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The Peninsula
The Night of Turns
Once upon a time, you died.
I put this mark on your skin
so I’d know you on returning.
You were once mine before,
and now you are mine alive.
How much prettier you are
in this skin you have stolen!
“The Night of Turns” is a tale of folk horror where caravans travel a circular path without cease, moving from garden to garden as dictated by the sinister Game of the Goose. This is a land where unsettlement is a deeply-treasured belief; a land where theatre is used as a weapon; a land in thrall to the shadowy figure of the beekeeper–
‘[The book] is a tale of capture, a history of a seduction. I do not believe in the reality of what [Edita Bikker] describes, but neither do I see (as many have) the sinister spoor of a cult in these pages, unless it is a cult with no guru; a cult whose guru is Chance itself.” – From the preface
I put this mark on your skin
so I’d know you on returning.
You were once mine before,
and now you are mine alive.
How much prettier you are
in this skin you have stolen!
“The Night of Turns” is a tale of folk horror where caravans travel a circular path without cease, moving from garden to garden as dictated by the sinister Game of the Goose. This is a land where unsettlement is a deeply-treasured belief; a land where theatre is used as a weapon; a land in thrall to the shadowy figure of the beekeeper–
‘[The book] is a tale of capture, a history of a seduction. I do not believe in the reality of what [Edita Bikker] describes, but neither do I see (as many have) the sinister spoor of a cult in these pages, unless it is a cult with no guru; a cult whose guru is Chance itself.” – From the preface
- GenresHorrorFictionLiterature
210 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2021
6 people are currently reading
220 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
October 24, 2021
absolutely exquisite. I ought to buy stock in Broodcomb -- I haven't yet met a book of theirs I haven't loved. I have truly become a fangirl.
full post here:
http://www.oddlyweirdfiction.com/2021...
Another stunning and truly sublime book from Broodcomb, The Night of Turns is unlike anything I've read before. It's very likely that I'll never read anything like it again, so I feel extremely fortunate to have a copy. As it stands, Broodcomb's book Upmorchard (which I read earlier), has sold out completely, so yes indeed I feel lucky that I bought my books when I did.
The blurb states that
"The Night of Turns is a narrative of folk horror, a record of the author's experiences in a land where theatre is used as a weapon, and lives are forfeit in a sinister game of spiritual roulette."
And, as the usual Broodcomb warning states,
"It might not be for you."
Oh, but it most certainly was for me, from page one on as Edita, who narrates this story, crosses "the border" from the settlements into another place altogether via a tunnel. She encounters a man who asks her the name of her caravan, and discovering she is alone, tells her that she needs "to belong somewhere." As she makes her way through a number of wagons on the path, she decides to go with the Caravan of Burnt Women, where "no one's turned away." She is welcomed by these travellers, from whom she learns that the number of hours they walk each day is determined by "the game." It seems that "everyone engages with the game," with the travellers each taking their turn at different intervals, the game never stopping. The caravans never stop either, traveling a defined circuit with designated resting points along the way. When the caravan comes to the end of its determined hourly travels, if there happens to be another Caravan at the same stopping place, then a "Night of Turns" is called for, in which members of each of the two regales the other with bizarre entertainments. These are far from relaxing hours of funtime or escape; they are, in fact, deadly serious, nightmarish with purpose.
It is difficult to pigeonhole this book -- "folk horror" just isn't enough of a label to categorize it. In The Night of Turns,the author has created an intense and completely-actualized world that incorporates among other things mythology, esoteric knowledge, magic and the fantastic; at the same time, he keeps the reader drawn into and completely engaged with the story with his strong, realistic characterization. There are also several places where the author sort of dangles somewhat puzzling utterances and events that seem to come out of nowhere, only to be taken up later on where the context is more fully understood, bringing a creating a richness of depth to the narrative as it continues to expand. There is also an ongoing sense of foreboding and downright nightmare as you make your way through this novel, with a sense of horrors unseen and the uncanny always nearby, leading to much page turning and a tension that takes root in the mind and body and won't let go until the end.
