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Hearts Strange and Dreadful
New England, 1821—Hester Stokely, an orphan with unusual abilities, struggles to find her place in the pious town of Wickstead. A house-servant in the employ of her uncle’s upright family, Hester is treated as little more than a pariah by the judgmental townsfolk.
When a deadly plague comes to town, Hester becomes indispensable as a healer. Yet as Hester watches the town's residents rapidly fall ill, she realizes that something more dangerous than disease has come to Wickstead.
Soon the buried dead are exhumed on rumor of superstition, and occult fires burn fiercely into the night. As the townspeople turn on each other, a mysterious traveler arrives, furthering the growing paranoia.
Hester must confront the dark forces which have invaded Wickstead, or all who live there may be lost… their souls included.
When a deadly plague comes to town, Hester becomes indispensable as a healer. Yet as Hester watches the town's residents rapidly fall ill, she realizes that something more dangerous than disease has come to Wickstead.
Soon the buried dead are exhumed on rumor of superstition, and occult fires burn fiercely into the night. As the townspeople turn on each other, a mysterious traveler arrives, furthering the growing paranoia.
Hester must confront the dark forces which have invaded Wickstead, or all who live there may be lost… their souls included.
276 pages, Paperback
First published February 15, 2021
12 people are currently reading
3391 people want to read
About the author
Tim McGregor
40 books400 followersTim McGregor is an author living in Toronto with his wife and children. And a ghost. A really spiteful ghost.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 104 reviews
February 16, 2021
Original review published at Cemetery Dance:
https://www.cemeterydance.com/extras/...
My favorite book series for the longest time was “The Little House” books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. These books were set in the American Midwest in the late 1800s.
Hearts Strange and Dreadful transports us to New England in 1821 and I, for one, could not have been more eager to make the trip back in time to this familiar era.
Tim McGregor vividly sets up time and place as he introduces his readers to Hester Stokely, a capable young woman orphaned at an early age. She has been adopted into her aunt and uncle’s family to help care for the Stokelys’ modest home and farmland.
I can’t stress enough how indulgently delicious this book is in its setting and atmosphere. I was so fully immersed in this world and invested in the affairs of McGregor’s citizens of Wickstead, I had difficulty pulling myself out of it on occasion. He does an amazing job developing characters with meaningful interactions and setting up small-town drama in order for readers to truly get a sense that all of this is real and authentic.
Of course, this also speaks to a point I tend to make over and over again which is: Horror is the most successful when there is some kind of emotional investment. So, the more I felt myself caring for the lives of these fictional people, the more vulnerable I felt to the ominous dread building behind the scenes. What was Tim McGregor going to unleash on these lovely people?
At first, it’s disease. Later, it’s something far more evil and insidious. The most exciting aspect of this tale for me was that I had listened to a podcast recently where the real life supernatural aspect of this story was explained and it was the very first time I had ever heard of the unusual events that transpired in New England during a plague. As soon as some of the same details began manifesting themselves in Hearts Strange and Dreadful, I was beside myself with joy. I love when authors are inspired by true events and I couldn’t wait to see how some of the horrifying details would play out.
Verdict: I was horrified. There’s one scene in particular that lingered well past the point of closing the book and laying it aside. Some people might grow impatient with the slow-building dread and tension. The horror genre can sometimes spoil readers with too much action upfront. There could be a temptation to rush through to get to the climax, but I’d like to urge readers to succumb to McGregor’s deliberate set-up and just enjoy this carefully plotted story, well-developed characters, and masterful storytelling. I’m already adding this to both my Best Of 2021 List and my All-Time Favorite Books List. I loved it that much.
https://www.cemeterydance.com/extras/...
My favorite book series for the longest time was “The Little House” books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. These books were set in the American Midwest in the late 1800s.
Hearts Strange and Dreadful transports us to New England in 1821 and I, for one, could not have been more eager to make the trip back in time to this familiar era.
Tim McGregor vividly sets up time and place as he introduces his readers to Hester Stokely, a capable young woman orphaned at an early age. She has been adopted into her aunt and uncle’s family to help care for the Stokelys’ modest home and farmland.
I can’t stress enough how indulgently delicious this book is in its setting and atmosphere. I was so fully immersed in this world and invested in the affairs of McGregor’s citizens of Wickstead, I had difficulty pulling myself out of it on occasion. He does an amazing job developing characters with meaningful interactions and setting up small-town drama in order for readers to truly get a sense that all of this is real and authentic.
Of course, this also speaks to a point I tend to make over and over again which is: Horror is the most successful when there is some kind of emotional investment. So, the more I felt myself caring for the lives of these fictional people, the more vulnerable I felt to the ominous dread building behind the scenes. What was Tim McGregor going to unleash on these lovely people?
At first, it’s disease. Later, it’s something far more evil and insidious. The most exciting aspect of this tale for me was that I had listened to a podcast recently where the real life supernatural aspect of this story was explained and it was the very first time I had ever heard of the unusual events that transpired in New England during a plague. As soon as some of the same details began manifesting themselves in Hearts Strange and Dreadful, I was beside myself with joy. I love when authors are inspired by true events and I couldn’t wait to see how some of the horrifying details would play out.
Verdict: I was horrified. There’s one scene in particular that lingered well past the point of closing the book and laying it aside. Some people might grow impatient with the slow-building dread and tension. The horror genre can sometimes spoil readers with too much action upfront. There could be a temptation to rush through to get to the climax, but I’d like to urge readers to succumb to McGregor’s deliberate set-up and just enjoy this carefully plotted story, well-developed characters, and masterful storytelling. I’m already adding this to both my Best Of 2021 List and my All-Time Favorite Books List. I loved it that much.
March 20, 2021
Two 5-star reads in a row!
Set in early 1820s New England, this is the story of a plague descending on the family a haunted teenage girl, Hester, and the small village in which she lives. What happens from there is an exercise in expertly-built dread and horror, sure to keep the reader intensely and emotionally involved.
