the story eventually picks up, it’s worth the wait. I do think that things are a little repetitive as far as Ada’s experiences with her visions, but they are scary and varied enough that I liked reading about them.

I was also interested in how things were going to play out regarding Ada’s blooming friendships with the mysterious and interesting women in this new town. The characters are set up in a way that drew me in and made me want to know more. This story can be frustrating at times, especially if you’re aggravated by reading about women being mistreated by men and betrayed by the friends they thought they could trust.

The author tried to make all the school children into interesting characters but I couldn’t keep track of them and I wasn’t terribly interested, either. But only one of the children is sort of important to the plot and she does stand out from the rest, at least.

I did love the ending. It was cathartic and worthy of everything the story had been building to. In fact, I think the ending added a full star to my rating.

This is creepy, snowy woods horror. Good for Winter reading. There’s a touch of folklore, and it’s filled with unsettling scenes of a woman losing her grasp on reality.

Thank you so much to Netgalley and to the publisher for the early copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

TW: Domestic abuse (physical and psychological), Insects, Religious bullying, Bodyshaming, Animal harm (quite a bit), Sexism, Miscarriage


ORIGINAL REVIEW, WHEN DNF'D: I hate to give up on a book when I was granted an ARC, but this is just too boring for me. I'm never opposed to a slow burn plot, but this one is so subtle that it doesn't really feel like horror. Plus, I should've paid more attention to the fact that it's written like "historical" fiction. That's absolutely not my taste. (The one exception being that Gemma Amor Christmas story that I read recently.) Add to that the fact that the entire thing is structured entirely in journal entries, (another pet peeve), and this read was doomed from the start. Other reviews say that it picks up at the end, but I don't have the patience to get there.

[KB · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is almost 400 pages and nothing really happens. I understand wanting to set up the narrative, and create a sense of time and place. I think that's done pretty well, actually. Early on, you get little hints that something is off, or there might be an odd occurrence the main character experiences - but it never builds to anything. There is finally some action as the book nears its end, but the author just takes far too long to get there for it to be effective. And in terms of labelling this as horror, there's nothing scary about it. It's not a terrible read, though; I enjoyed it just enough to finish the whole thing. I think Grey Dog might've been more successful had it been shorter, or had the horror been more intense and apparent earlier on.

[Janelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

How to describe this book? It seems like an historical novel set in 1901/2, Ada Byrd goes to teach in a small village after a scandal at her last post. There’s a slow burn of creepiness and strange events around Ada, there’s a mystery about the previous teacher, there’s the awful domestic violence story of Ada’s beloved sister, Florrie and also their relationship with their overbearing and violent father. And then there’s Norah Kinsley, a beautiful widow, mysterious and witchy. And what’s with the forest, and the strange child, Muriel? There’s so much here and it was a slow burn to begin with and then I couldn’t look away, the final sections completely compelling. Women’s wants and needs, the control society has over them, their appearance, behaviour, desires etc. So many thoughts! A brilliant read.

[Nina The Wandering Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

"I am not a place where nature can be weeded and tamed and kept in order. I am tree roots – and dark hollows – and ancient moss – and the cry of the owls. I am not a thing that you can shape, not anymore. I am no garden, but the woods, and if you ever come near me again, every but of wilderness in me will rise up to bite you. I will tear your throat out with my teeth."

This was very slow paced but pushing through was SO worth it.

[ThatBookish_deviant · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 ⭐️ (Rounded up for Goodreads)

“It has become obvious to the world at large that I am not quite right.”

The most exquisitely bewitching slow-burn folk horror I’ve read all year! Elliott Gish stuns with her debut novel, Grey Dog. I bought a copy to support her as a queer librarian writer, plus it’s a book I’ll certainly be reading multiple times.

Told through a succession of diary entries, Ada Byrd is a most iconic unreliable narrator. Ada accepts a schoolteacher post in the isolated village of Lowry Bridge. It’s 1901 and Ada, a spinster naturalist, is eager to escape the tragedies of her past and settle into a quiet life.

But something ancient prowls the woods of Lowry Bridge. There’s a nameless entity within these woods that wants to consume Ada. Will the monsters that lurk succeed? Will we watch Ada descend into madness as her sanity slowly unfurls?

Grey Dog is a historical gothic novel infused with trauma, madness, magic, queer longing and an escalating sense of dread. Gish explores the many ways women of the early twentieth century were monitored and abused, both psychologically and physically. If you enjoy stories with feminist rage, feral children, gross body horror and sapphic vibes then you need to read this book!!!