This is my third foray into the phenomenon that is Broodcomb Press, and jeezus H., if these three books are representative of the future output of this publisher, I'll be one of their best customers as long as they keep producing. I most strongly recommend this novel -- as I said, it is like nothing that's come before. And that's a very good thing.
thank you Jamie Walsh. I couldn't get enough of this book; I foresee a reread in the future.
full post here:
http://www.oddlyweirdfiction.com/2021...
Another stunning and truly sublime book from Broodcomb, The Night of Turns is unlike anything I've read before. It's very likely that I'll never read anything like it again, so I feel extremely fortunate to have a copy. As it stands, Broodcomb's book Upmorchard (which I read earlier), has sold out completely, so yes indeed I feel lucky that I bought my books when I did.
The blurb states that
"The Night of Turns is a narrative of folk horror, a record of the author's experiences in a land where theatre is used as a weapon, and lives are forfeit in a sinister game of spiritual roulette."
And, as the usual Broodcomb warning states,
"It might not be for you."
Oh, but it most certainly was for me, from page one on as Edita, who narrates this story, crosses "the border" from the settlements into another place altogether via a tunnel. She encounters a man who asks her the name of her caravan, and discovering she is alone, tells her that she needs "to belong somewhere." As she makes her way through a number of wagons on the path, she decides to go with the Caravan of Burnt Women, where "no one's turned away." She is welcomed by these travellers, from whom she learns that the number of hours they walk each day is determined by "the game." It seems that "everyone engages with the game," with the travellers each taking their turn at different intervals, the game never stopping. The caravans never stop either, traveling a defined circuit with designated resting points along the way. When the caravan comes to the end of its determined hourly travels, if there happens to be another Caravan at the same stopping place, then a "Night of Turns" is called for, in which members of each of the two regales the other with bizarre entertainments. These are far from relaxing hours of funtime or escape; they are, in fact, deadly serious, nightmarish with purpose.
It is difficult to pigeonhole this book -- "folk horror" just isn't enough of a label to categorize it. In The Night of Turns,the author has created an intense and completely-actualized world that incorporates among other things mythology, esoteric knowledge, magic and the fantastic; at the same time, he keeps the reader drawn into and completely engaged with the story with his strong, realistic characterization. There are also several places where the author sort of dangles somewhat puzzling utterances and events that seem to come out of nowhere, only to be taken up later on where the context is more fully understood, bringing a creating a richness of depth to the narrative as it continues to expand. There is also an ongoing sense of foreboding and downright nightmare as you make your way through this novel, with a sense of horrors unseen and the uncanny always nearby, leading to much page turning and a tension that takes root in the mind and body and won't let go until the end.
This is my third foray into the phenomenon that is Broodcomb Press, and jeezus H., if these three books are representative of the future output of this publisher, I'll be one of their best customers as long as they keep producing. I most strongly recommend this novel -- as I said, it is like nothing that's come before. And that's a very good thing.
thank you Jamie Walsh. I couldn't get enough of this book; I foresee a reread in the future.
November 28, 2021
Labelling Bikker's The Night of Turns as simply "Folk Horror" does the work a dis-service. Yes, it is that, and you will find a few familiar tropes and an atmosphere that hews closely to other works of folk horror ("The Wicker Man" and "Wakewood" I am looking directly at you). But this novel is much more than that.
The story is told from the point of view of an outsider who is taken into the caravan-community known as the Caravan of the Burnt Woman, one of many caravans who travel "the path" and who play "The Game of the Goose". All of these terms are important, all are part of the weave of the rich culture that Bikker (which I strongly suspect is a pseudonym) helps the reader seep into. One becomes indoctrinated, through shock and sympathy, to the intricate, unarguably logical world that is overseen by the mystical, alien entity known as "The Beekeeper".