The most important things, to me, when reading historical horror is the author nailing the atmosphere and details of the period—making it feel true—and, of course, taking care to make the narrator’s “voice” believable, if the novel is in first-person. As this one is. Tim McGregor succeeds on both counts, though I must admit it took a bit for me to fully slip into Hester’s “voice” but once I did, I was totally along for the ride!
I don’t know the last time I read a horror novel that so successfully conveyed a sense of impending and inevitable (to use this word again) dread. The Auctioneer maybe? It’s been a minute. I just knew this story’s final third was going to be nasty and unforgiving, and I was right. Capped off with a strange, somber, and admittedly unexpected ending that’s left me thinking, the entire experience of reading this was a pleasant one.
This author is one to watch, and I’m sure I’ll buy whatever he publishes next. He could write a series of historical horror novels and I’d eat up every release!
Set in early 1820s New England, this is the story of a plague descending on the family a haunted teenage girl, Hester, and the small village in which she lives. What happens from there is an exercise in expertly-built dread and horror, sure to keep the reader intensely and emotionally involved.
The most important things, to me, when reading historical horror is the author nailing the atmosphere and details of the period—making it feel true—and, of course, taking care to make the narrator’s “voice” believable, if the novel is in first-person. As this one is. Tim McGregor succeeds on both counts, though I must admit it took a bit for me to fully slip into Hester’s “voice” but once I did, I was totally along for the ride!
I don’t know the last time I read a horror novel that so successfully conveyed a sense of impending and inevitable (to use this word again) dread. The Auctioneer maybe? It’s been a minute. I just knew this story’s final third was going to be nasty and unforgiving, and I was right. Capped off with a strange, somber, and admittedly unexpected ending that’s left me thinking, the entire experience of reading this was a pleasant one.
This author is one to watch, and I’m sure I’ll buy whatever he publishes next. He could write a series of historical horror novels and I’d eat up every release!
February 22, 2025
This is a very good historical horror, set in the early 19th century in New England, when first a stranger and then a plague besets the town of Wickstead, RI. Young Hester Stokely, who lives with her aunt and uncle and their family after a fire left her an orphan at twelve, is a sympathetic heroine, and the story does not follow the usual cliches one comes to expect from this kind of book. The writing is very good, and I was carried along with the narrative as death and destruction swept through the small village. I found the end to be surprising and sad in its way, but I appreciate that McGregor delivered a closing that was not formulaic or contrived.
July 25, 2024
"Sé que simplemente respondía al aumento de entusiasmo en mi voz, pero preferí la presunción. Esto es lo que pienso: una fabulación tiene sabor; la verdad puede ser una papilla insípida."
Nueva Inglaterra 1821. Un extraño moribundo llega a Wickstead a lomos de un caballo. A raíz de esta visita se desencadena una extraña plaga de tisis que asolará al pueblo.
Sorpresón mayúsculo el que me llevé con este libro ya que no viene precedido de grandes premios ni mucha repercusión. Es una de esas novelas que por la temática que toca debería haber causado más expectación pero que, sin embargo, no he visto reseñada ni mencionada como se merece.
Está claro, muy claro lo que nos vamos a encontrar sobre la, en apariencia, sencilla premisa: una historia de terror de corte clásico con toques góticos. Pues eso nada más y nada menos: supersticiones, creencias ancestrales, ritos funerarios…
Digo nada más y nada menos porque cuando esos elementos se combinan con la maestría que aquí lo hace el señor McGregor el resultado suele ser bueno. Me encantan este tipo de historias donde la tranquilidad de una pequeña comunidad es alterada por un elemento extraño. Es uno de mis marcos favoritos para cualquier tipo de historia y aquí el escritor lo borda.
Con una prosa recargada lo justo para crear los ambientes y texturas que la narración requiere nos adentraremos en una de esas novelas que no vas a querer soltar y en la que necesitas avanzar para ver si las ideas que se van formando en tu cabeza coinciden con la historia que nos brinda el escritor.
Lo más reseñable de la novela es el carácter completamente inmersivo que consigue el autor. Te va a trasladar y te vas a sentir en el centro de la acción. Esto junto a lo carismático de sus protagonistas y lo bien que están todos dibujados va a hacer que te importe y mucho lo que les pase a cada uno de ellos. El personaje principal es simplemente impresionante. Os vais a enamorar de ella y seguro que os quedaréis con ganas de que la historia continúe. Como suelo describirlo, es uno de esos personajes con los que te despedirás con lágrimas en los ojos.
El punto negativo: quizás el final. Está todo tan hilado y tan bien escrito que la conclusión puede dejar con un sabor agridulce. Pero ojo, cuando recapitulemos nos daremos cuenta de que se trata de un epílogo y de que el verdadero giro estaba varias páginas más atrás, por tanto, no es algo que moleste ni que reste puntos a esta excelente novela.
En definitiva, si os gusta el terror clásico este es un libro excelente.
¿Qué os parece?¿Lo habéis leído?
Nueva Inglaterra 1821. Un extraño moribundo llega a Wickstead a lomos de un caballo. A raíz de esta visita se desencadena una extraña plaga de tisis que asolará al pueblo.
Sorpresón mayúsculo el que me llevé con este libro ya que no viene precedido de grandes premios ni mucha repercusión. Es una de esas novelas que por la temática que toca debería haber causado más expectación pero que, sin embargo, no he visto reseñada ni mencionada como se merece.
Está claro, muy claro lo que nos vamos a encontrar sobre la, en apariencia, sencilla premisa: una historia de terror de corte clásico con toques góticos. Pues eso nada más y nada menos: supersticiones, creencias ancestrales, ritos funerarios…
Digo nada más y nada menos porque cuando esos elementos se combinan con la maestría que aquí lo hace el señor McGregor el resultado suele ser bueno. Me encantan este tipo de historias donde la tranquilidad de una pequeña comunidad es alterada por un elemento extraño. Es uno de mis marcos favoritos para cualquier tipo de historia y aquí el escritor lo borda.
Con una prosa recargada lo justo para crear los ambientes y texturas que la narración requiere nos adentraremos en una de esas novelas que no vas a querer soltar y en la que necesitas avanzar para ver si las ideas que se van formando en tu cabeza coinciden con la historia que nos brinda el escritor.