[Lauren Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've seen reviews that mention the "thesis" of this novel is "being a woman is enough to drive a woman mad", but I take serious issue with that premise, as it declares that womanhood is the problem. No, being a woman living under a misogynistic patriarchal society is enough to drive you mad, because society's treatment of women is the problem, not being a woman itself. With that said, I don't think that's what the book is trying to say anyway. The blurb summary states Grey Dog is "a subversive literary horror novel that disrupts the tropes of women’s historical fiction with delusions, wild beasts, and the uncontainable power of female rage." But I disagree with that too. There is no subversion of tropes here. Everything is just as on the nose as Ada Byrd's name - "the woman with the animal name". Am I supposed to find subversion in the unhappy ending? Ada is absolutely destroyed. She is mad - the very thing she feared becoming so as not to end up in an asylum. And she is a murderer - not even using her newfound freedom and power to take down those who oppress her, but another woman, a woman she has claimed to call a friend and to have feelings for. But she rejected Ada, so I guess she has to die? Ada succumbs to evil. To a creature that kills children. SHE hurts children. What am I to take away from that? And I hate hate hate the way Grey Dog is portrayed as a lover. Ada as its bride - or just ONE bride in a growing harem. Ada's descent into madness isn't fun or cathartic the way good stories about feminine rage are supposed to feel. Good feminine rage stories make you root for the woman raging, not because she's sympathetic (I don't need my characters to be 'likeable') but because her victims are even less sympathetic than she is. They deserve her revenge. They are not innocents. That moral grey area is what allows people to enjoy "women's wrongs". It doesn't hit the same when you do... whatever Grey Dog is trying to do.

[alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

Grey Dog's compelling central thesis is this: that being a woman is enough to drive anyone mad.

To prove it, elliott gish blends elements of historical and literary fiction with gothic horror, resulting in a convincingly bleak, oppressive early-20th century small-town atmosphere. It is slow and skillful work that reminds me somewhat of Burial Rites by Hannah Kent; though not moored by any one true historical event in the same way that Burial Rites is, it shares those characteristics, languishing through journal entries in the everyday, the routine - the mundane - to paint a portrait of ultra-realism.

However, I did find this ultra-realism a hindrance at times. There was an emotional and even temporal distance to the narration that I did not enjoy; there was no immediacy, something that seems obvious given the format, but that robbed the narrative of any tension. Much of what propelled the plot forward were revelations by other characters, initially delivered via monologue to our protagonist, transcribed later in her diary. Perhaps this is a matter of taste, but I do think there were choices that could have been made to more accurately reflect the stakes for what is really quite an existential, dramatic novel.

Thanks to NetGalley and ECW Press for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s 1901. Ada is a new schoolteacher in a small village. We follow her as she gets acclimated to her surroundings. She makes new friends, teaches, goes to church. If that was all this novel was about that would be great. Those aspects are well-written and kept me engaged with the book. But…

There is something in her past. Also, there is something insidious underneath the story which is revealed slowly. The novel is filled with dread. It’s difficult to put a finger on what is actually happening until much later.

It’s not a fast-paced thriller. But, it’s a rewarding story if you’re willing to be patient. It definitely takes its time. It also deals with loss, regret, grief. There are also the societal norms of early twentieth century that are laughable now. Ada is a thirty year-old “spinster.” Way past her prime lol.

Also, this author can vibrantly describe smells lol. The stench and filth of a certain character are ingrained in my mind.

[charlotte, · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rep: lesbian mc

CWs: past sexual assault, gore

Galley provided by publisher

I think it's would be fair to call this one an it's not you it's me book. Really, it was well-written, but what it lacked for me was a certain compellingness and any atmosphere to actually make the tale at all effective. I'm sure I've said multiple times I'm not built for horror, so reading this was sort of risky, only it turned out not to be scary in the slightest. It was barely disturbing! So yeah: not one for me (with the usual caveat that that doesn't mean it won't be for others, etc etc).

[Elle · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

This was a good read, but wasn't exactly what I was looking for at the time. It took a long while for the horror elements of this book to start developing for me. It felt more like a contemporary book for a while.

I did appreciate the sapphic aspect to this book and highlights on women's issues. I honestly wasn't expecting to get that from this read.

It was an extremely slow-burn horror book though. If you're looking for a horror novel from start to finish, then this probably isn't what you're looking for. But even so, I think this book had a lot of great qualities even if it didn't immediately satisfy my desire for immediate horror.

TW: miscarriage, animal death, child death, pregnancy, gore, violence, misogyny, death, grief, rape, infidelity

[Alex Z (azeebooks) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Did I just read the perfect slow descent into madness???