But readers of a modern civilized bent must question and test the logic of this world against the logic of their own. At times, Bikker's insight into our modern, individualist, capitalist society, one based on loss of the past and hope in the future, seems incontrovertibly convincing. But the price, the sacrifice required to embrace these seemingly logical "truths," might be too much to swallow. If nothing else, readers who pay close attention to the unfolding arguments (sometimes stated blatantly, other times seeping into the readers awareness through subtle plot turns and dialogue) must question their own assumptions about how societies work and how they ought to work.
To call this work "horrific" or "idyllic" over-simplifies the complexity of the psychological and sociological events that take place. This is not a place of easy answers. Even the conclusions that the narrator comes to have a distant hint of doubt nested within them; but this should not come as a surprise when one considers that the society in which she is being indoctrinated eschews "safety" as a thing to be avoided for the sake of the community. And if that last statement feels confusing and, perhaps, intriguing, this gives the potential reader all the more reason to read the work and, more importantly, ruminate on what it is saying.
This is not your "typical" Folk Horror novel, but an intelligent exploration of what it means to be an individual, of what it means to be a part of a community, of the place hope has in the individual psyche, and of our embracing of the safe and the secure. It's a many-layered mental/emotional/philosophical exercise in the guise of horror; rewarding, yet painful. Like any good exercise, it is well worth the pain.
The story is told from the point of view of an outsider who is taken into the caravan-community known as the Caravan of the Burnt Woman, one of many caravans who travel "the path" and who play "The Game of the Goose". All of these terms are important, all are part of the weave of the rich culture that Bikker (which I strongly suspect is a pseudonym) helps the reader seep into. One becomes indoctrinated, through shock and sympathy, to the intricate, unarguably logical world that is overseen by the mystical, alien entity known as "The Beekeeper".
But readers of a modern civilized bent must question and test the logic of this world against the logic of their own. At times, Bikker's insight into our modern, individualist, capitalist society, one based on loss of the past and hope in the future, seems incontrovertibly convincing. But the price, the sacrifice required to embrace these seemingly logical "truths," might be too much to swallow. If nothing else, readers who pay close attention to the unfolding arguments (sometimes stated blatantly, other times seeping into the readers awareness through subtle plot turns and dialogue) must question their own assumptions about how societies work and how they ought to work.
To call this work "horrific" or "idyllic" over-simplifies the complexity of the psychological and sociological events that take place. This is not a place of easy answers. Even the conclusions that the narrator comes to have a distant hint of doubt nested within them; but this should not come as a surprise when one considers that the society in which she is being indoctrinated eschews "safety" as a thing to be avoided for the sake of the community. And if that last statement feels confusing and, perhaps, intriguing, this gives the potential reader all the more reason to read the work and, more importantly, ruminate on what it is saying.
This is not your "typical" Folk Horror novel, but an intelligent exploration of what it means to be an individual, of what it means to be a part of a community, of the place hope has in the individual psyche, and of our embracing of the safe and the secure. It's a many-layered mental/emotional/philosophical exercise in the guise of horror; rewarding, yet painful. Like any good exercise, it is well worth the pain.
June 9, 2023
Although at times a difficult and unsettling read, this was unlike anything I have ever read before, absolutely brilliant! It had me looking at perceptions of my life and the world and the natures of reality and the mind/spirit/body connection in ways I had never considered before. I highly recommend this strange journey to the peninsula and the lands beyond, even though it "might not be for you".
January 2, 2021
This novel is told in the first person and concerns the authors illegal crossing of ‘the border’ (which seems rooted in our real world) into a new territory. She falls in with a community of travellers called the Caravan of Burnt Women and begins to discover/settle into their way of life.
It is something akin to a dream world, though shot through with a good dose of nightmare. The Caravan is one of a number that follows a route/circuit (which it is not advisable to stray from) with various camping/resting sites en-route. Which stop one arrives at is determined by a never-ending board game called the ‘Game of Goose’ which all members of the community play.