Lo más reseñable de la novela es el carácter completamente inmersivo que consigue el autor. Te va a trasladar y te vas a sentir en el centro de la acción. Esto junto a lo carismático de sus protagonistas y lo bien que están todos dibujados va a hacer que te importe y mucho lo que les pase a cada uno de ellos. El personaje principal es simplemente impresionante. Os vais a enamorar de ella y seguro que os quedaréis con ganas de que la historia continúe. Como suelo describirlo, es uno de esos personajes con los que te despedirás con lágrimas en los ojos.
El punto negativo: quizás el final. Está todo tan hilado y tan bien escrito que la conclusión puede dejar con un sabor agridulce. Pero ojo, cuando recapitulemos nos daremos cuenta de que se trata de un epílogo y de que el verdadero giro estaba varias páginas más atrás, por tanto, no es algo que moleste ni que reste puntos a esta excelente novela.
En definitiva, si os gusta el terror clásico este es un libro excelente.
¿Qué os parece?¿Lo habéis leído?
February 8, 2025
I really enjoyed this, until the end. Why did that ending thing happen?!!
As for the rest of the book, so well crafted and delightfully subtle. I kept imagining reading this book written by someone else and how heavy handed it could have ended up. I liked the complex feelings surrounding the relationships in Hester’s life, and the spooky parts were excellent.
As for the rest of the book, so well crafted and delightfully subtle. I kept imagining reading this book written by someone else and how heavy handed it could have ended up. I liked the complex feelings surrounding the relationships in Hester’s life, and the spooky parts were excellent.
April 19, 2021
This book was so good!
I mean Tim McGregor is going to be one to watch.
This book has great characters, an amazing setting, and just about everything you need for a good book.
I gave this book 5 stars because it was excellently written, but I do not agree with the ending. I dont want to spoil anything but man just read it so we can talk about the ending.
I started this book with thoughts of just checking it out but ended up devouring it. Once you start it you will want to finish it because you will want to know what happens.
Do yourself a favor and pick this one up! It comes out 2/15 so grab yourself some leftover Valentine candy and this book. You deserve it!
I mean Tim McGregor is going to be one to watch.
This book has great characters, an amazing setting, and just about everything you need for a good book.
I gave this book 5 stars because it was excellently written, but I do not agree with the ending. I dont want to spoil anything but man just read it so we can talk about the ending.
I started this book with thoughts of just checking it out but ended up devouring it. Once you start it you will want to finish it because you will want to know what happens.
Do yourself a favor and pick this one up! It comes out 2/15 so grab yourself some leftover Valentine candy and this book. You deserve it!
February 19, 2021
This novel hit all the spots and then some! Set in early 19th century New England, Hearts Strange and Dreadful is one of the finest examples of historical horror I have ever read. Having not previously read any of Tim McGregor’s work I didn’t know what to expect. All I can say is it certainly won’t be the last!
Narrated in the first person, and rightly so, Hester Stokely, the protagonist, is flawed (as all great characters are) but such a strong character. From the very beginning the reader is left in no doubt about the kind of girl she is. I defy anyone who reads this book not to invest wholeheartedly in her plight. And it’s not just Hester, but the other characters, too. Each has his/her foibles which juxtapose with other characters perfectly.
As the story progresses, the mystery deepens. Events twist and turn like tendrils of poison ivy.
I read the novel over three days and for that time became immersed in its world, carrying the mood of the story with me throughout the day, eager to return to reading at night. For me, it contained all the elements I look for in a great historical story: folklore and natural healing, piety and superstition, depiction so well drawn and dialogue so spot on that the reader is transported back in time.
The horror is quiet, it creeps in the back door when you least expect it—my favorite kind!
Now let’s spend a few moments on the ending... the outcome was not what I wanted for Hester, but at the same time I totally understand why it did end that way. As I read those final pages I kept thinking, this is not what I want to happen, and hoping the kindle countdown might be wrong, that there might still be time for another twist of fate which would change the outcome. However, instead of it being a disappointment I think this only goes to prove the level of emotional investment I had in the story. Just like our own lives, the lives of characters do not always turn out as we would wish them to.
Highly recommended. This book will jump straight to my top reads of 2021 shelf.
Narrated in the first person, and rightly so, Hester Stokely, the protagonist, is flawed (as all great characters are) but such a strong character. From the very beginning the reader is left in no doubt about the kind of girl she is. I defy anyone who reads this book not to invest wholeheartedly in her plight. And it’s not just Hester, but the other characters, too. Each has his/her foibles which juxtapose with other characters perfectly.
As the story progresses, the mystery deepens. Events twist and turn like tendrils of poison ivy.
I read the novel over three days and for that time became immersed in its world, carrying the mood of the story with me throughout the day, eager to return to reading at night. For me, it contained all the elements I look for in a great historical story: folklore and natural healing, piety and superstition, depiction so well drawn and dialogue so spot on that the reader is transported back in time.
The horror is quiet, it creeps in the back door when you least expect it—my favorite kind!
Now let’s spend a few moments on the ending... the outcome was not what I wanted for Hester, but at the same time I totally understand why it did end that way. As I read those final pages I kept thinking, this is not what I want to happen, and hoping the kindle countdown might be wrong, that there might still be time for another twist of fate which would change the outcome. However, instead of it being a disappointment I think this only goes to prove the level of emotional investment I had in the story. Just like our own lives, the lives of characters do not always turn out as we would wish them to.
Highly recommended. This book will jump straight to my top reads of 2021 shelf.
April 2, 2021
STAR Review in the April 2021 issue of Library Journal: https://www.libraryjournal.com/?revie...
and on the blog [link live 4/5/21]: https://raforall.blogspot.com/2021/04...
Three Words That Describe This Book: Pervasively Creepy, Strong Sense of Place, Slow Burn
Draft Review:
It’s 1819 in Rhode Island. Hester, our narrator, lives with her uncle’s family after her own was killed in a fire a few towns away. When an ailing stranger rides in from Hester’s former hometown, a sickness and a terrifying story of a town gone mad follows him infecting Hester’s family, friends and neighbors, spreading death. But there may be more than a plague behind this nightmare. Led by the strong, sympathetic, but damaged Hester, the terror of this story is driven by the three dimensional characters and the extremely well rendered setting. Readers will become immersed in the place and its people, feeling their loss as townsfolk succumb to disease and cower in horror as the occult origins of their situation is revealed. Pervasively creepy and featuring a dread that compounds upon itself until it bursts in horrific fashion, this is a story that will be enjoyed by a wide range of readers.
