The Girl Who Loved Skulls

by Lisa Hutchinson

Fern is a pleasent girl, wanting nothing more than a quiet life, to have adventures, to dream... to indulge her love of bones.Yet when horror smashes her quiet life to pieces from an unexpected source, Fern finds that sometimes we need pain to evolve.

37 pages, Paperback

Published April 5, 2024

Reviews

[Corrina Morse · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fantastic little book from Lisa, sad, shocking, chilling, and darkly beautiful. A quick one-sitting read that packs a powerful punch! It's really well written, immersing you in its world quickly and completely. It reminded me a little bit of my own youth, not that I went as far as Fern, but I had a fascination with the beauty of skulls and death from a young age, so that added an extra layer for me, and made it all the more enjoyable.

Fern is 10 years old, a lonely girl with a fascination for death. Bullied by her peers, and with only one person in which she could call a friend, Ben. Although he only seems to want to be her friend when no one else is looking. Though they don't really share the same hobby, they do have fun partaking in it together, digging around in the dirt in the sanctity and privacy of the forest, bone collecting!

Fern is in awe of the bones she finds, she respects them, delights in and admires them, and treasures each and every one as part of her own personal collection. But nobody truly understands her, so she keeps them hidden and doesn't share her delight.

One Sunday morning, while her mother sleeps in, she heads to the river in the forest with Ben. He convinces her to go deeper into the dark depths among the trees, where they are hidden from prying eyes and far from home, and where their friendship is truly tested in a shocking turn of events, and which ultimately, leads to her finding her perfect treasure…. 🖤💀🖤

[Shauna Eleney · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderfully dark and macabre novelette! We follow Fern, a ten year old girl who has been kind of left to fend for herself. She has a hard time of it in school and at home. As a result, she has really thrown herself into her...hobby.

Hutchinson does well here to build tension and a general feeling of unease in such a short tale. Really enjoyed this and look forward to more.

[D.J. Doyle · Rating 5 out of 5]

For a short story, this seems to fit a lot in it. These kinds of stories always freak me out when it comes to children.

It's well-written and you feel for the character. It's not gory but it has that intense creepy vibe. I enjoyed the ending, probably too much.

[Mark M J Green · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nobody loves Fern. Even her mother seems to be annoyed by the young girl's presence. School is a nightmare of bullying and abuse.
Luckily, she has Ben, her only friend., and even though the boy wants their friendship to be kept secret, Fern doesn't mind. She had a few secrets of her own. For instance, she has a fascination with dead things, or rather, the bones of dead things. Best of all, though, are the skulls. Fern loves skulls more than anything else in the world.

The Girl Who Loved Skulls is the debut solo title from author Lisa Hutchinson, who has co-written several titles with Kelvin VA Allison and has her work appearing within various anthology titles.
This story shows her ability to tell an intriguing story that will have you sympathising with the main character and joining in her sense of peace as she examines her collection of bones.

Fern finds beauty in death, but what will she do when the darker sides of human nature place her in danger?

I, for one, am eagerly looking forward to reading more of Lisa's work in the future.

[Jim Ody · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wonderful quick read. I stayed up to 1am to read it from cover to cover. A fabulous book about a girl with an unusual interest. Well written, Lisa is able to keep the pace moving whilst mixing in suspense with some really heartfelt moments. A great novellette.

[Catriona Mowat · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a really good short about Fern, a girl who has been abandoned by the world and finds comfort in her unusual collection.

Dark and heartbreaking in equal measure, I was swept away by Fern’s story and wasn’t ready for it to be over! Really well done

[Angel Medina · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's a great short story about a girl named Fern who wants to be accepted by her peers. Heck, even her own mother doesn't pay much attention to her, probably because she's dealing with her own demons. However, she has quite a secret. She collects bones and skulls of dead animals. For a short story, it hits really hard. Lisa does a great job building Fern as a lovable but strange character in less than 30 pages. I feel this could have been expanded, but honestly, it was the perfect length.