Occasionally the caravan meets mutilated wanderers called ’effigies’ and a there is also a destructive animal(?) called a Fox but is not one as we know it. The whole territory is overseen/ruled by an entity called ‘the Beekeeper’ who may also be, or not, a God
Edita learns that families are split over various other Caravans and death, usually inexplicable (at first) is accompanied by odd rites overseen by the caravans trickster type figure, the sinister Hoofman. Each caravan also contains a member who is unknowingly a ‘spirit-architect’, carrying “the mischief of the bee-keeper.” This person is also known as “the unsettler” and should two caravans meet at the same spot each attempts to spot the others ’spirit-architect’ by staging disturbing (unsettling) performances such as sinister puppet shows, circus-style ‘acts’, immolations and ribald concerts. All these events are seen as parts of ‘the game’.
Although the book is described as ‘folk-horror’ it could also be described as ‘folk-fantasy’ albeit of a grim and disturbing nature. It seems to be running on many different levels with fantastic elements, allegory, mythic references and spiritual quest all playing a part. It is exceedingly well constructed as incidents which seem enigmatic early in the book (such as the song quoted in the write-up) are deftly woven more fully into the overall structure later on. This new ‘knowledge’ in turn open new vistas for speculation by the reader and I really enjoyed the way the book expanded as one progressed through it. I don’t really have a ‘category’ for it (this is meant as high praise) but perhaps imagine the nastier end of Dan Watt’s ouvre within a more mythical/folk framework. Broodcomb are a new press to me and if this is their ‘house style’ I’m lovin’ it.
The book itself is a nicely formatted p/b with French flaps and a numbered limited edition of 250 copies. It's a quality item in every sense. Recommended!
It is something akin to a dream world, though shot through with a good dose of nightmare. The Caravan is one of a number that follows a route/circuit (which it is not advisable to stray from) with various camping/resting sites en-route. Which stop one arrives at is determined by a never-ending board game called the ‘Game of Goose’ which all members of the community play.
Occasionally the caravan meets mutilated wanderers called ’effigies’ and a there is also a destructive animal(?) called a Fox but is not one as we know it. The whole territory is overseen/ruled by an entity called ‘the Beekeeper’ who may also be, or not, a God
Edita learns that families are split over various other Caravans and death, usually inexplicable (at first) is accompanied by odd rites overseen by the caravans trickster type figure, the sinister Hoofman. Each caravan also contains a member who is unknowingly a ‘spirit-architect’, carrying “the mischief of the bee-keeper.” This person is also known as “the unsettler” and should two caravans meet at the same spot each attempts to spot the others ’spirit-architect’ by staging disturbing (unsettling) performances such as sinister puppet shows, circus-style ‘acts’, immolations and ribald concerts. All these events are seen as parts of ‘the game’.
Although the book is described as ‘folk-horror’ it could also be described as ‘folk-fantasy’ albeit of a grim and disturbing nature. It seems to be running on many different levels with fantastic elements, allegory, mythic references and spiritual quest all playing a part. It is exceedingly well constructed as incidents which seem enigmatic early in the book (such as the song quoted in the write-up) are deftly woven more fully into the overall structure later on. This new ‘knowledge’ in turn open new vistas for speculation by the reader and I really enjoyed the way the book expanded as one progressed through it. I don’t really have a ‘category’ for it (this is meant as high praise) but perhaps imagine the nastier end of Dan Watt’s ouvre within a more mythical/folk framework. Broodcomb are a new press to me and if this is their ‘house style’ I’m lovin’ it.
The book itself is a nicely formatted p/b with French flaps and a numbered limited edition of 250 copies. It's a quality item in every sense. Recommended!
December 20, 2023
Edita Bikker is a stranger in a very strange land. The Night of Turns follows her immersion into a nomadic community and its subsequent travels along a curated wilderness known as the Path. The nomads, known as the Caravan of the Burnt Woman, lead a formalised and ritualised existence. The random outcomes of the daily bouts of the tarot-like Game of Goose dictate the stopping points along the Path. When other caravans are met at these stopping points, then that is the time for The Night Of Turns, a ritualised theatre of spectacular or perversely unnerving entertainments.