Verdict: An excellent example of historical horror, this novel holds obvious appeal to fans of Alma Katsu’s The Hunger but it is also reminiscent of the captivatingly creepy occult fable The Boatman's Daughter by Andy Daivdson with its rich and compelling characters and strong sense of ominous place.
and on the blog [link live 4/5/21]: https://raforall.blogspot.com/2021/04...
Three Words That Describe This Book: Pervasively Creepy, Strong Sense of Place, Slow Burn
Draft Review:
It’s 1819 in Rhode Island. Hester, our narrator, lives with her uncle’s family after her own was killed in a fire a few towns away. When an ailing stranger rides in from Hester’s former hometown, a sickness and a terrifying story of a town gone mad follows him infecting Hester’s family, friends and neighbors, spreading death. But there may be more than a plague behind this nightmare. Led by the strong, sympathetic, but damaged Hester, the terror of this story is driven by the three dimensional characters and the extremely well rendered setting. Readers will become immersed in the place and its people, feeling their loss as townsfolk succumb to disease and cower in horror as the occult origins of their situation is revealed. Pervasively creepy and featuring a dread that compounds upon itself until it bursts in horrific fashion, this is a story that will be enjoyed by a wide range of readers.
Verdict: An excellent example of historical horror, this novel holds obvious appeal to fans of Alma Katsu’s The Hunger but it is also reminiscent of the captivatingly creepy occult fable The Boatman's Daughter by Andy Daivdson with its rich and compelling characters and strong sense of ominous place.
February 15, 2021
Off Limits Press is currently batting a thousand after kicking things off with last year’s Crossroads by Laurel Hightower, followed by The Worm and His Kings by Hailey Piper. Two very tough acts to follow, but McGregor’s Hearts Strange and Dreadful is up to the task.
McGregor was a new-to-me name despite having well over ten books to his name. The historical horror aspect combined with the early-1800’s New England setting caught my attention and the publisher on the back cover cemented it. Hester Stokely, an orphan who lost her parents in a fire, lives with her aunt and uncle in Wickstead, RI. Death rides into town one day in the form of a sickly man on a horse, and the novel unfolds from there.
McGregor interweaves the threads masterfully, slowly unfurling a quiet horror rife with creepy atmosphere, great characterization, and a touch of paranoia as the mystery of what’s happening in Wickstead is revealed. The main element that successfully contributes to the atmosphere is the isolation conveyed surrounding the town. The relative distance to any other towns delivers the kind of small-town horror we get in books like Todd Keisling’s Devil’s Creek but with an added layer of being completely disconnected from the outside world. Whatever is happening, no one out there can help or save them.
The characterisation feels (note feels because I haven’t done the research) very genuine to the time period. Writing a first-person POV from a teenage girl in 1821 is arguably a bold move, but it pays off. McGregor provides insight to Hester Stokely that couldn’t have come any other way. The characters surrounding her, from her Uncle Pardon to Will and Henry, all feel fully fleshed out and move the story into a place that makes us suspect McGregor knew what he was doing from the first word.
I won’t go on about the end of the book for fear of spoilers, but if you begin and feel as though the story is moving too slow, do yourself a favor and stick with it. The set-up is utterly necessary for the payoffs that come later and the emotional weight they bring with them.
Hearts Strange and Dreadful is something of a perfect storm. An intriguing premise brought to life by vibrant characters who make the reader care when events ramp up ultimately resulting in an ending that requires the reader be invested, or it doesn’t work. A gamble on McGregor’s part, but one that pays off in spades. The Off Limits run on quality horror continues.
I received a copy from the publisher for review consideration.
McGregor was a new-to-me name despite having well over ten books to his name. The historical horror aspect combined with the early-1800’s New England setting caught my attention and the publisher on the back cover cemented it. Hester Stokely, an orphan who lost her parents in a fire, lives with her aunt and uncle in Wickstead, RI. Death rides into town one day in the form of a sickly man on a horse, and the novel unfolds from there.
McGregor interweaves the threads masterfully, slowly unfurling a quiet horror rife with creepy atmosphere, great characterization, and a touch of paranoia as the mystery of what’s happening in Wickstead is revealed. The main element that successfully contributes to the atmosphere is the isolation conveyed surrounding the town. The relative distance to any other towns delivers the kind of small-town horror we get in books like Todd Keisling’s Devil’s Creek but with an added layer of being completely disconnected from the outside world. Whatever is happening, no one out there can help or save them.
The characterisation feels (note feels because I haven’t done the research) very genuine to the time period. Writing a first-person POV from a teenage girl in 1821 is arguably a bold move, but it pays off. McGregor provides insight to Hester Stokely that couldn’t have come any other way. The characters surrounding her, from her Uncle Pardon to Will and Henry, all feel fully fleshed out and move the story into a place that makes us suspect McGregor knew what he was doing from the first word.
I won’t go on about the end of the book for fear of spoilers, but if you begin and feel as though the story is moving too slow, do yourself a favor and stick with it. The set-up is utterly necessary for the payoffs that come later and the emotional weight they bring with them.
Hearts Strange and Dreadful is something of a perfect storm. An intriguing premise brought to life by vibrant characters who make the reader care when events ramp up ultimately resulting in an ending that requires the reader be invested, or it doesn’t work. A gamble on McGregor’s part, but one that pays off in spades. The Off Limits run on quality horror continues.
I received a copy from the publisher for review consideration.