Grey Dog is filled with female rage, literary goodness, and subversive witchy horror. Ada is a disgraced school teacher who has taken a post in a small community to appease her abusive father. As she starts to lose sense of reality, we also pick up pieces of her past and understand her history.

Grey Dog is filled with female rage, literary goodness, and subversive witchy horror. This was just SO good. I loved that this started as a very classic, woman in a new town story and ended in something much wilder. This is a love letter for fans of classics who also love a bit of wilderness horror. Think of LM Montgomery meets The Ritual.

Thanks Elliott Gish for the wild ride!

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Available April 9, 2024

Thank you to Netgalley and ECW Press for an advance review copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

[Holly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. It is definitely more of a slow burn with a lot of creepy ambiance. Personally, I was also hoping for a bit more romance. What it had was in line with the book - sort of a distorted, dark view of romantic instances. The historical timeline felt accurate and I loved the focus on all the female relationships. I would recommend this if you’re looking for a slow burn, creepy, lgbt+ friendly book and don’t mind it not having a pronounced relationship in the telling.

[Sam · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

My Selling Pitch:
The Scarlet Letter x Dracula but make it lesbian horror. And then don't make it scary and direct all your feminine rage at other women instead of the patriarchy.

Pre-reading:
Like cat dog but worse! I love this cover.

Thick of it:
Does this count as epistolary? (Google says yes.)

It’s reminding me of Dracula and Emily Wilde.

I better not be needing to know who these children are because their names have immediately left my brain. (You do not.)

Moue

This is slow. And Scarlet Lettery

Are she and Agatha gonna be lesbians?

26% I have two predictions for this book. She’s gonna have a mild lesbian affair with the pastor’s wife. The pastor is going to be pissed and kill the wife, so girlypop is gonna snap and team up with the widow witch and start cursing the town to get revenge for her sister and her lover. OR girlypop is going to hang out with the widow and have an affair with her because she can’t have the pastor’s wife. And the calling to her psychological horror bit is going to be her gay panic. (Like basically, but also tell me how either of those would’ve been better books than the one we got.)

What is it with calling lady parts mossy clefts? Yuck.

I feel like every time this book uses the word queer it’s trying to do a cheeky double entendre to the modern meaning.

I'm assuming girlypop was raped or had an affair with her last host? Maybe had a baby and gave it up? (Nailed it.)

Is Muriel her dad’s new wife because would not be surprised, and also ew. (Nailed it again.)

Emily Wilde but make it horror lol

And title drop

This book is slow and boring. Like I get it. Life sucks for women. The end. (That’s it. That’s the book.)

That moment when a book lists obscure vocab, and you’re insane and track the new vocab you find in books.

Abstemious
Aeromancy
Ambuscade
Drawncansir
Dysphagia
Hebdomadal
Minikin

See, I would never survive in these horror books because I’m like oh, the demon wants to come in? Yeah, let him in. We’re gonna fall in love.

Ha ha see, I recognized it as a violent love story.

The demon says I can fix her.

Here’s the thing, I’m all for female rage, but blowing your life up over your daddy issues to prove him right is pretty goddamn stupid.

“I am no garden, father.”
Baller line.
Following it up with I’m tree roots and an owl, not cool. Just cringe.

Girlypop don’t fuck bugs.

The end of the book is the most interesting part of it, and I’m still so checked out.

Lame.

It’s bad taste that this whole book is women are subjected to men’s endless desire for them and suffer because of it, and then it ends with girlypop also just assaulting and killing a woman because she can’t fuck her. Ew, brother ew.

It’s like the book’s message is like oh she doesn’t have to be a proper young lady, but she’s still just an asshole? You’re not entitled to someone just because you want them?

I just don’t fuck with the idea of feminine rage being incel behavior. Yes, ladies are equally entitled to be assholes, but frame it that way? Don’t pretend this bitch is a hero. Oh, she stuck it to society! She killed someone, Susan. Get a grip.

Post-reading:
This was lame.

Don’t tell me you’re a horror novel if you’re not gonna scare me. And if you’re like but Samantha, the book had lots of gore! I saw more blood on my period this week. Don’t amateur hour me with this shit. Make me wince. I want another Ninth House, goddamnit. And that book’s not even sold as horror.

I don’t know what it is with these historical horrors lately that are just like life sucks for women, and then they die, and no one fucks the demon. The end.