Edita is the readers’ viewpoint in this strange new environment, but she is also on her own spiritual journey, which becomes entangled with that of the tribe and the mysterious overseers of the Path.
The author, J.M. Walsh has an anthropologist’s eye and has created an esoteric and fully realised world, from the details of the totemic objects the caravan keep, to the faux-naif artwork that illustrates the book, to the host of finely drawn, memorable characters, and most of all, to the increasingly disturbing theatrical entertainments.
This is the third Broodcomb Press book I’ve read - my third visit to the Peninsula. Each visit has been more immersive than the last, each visit the Peninsula works its way a little more under the skin. I love everything about this independent small press, from the dark and weird aesthetic, the singular artwork, that some of their books are written by fictional characters, to the production values of every limited edition release. Personally, I think The Night of Turns is a future classic, and will surely end up as a darkly hermetic entry on a future equivalent of Gollancz’s Fantasy Masterwork list.
{{{ More reviews at kulchurkat.uk }}}
Edita is the readers’ viewpoint in this strange new environment, but she is also on her own spiritual journey, which becomes entangled with that of the tribe and the mysterious overseers of the Path.
The author, J.M. Walsh has an anthropologist’s eye and has created an esoteric and fully realised world, from the details of the totemic objects the caravan keep, to the faux-naif artwork that illustrates the book, to the host of finely drawn, memorable characters, and most of all, to the increasingly disturbing theatrical entertainments.
This is the third Broodcomb Press book I’ve read - my third visit to the Peninsula. Each visit has been more immersive than the last, each visit the Peninsula works its way a little more under the skin. I love everything about this independent small press, from the dark and weird aesthetic, the singular artwork, that some of their books are written by fictional characters, to the production values of every limited edition release. Personally, I think The Night of Turns is a future classic, and will surely end up as a darkly hermetic entry on a future equivalent of Gollancz’s Fantasy Masterwork list.
{{{ More reviews at kulchurkat.uk }}}
January 12, 2026
Cruel, but without malice.
A woman crosses the border into a foreign land, a circular country where caravan-bound lives are dictated by the die-rolls of the Game of the Goose, cosmic in its simplicity yet giving rise to mysteries and complexities. When two caravans meet upon the route at one of the 63 gardens where they may stop for the night, a Night of Turns takes place: a ritual of humanity and its opposite, a sparring to unmask the particular imposters that each caravan must house. This story draws from British Isles traditions of the eerie pastoral -- from folklore, from the cryptic worlds of folk horror, from the inevitable pull of the Weird encounter -- yet manages something wholly fresh and unique. Much of its unsettling quality comes from its philosophical concerns. This is is a story about culture, about the root meaning and shared experience of humanity, about safety and danger and the urges that drive us towards either. Which is not to say that it is without images capable of puncturing discourse into raw terror, original and electric ones that will stay with me for a long time, but that these all play to the novel's larger concerns as well. Thoughtful need not be placid, this bristles with deadly intelligence.
Broodcomb Press is a new publisher based in the UK, emerging with J.M. Walsh's The Settlements in 2018 and constructing its volatile landscape with each new book. I suspect the editions are small, but it appears to have in short time cultivated a devoted audience, enough to allow a steady series of releases, all beautifully designed. I heard about the press when they added me on instagram out of the blue several years back. I have no idea how they found me, but I was immediately intrigued by the synopses and clear cohesion of vision. I was restraining myself from buying new books from overseas at the time, but the press stuck with me in the intervening years and at last I've gotten my hands on this one. And now must read more, immediately.
Many have been inspired by the Weird tradition, and I have enjoyed many incarnations of it, but it's very hard for modern writers to do well. In such a rich tradition, many succumb the lure of genre tropes, or allow their narratives to tip into the absurdity of excess. To be fair, so do many of the classic examples. The Uncanny is a flirtation between known and unknown; we read breathlessly, clutching for answers that can only diminish if given. The Night of Turns pushes so far, thresholds are transgressed, anything may happen. But its most violently ruptured expectations yet occur with a peculiar restraint, the novel never overplays its hand. And even when it dances with the familiar it remains unexpected. There's rare power here. A tale agleam with dark magnetic wonder.