February 10, 2021
There is a lot to love about Tim McGregor's standout release from Off Limits Press, Hearts Strange and Dreadful. This is a historical horror story, and I was surprised to learn it was Tim's first foray into that subgenre - he nailed the setting, the atmosphere, and the language. I want to note that it's easy for authors to get that language wrong, or to use it in such a fashion that it grates on the reader, or pulls them out of the action. This narration is pitch perfect. Excellent character development with Hester and her family, Will, Henry and the whole town as they deal with a devastating plague. The relationships felt real, the emotions portrayed with a deep and ready empathy. The horror was woven in beautifully, with quite a few skin crawling and eerie moments. This is a gifted author I can't wait to read more from. Highly recommend.
April 7, 2021
I truly enjoyed the lush, evocative writing and compelling characters in this story. Hester is a wonderful protagonist, and I really felt for her as she had to face down terrible situations both earthly and otherwise. Great read!
February 7, 2021
Review of “Hearts Strange and Dreadful by Tim McGregor” with Off limits Press
Release date Feb. 15th
“𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐚𝐲, 𝐚𝐧𝐝, 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬, 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡 𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐦, 𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐧𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐮𝐬 𝐤𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐢𝐭 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞.”
A historical fiction filled with plague and grief. I stayed up reading this before going to work. Sacrificing my sleep to finish this book just to go to bed heart broken. This is one that will linger on my mind from a while and one that will stay in my heart forever.
In 1821 , Hester ,an orphan who lives with her aunt and uncle , is treated much like a servant to their needs and an outcast to the locals. A mysterious rider comes to town and the town’s people start to fall ill one by one. They turn to superstition, blame and occult rituals.
Historical fiction always brings anger out in me because of how women were treated back in the 1800s. Women were only thought of as a pretty face, house slave and used to reproduce. Ugh! The story starts slowly building on the time era and how women were to do chores and the cooking but it slowly evolves into something so much more. Hester is my favorite character with Will being second. I knew what was coming due to reading other books that were set in the 1800s as far as the horror aspect goes. It was fun to piece the riddle out. What I found the most jarring was how the town people treated Hester. After everything horrific, even the simplest lines brought me to my knees. Oh my heart, it hurts! 5 ⭐️s for making me feel this way.
“𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐢𝐭𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐝. 𝐖𝐡𝐨 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐢𝐭?”
Thank you to off limits press for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review!
Release date Feb. 15th
“𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐚𝐲, 𝐚𝐧𝐝, 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬, 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡 𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐦, 𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐧𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐮𝐬 𝐤𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐢𝐭 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞.”
A historical fiction filled with plague and grief. I stayed up reading this before going to work. Sacrificing my sleep to finish this book just to go to bed heart broken. This is one that will linger on my mind from a while and one that will stay in my heart forever.
In 1821 , Hester ,an orphan who lives with her aunt and uncle , is treated much like a servant to their needs and an outcast to the locals. A mysterious rider comes to town and the town’s people start to fall ill one by one. They turn to superstition, blame and occult rituals.
Historical fiction always brings anger out in me because of how women were treated back in the 1800s. Women were only thought of as a pretty face, house slave and used to reproduce. Ugh! The story starts slowly building on the time era and how women were to do chores and the cooking but it slowly evolves into something so much more. Hester is my favorite character with Will being second. I knew what was coming due to reading other books that were set in the 1800s as far as the horror aspect goes. It was fun to piece the riddle out. What I found the most jarring was how the town people treated Hester. After everything horrific, even the simplest lines brought me to my knees. Oh my heart, it hurts! 5 ⭐️s for making me feel this way.
“𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐢𝐭𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐝. 𝐖𝐡𝐨 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐢𝐭?”
Thank you to off limits press for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review!
May 19, 2021
I always enjoy a good historical fiction, but more so with a twist of horror. "Hearts Strange and Dreadful" is told through the eyes of a 17 year old girl in Rhode Island, during April of 1821. Hester is orphaned at the age of 12 and is taken in and raised by her aunt and uncle and their own seven children. When a ragged stranger appears on horseback, the Stokely family begins to fall ill. Has he brought disease to the family and the town of Wickstead? Is this illness Consumption or something more sinister?
Initially, I was a little concerned as there were almost twenty characters mentioned within the first few chapters. I convinced myself I would never keep them all straight. However, with the flow of the story and the even pace it kept, I had no problems at all and felt as though I had a good understanding of each character's personality. Hester is an intriguing main character. She is a misfit who does an outstanding job of holding together her adopted family and looking after those around her.
Overall, a great story from an amazing Canadian author. I received an advance reader copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Thank you Off Limits Press!
Initially, I was a little concerned as there were almost twenty characters mentioned within the first few chapters. I convinced myself I would never keep them all straight. However, with the flow of the story and the even pace it kept, I had no problems at all and felt as though I had a good understanding of each character's personality. Hester is an intriguing main character. She is a misfit who does an outstanding job of holding together her adopted family and looking after those around her.
Overall, a great story from an amazing Canadian author. I received an advance reader copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Thank you Off Limits Press!
February 3, 2021
Review to come :)
October 10, 2024
McGregor’s ability to write characters is really unmatched. This is especially true for this book. He has an incredible talent for taking ordinary characters, with ordinary lives and creating such a rich story full of incredible character depth and development and building a story of horror around them. I am also continuously in awe of how he writes his woman characters. It’s shocking to me that he is able to write them so well but I think this speaks volumes to McGregor’s love and adoration of his wife and daughters. It comes through so thoughtfully and so beautifully in how we writes woman.
‘Hearts Strange and Dreadful’ is a harrowing tale of death, hardship, grief and sorrow. It’s a slow burn following an orphaned young woman in the role of carer for her extended family as a plague rips through their household. This story is stocked full of dread as they try and piece together what is happening to their small town. All the action is in the last 60 odd pages of this book but boy does it deliver and takes a turn I did not expect and was quite happy with. Without giving anything away I think the final chapters are what really sealed this as a 5 star read for me. Circling back to what I said in the beginning of this review, McGregor writes characters and plot in a way that is realistic and not fantastical. You’re not going to get a “happily ever after” moment in any of his books and I appreciate that. He writes how things would likely come to a conclusion if it were to happen in real life which I think is an art. There’s a desire to end things in horror either on a happy note or a bleak one. McGregor found a half way point with this one that really spoke to me. This life isn’t fair, you spend most of it rolling with the punches and making the best with the cards you’re dealt. Hester is really a great example of that. Bravo.