I think objectively the voice in this book is well written. It definitely feels like a play on Dracula and the Scarlet Letter. But I don’t really fuck with those books either. I think they’re way too slow. This book is no different. You’ve gotta get halfway through before anything happens, and even then, it all feels very expected. I felt nothing for these characters. It felt like we were ticking off boxes for women’s trauma without any nuance to it. And I don’t know if there was wiggle room to add nuance to it. Because it is just kind of a miserable relay of facts that like yeah, it was olden times so women’s lives sucked. It’s 2024 and we’ve still got fuckers trying to get us to be homemakers.

So clearly, I’m down for some feminine rage. Doesn’t even have to be the musical. I don’t know if this book qualifies as that, or if it does, it doesn’t scratch the itch. It reads less like feminine rage and more like a self-harm temper tantrum. Which like cool. I am all for feminism granting us the equal opportunity to be shitty human beings, but don’t sell her to me as a hero then? The book reads like you’re supposed to root for our main character, but she straight-up sucks.

She’s got some serious femcel behavior. It just doesn’t leave a good taste in my mouth when you make your character think she’s so cool because she’s not like other girls, and then have her kill a bitch just because she won’t fuck her. What is that?

This book had so many opportunities to be sexy, and it’s never sexy. That feels like a failing. I want my demons sexy, or at least threatening. He’s never scary. The demon’s a pussycat leaving presents on the back step. It’s lame!

It’s slow burn and vibey. There’s just no substance to it, and I don’t like the messaging. I think you can pick up better, but fuck, what a cover.

Who should read this:
Historical slow-burn girlies
I blindly support women’s wrongs because #feminism

Do I want to reread this:
Nope

Similar books:
* The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne-woman punished by society for not conforming to the patriarchy
* Night Bitch by Rebecca Yoder-mommy horror, magical realism
* Rouge by Mona Awad-femme horror, fairytale retelling
* Thirst by Marina Yuszczuk-lesbian vampires, historical
* Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield-femme psychological horror, lesbians
* Bunny by Mona Awad-femme psychological horror, lesbians
* Tell Me I’m Worthless by Alison Rumfitt-queer psychological horror, body horror, sexual violence
* The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo-historical, my boyfriend’s a demon
* Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett- epistolary, academic writing, mild horror elements, romantic subplot
* Lone Women by Victor LaValle-historical, magical realism, the real horror is how small towns treat nonconforming women
* The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V. E. Schwab-historical, magical realism romance, make a deal with a demon, but don’t fuck him

[mel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Format: audiobook ~ Narrator: Natalie Naudus
Content: 2 stars ~ Narration: 4 stars

The year is 1901. Ada Byrd moves to Lowry Bridge, where she will teach at a local elementary school. We get to know the town and the inhabitants through her diary entries. Besides that, we also learn her story - why she came to Lowry Bridge and what happened to her sister.

It’s probably me. Literary horror is one of my favorite genres, and I have a picture of what it should be like. I like slow-paced novels, but only if slow pacing makes sense. I wish this novel would start at roughly 50 or even 60% because I considered giving up on it several times while reading the first half. Although the second half was much better, even very good, it couldn’t make up for the first part. The damage was done. I appreciate themes like resistance against the patriarchy. But unfortunately, I think this often felt forced, and emphasizing it constantly overshadowed the primary purpose of the novel.

I am sure that despite what I wrote above, many readers will like this novel. If you like slow-paced historical fiction and feminist sapphic horror, this book might be a good choice.

Thanks to Dreamscape Media for the advance copy and this opportunity! This is a voluntary review and all opinions are my own.

[Ashley Daviau · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book grabbed my attention from page one and I only grew more engrossed the further I got. It’s creepy and queer and just EVERYTHING. What really sealed the deal for me was the ending though. It’s not often the final pages of a book literally make my jaw drop!

[Joy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can't believe I voluntarily read a horror book but was curious about feminist rage horror. Haligonian author intentionally uses queer for its other meanings. The inequalities of the early 20th century are difficult to bear. I didn't find the horror that scary; the insects, animal skulls, still births, grey dog, raven wing etc - as Shehan Karunatilaka said in his Booker winning novel, it's not the supernatural monsters or ghosts we have to be scared of, it's the humans. Honestly, our capacity for cruelty and indifference to fellow human beings and other living beings is what terrifies me. 3.6 ⭐️

[kimberly · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5/5
A historical litfic gothic horror that’s also a little witchy and focuses on a woman who may be going mad? It should have been the perfect read for me; it was a book that I wanted to love but it turned out only being ok. Something about the narration felt stilted and I felt like I was being held at a distance, making it difficult to really engage emotionally. I still enjoyed my time within these pages though and I loved the hauntingly beautiful descriptions of nature and wilderness.