A woman crosses the border into a foreign land, a circular country where caravan-bound lives are dictated by the die-rolls of the Game of the Goose, cosmic in its simplicity yet giving rise to mysteries and complexities. When two caravans meet upon the route at one of the 63 gardens where they may stop for the night, a Night of Turns takes place: a ritual of humanity and its opposite, a sparring to unmask the particular imposters that each caravan must house. This story draws from British Isles traditions of the eerie pastoral -- from folklore, from the cryptic worlds of folk horror, from the inevitable pull of the Weird encounter -- yet manages something wholly fresh and unique. Much of its unsettling quality comes from its philosophical concerns. This is is a story about culture, about the root meaning and shared experience of humanity, about safety and danger and the urges that drive us towards either. Which is not to say that it is without images capable of puncturing discourse into raw terror, original and electric ones that will stay with me for a long time, but that these all play to the novel's larger concerns as well. Thoughtful need not be placid, this bristles with deadly intelligence.
Broodcomb Press is a new publisher based in the UK, emerging with J.M. Walsh's The Settlements in 2018 and constructing its volatile landscape with each new book. I suspect the editions are small, but it appears to have in short time cultivated a devoted audience, enough to allow a steady series of releases, all beautifully designed. I heard about the press when they added me on instagram out of the blue several years back. I have no idea how they found me, but I was immediately intrigued by the synopses and clear cohesion of vision. I was restraining myself from buying new books from overseas at the time, but the press stuck with me in the intervening years and at last I've gotten my hands on this one. And now must read more, immediately.
Many have been inspired by the Weird tradition, and I have enjoyed many incarnations of it, but it's very hard for modern writers to do well. In such a rich tradition, many succumb the lure of genre tropes, or allow their narratives to tip into the absurdity of excess. To be fair, so do many of the classic examples. The Uncanny is a flirtation between known and unknown; we read breathlessly, clutching for answers that can only diminish if given. The Night of Turns pushes so far, thresholds are transgressed, anything may happen. But its most violently ruptured expectations yet occur with a peculiar restraint, the novel never overplays its hand. And even when it dances with the familiar it remains unexpected. There's rare power here. A tale agleam with dark magnetic wonder.
February 7, 2026
The second of mine from this press, and the second wonderful pleasure of finding something unexpectedly great.
If, as i suspect, all the books from this press, the drawings, the design, and the press itself, are the work of same individual, then that individual is quite astonishingly brilliant.
I am not usually much of a reader of this sort of thing - weird fiction etc - because either they just seem boring variations on The Wicker Man or Lovecraft or the prose itself is lazy or trite. The two I have read so far are of a different level all together.
The limited edition hardback of this is also beautiful - as are the colour illustrations it contains.
Very highly recommended, and I have already ordered a third book (The Settlements).
If, as i suspect, all the books from this press, the drawings, the design, and the press itself, are the work of same individual, then that individual is quite astonishingly brilliant.
I am not usually much of a reader of this sort of thing - weird fiction etc - because either they just seem boring variations on The Wicker Man or Lovecraft or the prose itself is lazy or trite. The two I have read so far are of a different level all together.
The limited edition hardback of this is also beautiful - as are the colour illustrations it contains.
Very highly recommended, and I have already ordered a third book (The Settlements).
Read
May 8, 2022Brilliant. Propelled by an incredible creativity and an expert knack for mystery. Taken together with The Settlements, there are strange depths here which I am certain will reward rereading in the future. Although if Broodcomb continue to publish such excellent books at such a rate, then rereading will have to wait a while.
July 14, 2025
The eeriest of road trips
Picked this up out of curiosity as I had been thus far seduced by Broodcoomb press and especially R. Ostermeier.