‘Hearts Strange and Dreadful’ is a harrowing tale of death, hardship, grief and sorrow. It’s a slow burn following an orphaned young woman in the role of carer for her extended family as a plague rips through their household. This story is stocked full of dread as they try and piece together what is happening to their small town. All the action is in the last 60 odd pages of this book but boy does it deliver and takes a turn I did not expect and was quite happy with. Without giving anything away I think the final chapters are what really sealed this as a 5 star read for me. Circling back to what I said in the beginning of this review, McGregor writes characters and plot in a way that is realistic and not fantastical. You’re not going to get a “happily ever after” moment in any of his books and I appreciate that. He writes how things would likely come to a conclusion if it were to happen in real life which I think is an art. There’s a desire to end things in horror either on a happy note or a bleak one. McGregor found a half way point with this one that really spoke to me. This life isn’t fair, you spend most of it rolling with the punches and making the best with the cards you’re dealt. Hester is really a great example of that. Bravo.
February 16, 2021
I've never read any historical horror or anything by Tim McGregor before, so this was an all new experience for me. I'm here to tell you, this book was outstanding!
Here's a brief spoiler-free synopsis, but feel free to skip it if you like going in blind: The year it 1821 and a plague comes to Wickstead, a small New England town. Hester, an orphan that lives there with her uncle's family, thinks there's more going on than meets the eye. We all know that small towns in the 1800's weren't superstitious at all and handled everything reasonably- so they quarantined the sick and everyone lived happily ever after. Right?
Nope. That's not what happens at all.
Seriously though, every aspect of this novel worked for me. Hester is a wonderfully written character that you will come to know and love. She's a real person with real feelings and struggles. You get to know her family and a good portion of the small town, but the characters are written in a way where I never had any issues keeping them straight. Being set in the 1800's, I was slightly concerned I'd need to look up some things (I did), but the context was usually enough to figure out what was being referred to; I just needed to be a little more patient.
This book had everything- horror, mystery, drama, and a touch of comedy here and there; none of it felt forced or mishandled in any way. I see where some might think the pacing is slow, but the time spent learning about the mystery or the characters just benefit the story and is time well spent. The details just make everything richer.
HEARTS STRANGE AND DREADFUL is, simply put, one of the best books I've read recently. It has chills to scare you, characters to care about, and a mystery to be solved. I highly recommend this to anyone who loves horror of any kind (especially historical horror) and strong character work. Now, excuse me while I go track down everything else Tim McGregor has ever written.
* I was provided an ebook ARC by Off Limits Press for review
Here's a brief spoiler-free synopsis, but feel free to skip it if you like going in blind: The year it 1821 and a plague comes to Wickstead, a small New England town. Hester, an orphan that lives there with her uncle's family, thinks there's more going on than meets the eye. We all know that small towns in the 1800's weren't superstitious at all and handled everything reasonably- so they quarantined the sick and everyone lived happily ever after. Right?
Nope. That's not what happens at all.
Seriously though, every aspect of this novel worked for me. Hester is a wonderfully written character that you will come to know and love. She's a real person with real feelings and struggles. You get to know her family and a good portion of the small town, but the characters are written in a way where I never had any issues keeping them straight. Being set in the 1800's, I was slightly concerned I'd need to look up some things (I did), but the context was usually enough to figure out what was being referred to; I just needed to be a little more patient.
This book had everything- horror, mystery, drama, and a touch of comedy here and there; none of it felt forced or mishandled in any way. I see where some might think the pacing is slow, but the time spent learning about the mystery or the characters just benefit the story and is time well spent. The details just make everything richer.
HEARTS STRANGE AND DREADFUL is, simply put, one of the best books I've read recently. It has chills to scare you, characters to care about, and a mystery to be solved. I highly recommend this to anyone who loves horror of any kind (especially historical horror) and strong character work. Now, excuse me while I go track down everything else Tim McGregor has ever written.
* I was provided an ebook ARC by Off Limits Press for review
April 26, 2023
Creepy, atmospheric, historical horror. This book was like Little House on the prairie meets Dracula. Loved it! Must read book by a great Canadian author. Keep ‘‘em coming!
October 21, 2023
This was a Halloween read that surprised me! I mean really surprised me.
Set in the early 1800’s, 17 year old Hester lives with her aunt and uncle and their children following the death of her parents. Hester has an affliction which causes her to feel like an outcast among her peers, and she often feels she is not loved at home.
Hester has a natural ability for treating the sick during this time of untreatable diseases that can cause the deaths of entire families. The first horror is the very real threat of illness. The second arrives slowly, giving the reader a feeling of impending doom. This isn’t a horror story. It’s a story that has horror in it.
Hester is an interesting protagonist. Through her point of view, the reader meets her family, her friends, and the townspeople. I loved it. I also never doubted the time period, as the dialogue never sounded anything but authentic. The unexpected end was truly the best part of this book, although I wanted more of these characters and their story!
Set in the early 1800’s, 17 year old Hester lives with her aunt and uncle and their children following the death of her parents. Hester has an affliction which causes her to feel like an outcast among her peers, and she often feels she is not loved at home.
Hester has a natural ability for treating the sick during this time of untreatable diseases that can cause the deaths of entire families. The first horror is the very real threat of illness. The second arrives slowly, giving the reader a feeling of impending doom. This isn’t a horror story. It’s a story that has horror in it.
Hester is an interesting protagonist. Through her point of view, the reader meets her family, her friends, and the townspeople. I loved it. I also never doubted the time period, as the dialogue never sounded anything but authentic. The unexpected end was truly the best part of this book, although I wanted more of these characters and their story!
October 13, 2021
I’d say - Language. Prose. Immersion. Character. Believability.
I can’t do it. There’s too much -
there’s too much here to contain.
Have you ever read a book that draws you into its world so completely that whenever you are forced to arise out of it, it is with a grudging blur? You are so unwilling to leave the fantasy, that your eyes have naturally attuned to that finite distance between yourself and the book - that perfect gap between yourself and the craft - and when you are pulled away from it, it takes seconds for your eyes to readjust, your brain to reconnect to the real, and for you to awake from the dream?