It's a heart-breaking tale of a young girl who just wanted to be accepted. So she developed quite a creepy hobby to make up for the loneliness.

There's not much gore in this one. This story is toward the creepy side of the horror spectrum. For a short story, I really enjoyed it! I can't wait to read more from Lisa.

[Lee Richmond · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you're looking for a short, but effective read, then this is definitely the book you're looking for. Lisa Hutchinson does a great job of crafting layers to her protagonist in just 33 short pages that most authors would need a few hundred to accomplish. Fern is a likable, but put upon character, and it would be great to spend more time with her, seeing where her strange hobby takes her next, should another book appear in the future. I will definitely be reading more from this author.

[Graeme Reynolds · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fern, the protagonist is one of those girls that just doesn't really seem to fit in anywhere. She's largely neglected by her mother who is working all the hours god sends to provide for her daughter after the death of her husband. Her mother is clearly suffering from considerable trauma in the wake of her bereavement but has neither the time nor money to address it. This means that, while Fern has a roof over her head and food on the table, she's largely left on her own. The bullying she suffers at the hands of her classmates drives her further away from other people, and she spends her time wandering the woods, gradually becoming more and more obsessed with death as she tries to understand her father's fate. Until she makes a friend.
The first thing that struck me is just how well Hutchinson finds the voice of an eight-year-old child. She gets right into Fern's mind and hits the thought processes and dialogue absolutely spot on. This takes some skill, and many writers struggle to pull this off convincingly.
The story starts off quite sad and sweet, but things swiftly get very dark indeed. There is quite a graphic SA that made me question whether I wanted to continue, and it's something to bear in mind if you struggle with things like that.
I was very impressed with this story. Lisa's writing is mature, evocative and gripping. I'm looking forward to checking more of her stuff out.

[Jessie Raven · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this short little book don’t get me wrong. I found the bullying aspect of our main character Fern a bit much in that it was prolonged longer than necessary. Certain parts made no sense at all like “tears streaming down her face as she wiped globs of phlegm from her hair”. Like how did that get in her hair in the first place it just didn’t sit well with me. Personally the ending fell flat for me too. We know this girl collects and loves skulls so of course she was going to find a human one. It just was predictable at the end and left me quite unsatisfied :(

[Frog Dani · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book, I think that even though its a short story it captures how macabre the realities of bullying and harassment could be on youths and their mental states.

I particularly enjoyed the accurate representation of the decomposition stages, as often these are not represented well in fiction.

I also enjoyed how descriptive this was in regards to Ferns everyday life. Those of us who are a little dofferent can relate to this all too well.

I'm looking forward to reading more from this author!

[Kelvin Allison · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a debut!
While having penned three other novels as a co-author, this was Lisa's debut solo novel and she has more than proved that she can stand on her own two feet and hold her head high. A heart-breaking tale that had me rooting for the MC, and cheering her when she got her vengeance.
I believe this is intended to be the first of a four part series, and I eagerly look forward to the others.
More please.

[Heather Airey · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wonderful, macabre little tale from an up and coming author. Lisa writes so well that you can’t put the book down until you find out the ending! She doesn’t disappoint with this story, she describes her characters so well, you feel empathy with them even after reading about their darkest deeds. Lisa has such a wonderful, dark imagination but I think there’s a tiny bit of her in all her characters. Please read her books, I can’t praise them highly enough

[Luke Lewis-Bowen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow , what an amazing first solo novel , it’s an incredibly sad tale about a young girl with no one decent in her life , she has a morbid hobby as the title of the book suggests, the things that transpire throughout the story leave you wanting to know more and I can’t wait for the next book in what looks to be a very promising series of books

[Lacielou · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was such a lovely little read, from an small indie author
The books isn’t very long and was able to read quickly. I found it to be real and reliable when it comes to what a child can go through and how certain outcomes can have an effect on them. Had a little twist to it which took me but surprise and I felt passionate about the main character and the pain she was going through

[James Shaw · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this novelette, I felt for the main character, great to see the story play out and can't wait to read more