Although I can't say I absolutely loved it as much as the former, I still think this is really amazing.
one of these books you read and whilst it's not all enjoyment, you have a feeling this might be regarded as a stone cold folk horror classic in a few years.
A strong point is how the story mingles absolutely shocking, weird, disturbing and grotesque scenes with a diary like folk narrative.
the characters are very well drawn and I felt keenly when finishing the book that I would miss Edita, Mousen and their fellow travellers.
Picked this up out of curiosity as I had been thus far seduced by Broodcoomb press and especially R. Ostermeier.
Although I can't say I absolutely loved it as much as the former, I still think this is really amazing.
one of these books you read and whilst it's not all enjoyment, you have a feeling this might be regarded as a stone cold folk horror classic in a few years.
A strong point is how the story mingles absolutely shocking, weird, disturbing and grotesque scenes with a diary like folk narrative.
the characters are very well drawn and I felt keenly when finishing the book that I would miss Edita, Mousen and their fellow travellers.
May 10, 2023
Exquisite
August 6, 2025
Obehaglig, mystisk, _weird_. Bra grejer.
November 6, 2024
“Some inner part of my mind goes quiet in the face of death, an echo (or not) of the absence in the flesh. It was this way when my sister, Greta, died. I’ve often wondered if some weak sonar undetectable by science is at work in humans, sending out a note that is reflected back by a live body. Consciousness should have a frequency that, when absent, is missed. The stranger’s body was not there, and it was not there even without the evidence of the arched neck, the black mouth and sunk chin, the empty eyes. His music had gone. Such is the wonder of consciousness: music where no musician ever played, music where no composer ever wrote.”
A travelogue to a distant land that exists beside our own, where fate has returned and safety is in being unsettled. Edita, a traveler, an anthropologist of experience, crosses the thin boundary between worlds and joins a caravan of people whose life is beholden to the Game of the Goose. This is not a post-apocalyptic story, nor is it folk horror, nor is it allegory; it’s about what happens when you’re forced to not just confront the unknown, but to embrace it. And in this spooky, entrancing narrative, we’re forced to confront our own notions of how the world works and why we’re so comfortable in the world of science and fact.
“Safety is a neat god in a distant box, but here it was a savage presence at the heart of the group.”
As an aside, I’m interested to read more from the these authors/metonyms that make up the world of the Peninsula. This was so different from A Trick of the Shadow but contains the same elemental DNA that I’m interested to see how else it is explored, dissected, and presented.
A travelogue to a distant land that exists beside our own, where fate has returned and safety is in being unsettled. Edita, a traveler, an anthropologist of experience, crosses the thin boundary between worlds and joins a caravan of people whose life is beholden to the Game of the Goose. This is not a post-apocalyptic story, nor is it folk horror, nor is it allegory; it’s about what happens when you’re forced to not just confront the unknown, but to embrace it. And in this spooky, entrancing narrative, we’re forced to confront our own notions of how the world works and why we’re so comfortable in the world of science and fact.
“Safety is a neat god in a distant box, but here it was a savage presence at the heart of the group.”
As an aside, I’m interested to read more from the these authors/metonyms that make up the world of the Peninsula. This was so different from A Trick of the Shadow but contains the same elemental DNA that I’m interested to see how else it is explored, dissected, and presented.
July 29, 2022
Bikker, Edita - The Night Of Turns
At the beginning, Edita leaves the settlements, civilization, and attaches herself to a caravan. The Caravan Of The Burnt Woman, as we later discover.
As the wagons roll into the empty wilds, Edita meets the assorted members, and she tries to grasp the peculiarities and mysteries of the group. Not so much personal histories, but the activities, the guarded beliefs, as well as the oppressive strangeness that seems to hem in around them.
This is a brilliantly executed journey into superstition and routine. In many ways, what it means to be alive. The story is dripping with images.
“… From a distance the rain-worn wagon looked like a shrunken skull in a museum, eyelids, lips and nostrils stitched together, the ears sewn in the fatal clasp of a Venus fly trap…”
The caravan, and there are seventeen caravans on the path, is less doomed than the Donner Party, the company merrier, less ill-fated than Faulkner’s Bundren family.