This book made me hate work. I wanted to be back in the story’s fold, with Hester and Will and Henry and all of Hester’s siblings. I wanted to confirm my suspicions, I wanted to bathe in the language, be sated by the historical context, lose myself in the horror of creeping rot – of consumption (T.B.) and paranormal activity, of ghouls and vampires and whatever the hell the villain actually is/was.
McGregor has penned an outstanding novel. It succeeds on so many levels – the world-building is divine. Tim has either researched the language of the time or has hit a collective conscious belief of that said language – it reads perfectly – as if he had traveled back in time to that era and shut up and listened to what the people were saying, and absorbed the tones, vocabulary, and beliefs of those people, and then put pen to paper. Alone that, by itself, makes the novel immersive to the point of exclusion to everything else in your life, but then the man layers on characters and their scars, so wonderfully conceived that it is impossible not to share their limited dreams and nightmares. Hester is so solid a character that her entire world, as perceived through her wonderful pov, draws the reader in, as close to the action as it is possible to get. So sublimely done, that it is only on reflection, after having finished the novel, that one realizes that in fact that not so much actually happened. The events that occur in Hearts, Strange and dreadful have become our everyday life. The small, insignificant worries and hopes of the characters, the interplays, loves and hates, have become our world. Its everyday survival tales reflect our own, and we are forced to accept the reality -
We have transposed Tim’s world onto our own, and are paying it the same immediate attention as our own personal dramas.
It’s just lush. There’s no other word that springs to mind that does the book justice. The mystery of the book is an unanswered question that the reader is never asked – Our collective will for the book to be something paranormal defines the mystery. We need for the collective madness to manifest into a tangible paranormal phenomenon, one that we name early on, confident in our "lore's" and "mythology". We think we have the plot planned out. We believe so strongly in our logic, yet we desperately need to remain in the language of the book, to bathe in its atmosphere, and have our beliefs made manifest and affirmed. It’s such a beautiful experience. Tim has brought us to the point of believing so ardently in our logic, that we need those beliefs confirmed, and to an extent, they are.
So when even a small part of those beliefs are proven not to be the case, we are massively, bitterly, unbelievably offended.
Tim - Will. How could you?!
You made us care.
For every complaint, every spoken disbelief in the ending, every frustrated reader, know that you made the book real for us, at that moment. It was real. It still is, achingly so.
A reality preferable to spend time in than our own.
The mystery of the book (what is it that is going on?) is an unspoken question that we formulate ourselves, and which we know the answer to, even at the very beginning of the book, and which we start to answer upon reading, finding those answers even though you only allow us to formulate that question ourselves at the end of the book. So likewise, this review does the same. I've already given you the answers at the beginning of the review.
I’m sure you’ll figure out what my question to myself was.
All the stars. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
I can’t do it. There’s too much -
there’s too much here to contain.
Have you ever read a book that draws you into its world so completely that whenever you are forced to arise out of it, it is with a grudging blur? You are so unwilling to leave the fantasy, that your eyes have naturally attuned to that finite distance between yourself and the book - that perfect gap between yourself and the craft - and when you are pulled away from it, it takes seconds for your eyes to readjust, your brain to reconnect to the real, and for you to awake from the dream?
This book made me hate work. I wanted to be back in the story’s fold, with Hester and Will and Henry and all of Hester’s siblings. I wanted to confirm my suspicions, I wanted to bathe in the language, be sated by the historical context, lose myself in the horror of creeping rot – of consumption (T.B.) and paranormal activity, of ghouls and vampires and whatever the hell the villain actually is/was.
McGregor has penned an outstanding novel. It succeeds on so many levels – the world-building is divine. Tim has either researched the language of the time or has hit a collective conscious belief of that said language – it reads perfectly – as if he had traveled back in time to that era and shut up and listened to what the people were saying, and absorbed the tones, vocabulary, and beliefs of those people, and then put pen to paper. Alone that, by itself, makes the novel immersive to the point of exclusion to everything else in your life, but then the man layers on characters and their scars, so wonderfully conceived that it is impossible not to share their limited dreams and nightmares. Hester is so solid a character that her entire world, as perceived through her wonderful pov, draws the reader in, as close to the action as it is possible to get. So sublimely done, that it is only on reflection, after having finished the novel, that one realizes that in fact that not so much actually happened. The events that occur in Hearts, Strange and dreadful have become our everyday life. The small, insignificant worries and hopes of the characters, the interplays, loves and hates, have become our world. Its everyday survival tales reflect our own, and we are forced to accept the reality -
We have transposed Tim’s world onto our own, and are paying it the same immediate attention as our own personal dramas.
It’s just lush. There’s no other word that springs to mind that does the book justice. The mystery of the book is an unanswered question that the reader is never asked – Our collective will for the book to be something paranormal defines the mystery. We need for the collective madness to manifest into a tangible paranormal phenomenon, one that we name early on, confident in our "lore's" and "mythology". We think we have the plot planned out. We believe so strongly in our logic, yet we desperately need to remain in the language of the book, to bathe in its atmosphere, and have our beliefs made manifest and affirmed. It’s such a beautiful experience. Tim has brought us to the point of believing so ardently in our logic, that we need those beliefs confirmed, and to an extent, they are.
So when even a small part of those beliefs are proven not to be the case, we are massively, bitterly, unbelievably offended.
Tim - Will. How could you?!
You made us care.
For every complaint, every spoken disbelief in the ending, every frustrated reader, know that you made the book real for us, at that moment. It was real. It still is, achingly so.
A reality preferable to spend time in than our own.
The mystery of the book (what is it that is going on?) is an unspoken question that we formulate ourselves, and which we know the answer to, even at the very beginning of the book, and which we start to answer upon reading, finding those answers even though you only allow us to formulate that question ourselves at the end of the book. So likewise, this review does the same. I've already given you the answers at the beginning of the review.
I’m sure you’ll figure out what my question to myself was.
All the stars. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
December 9, 2023
Ex guionista y miembro activo de la Asociación de Escritores de Terror, Tim Mcgrergor ha publicado varias series de libros y novelas independientes que han sido bien recibidas por los lectores, siendo nominado al premio Shirley Jackson.