From time to time, caravans meet. The Caravan Of The Fool, Of The Green Goose. And then the jovial, yet deadly, Night Of Turns commences.
Throughout, revelations and awareness unfold.
The novel has been tagged with the trendy “folk horror” moniker. It is less horror, more folk.
In the background is the ominous beekeeper. I once had a hive of bees myself. Brood refers to developing bees – eggs, larvae, pupae. The comb is the hexagonal wax cells, where stored are eggs, pollen, honey. It is the living area. Broodcomb strikes one as a flourishing colony.
At the beginning, Edita leaves the settlements, civilization, and attaches herself to a caravan. The Caravan Of The Burnt Woman, as we later discover.
As the wagons roll into the empty wilds, Edita meets the assorted members, and she tries to grasp the peculiarities and mysteries of the group. Not so much personal histories, but the activities, the guarded beliefs, as well as the oppressive strangeness that seems to hem in around them.
This is a brilliantly executed journey into superstition and routine. In many ways, what it means to be alive. The story is dripping with images.
“… From a distance the rain-worn wagon looked like a shrunken skull in a museum, eyelids, lips and nostrils stitched together, the ears sewn in the fatal clasp of a Venus fly trap…”
The caravan, and there are seventeen caravans on the path, is less doomed than the Donner Party, the company merrier, less ill-fated than Faulkner’s Bundren family.
From time to time, caravans meet. The Caravan Of The Fool, Of The Green Goose. And then the jovial, yet deadly, Night Of Turns commences.
Throughout, revelations and awareness unfold.
The novel has been tagged with the trendy “folk horror” moniker. It is less horror, more folk.
In the background is the ominous beekeeper. I once had a hive of bees myself. Brood refers to developing bees – eggs, larvae, pupae. The comb is the hexagonal wax cells, where stored are eggs, pollen, honey. It is the living area. Broodcomb strikes one as a flourishing colony.
February 28, 2026
"I know people who've had their jaw taken. A wedge of comb fitted in its place. Bees threading in and out for the rest of her life. Tongue always in a pool of honey. A man welded at the wrists. He could feed himself but not wipe his own backside. A hive inserted into a woman's womb, and she'd to carry it about, the bees exiting from beneath her clothes. The beekeeper took someone's feet once. Sharpened a man's lower legs into horns. You could tell the season by how tall he was. In summer, he stood tall and unsteady. In spring, his sharp stumps sank into the mud with every step but he was solid. He was anchored." [175]
November 16, 2025
An anthropologist crosses “the border” into a strange land where nomadic caravans order their lives according to a dark metaphysical game. This is the Game of the Goose, whose chance outcomes structure their reality in the manner of a religious mythos—one that is at once more dangerous and sinister, and possibly more rewarding.
I was not disappointed. The author’s ambition is slow to make itself felt, but by the end of this short, unassuming “folk horror” novel (and by GOD is it creepy), we are let into nothing short of another way of being in the world.
I was not disappointed. The author’s ambition is slow to make itself felt, but by the end of this short, unassuming “folk horror” novel (and by GOD is it creepy), we are let into nothing short of another way of being in the world.
February 27, 2025
A roller coaster of weirdness. A complex read and scenario with many ideas in one book. Not easy to go through it but at the end is a rewarding folk horror story. The writer does not hold back and there are a lot of shocking and violent imagery. A unique way to describe our current social structure. If you like your weird fiction too weird this is a top pick for you.
November 23, 2025
I really struggled to rate this book as I feel like it will be quite some time before I process it. I'm tempted to re-read it. Definitely the oddest and most unsettling book I've ever read, but an incredible feat of imagination and very well written. I had to stop reading it at night as it have me very strange dreams!
May 2, 2025
Broodcomb Press is a secret hidden in plain sight.
August 31, 2025
A beautifully weird fable.
January 13, 2026
My favorite of the Broodcomb Press peninsular books.
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