“Extraños y temibles corazones” publicado originalmente en 2021, es una novela de terror histórico en la que se recoge una esencia puramente gótica impregnada de tintes paranormales, intrigas y drama.
Narrado en primera persona, a través de un lenguaje muy fluido, sencillo y de carácter introspectivo, la historia se centra en la vida de Hester, una adolescente huérfana y atormentada, criada por sus tíos, cuya inteligencia y sentido analítico la llevará a descubrir una peligrosa fuerza que se esconde detrás del episodio de peste que asola a su pueblo.
A través de las precisas descripciones, los acertados diálogos y el contexto histórico impregnado tanto del folklore como de la idiosincrasia de la época, el autor consigue trasladar al lector a esa Nueva Inglaterra de 1821, más concretamente en el pueblo de Wickstead, una pequeña villa supersticiosa y muy arraigada a su tradición en donde se respira una atmósfera gélida, hostil, lúgubre y en cierto modo, pragmática en lo que a la supervivencia respecta.
Desde el principio, los personajes impactan por su marcada personalidad. Resulta casi imposible no sentirse atraídos por ellos, pues todos, inclusive Hester, se muestran como personas reales, con sus defectos y virtudes. Son llanos y cada uno tiene sus debilidades que se yuxtaponen perfectamente con la de los otros personajes.
El carácter de Hester atrae, y sus diatribas introspectivas permiten seguir la historia de un modo más profundo, haciendo completamente verosímil la narración.
El horror y el misterio son silenciosos, ambos van calando lentamente en una historia que, a pesar de ser costumbrista, no decae en la monotonía, ya que constantemente van sucediendo situaciones que aumentan la tensión y la necesidad de seguir leyendo.
Se trata de una novela muy visual pues el autor escribe de tal manera que las letras se convierten en escenas de película en la mente del lector, consiguiendo introducirlo por completo en cada momento y dificultando el salir de la narrativa.
Si bien se trata de una obra con una ambientación muy gótica el terror que impregnan los sucesos ocasionados en Wickstead están sujetos a la fantasía, lo sobrenatural y los mitos vinculados al género de terror, sin embargo, a pesar de estos elementos no es una obra que dé miedo o genere rechazo.
Un dato francamente curioso es que el autor se inspiró para escribir “Extraños y temibles corazones” en una serie de inusuales eventos que ocurrieron en Nueva Inglaterra durante una plaga de peste.
Así mismo, la edición se encuentra bellamente ilustrada por Luis Durán quien añade su toque decorativo y artístico tanto en las guardas como en los inicios y finales de capítulo a través de unas imágenes en blanco y negro muy significativas que enmarcan con fidelidad la ambientación de la época. Del mismo modo, al finalizar la edición se hayan algunas láminas de personajes, escenarios e incluso autores que fueron referentes para el proceso creativo del autor.
Personalmente, he disfrutado enormemente de la lectura a pesar de que el terror no es mi género predilecto. Me he sentido completamente abstraída tanto por su ambientación y personajes como por su historia, y si bien el final me ha resultado algo abrupto y desalentador, en su totalidad no me ha defraudado, pues con cada tanda de lectura he sentido cómo las palabras de Hester traspasaba el papel y me transmitían esa sensación asfixiante de temor, intriga e inquietud, algo que se agradece en una lectura de esta índole.
“Extraños y temibles corazones” publicado originalmente en 2021, es una novela de terror histórico en la que se recoge una esencia puramente gótica impregnada de tintes paranormales, intrigas y drama.
Narrado en primera persona, a través de un lenguaje muy fluido, sencillo y de carácter introspectivo, la historia se centra en la vida de Hester, una adolescente huérfana y atormentada, criada por sus tíos, cuya inteligencia y sentido analítico la llevará a descubrir una peligrosa fuerza que se esconde detrás del episodio de peste que asola a su pueblo.
A través de las precisas descripciones, los acertados diálogos y el contexto histórico impregnado tanto del folklore como de la idiosincrasia de la época, el autor consigue trasladar al lector a esa Nueva Inglaterra de 1821, más concretamente en el pueblo de Wickstead, una pequeña villa supersticiosa y muy arraigada a su tradición en donde se respira una atmósfera gélida, hostil, lúgubre y en cierto modo, pragmática en lo que a la supervivencia respecta.
Desde el principio, los personajes impactan por su marcada personalidad. Resulta casi imposible no sentirse atraídos por ellos, pues todos, inclusive Hester, se muestran como personas reales, con sus defectos y virtudes. Son llanos y cada uno tiene sus debilidades que se yuxtaponen perfectamente con la de los otros personajes.
El carácter de Hester atrae, y sus diatribas introspectivas permiten seguir la historia de un modo más profundo, haciendo completamente verosímil la narración.
El horror y el misterio son silenciosos, ambos van calando lentamente en una historia que, a pesar de ser costumbrista, no decae en la monotonía, ya que constantemente van sucediendo situaciones que aumentan la tensión y la necesidad de seguir leyendo.
Se trata de una novela muy visual pues el autor escribe de tal manera que las letras se convierten en escenas de película en la mente del lector, consiguiendo introducirlo por completo en cada momento y dificultando el salir de la narrativa.
Si bien se trata de una obra con una ambientación muy gótica el terror que impregnan los sucesos ocasionados en Wickstead están sujetos a la fantasía, lo sobrenatural y los mitos vinculados al género de terror, sin embargo, a pesar de estos elementos no es una obra que dé miedo o genere rechazo.
Un dato francamente curioso es que el autor se inspiró para escribir “Extraños y temibles corazones” en una serie de inusuales eventos que ocurrieron en Nueva Inglaterra durante una plaga de peste.
Así mismo, la edición se encuentra bellamente ilustrada por Luis Durán quien añade su toque decorativo y artístico tanto en las guardas como en los inicios y finales de capítulo a través de unas imágenes en blanco y negro muy significativas que enmarcan con fidelidad la ambientación de la época. Del mismo modo, al finalizar la edición se hayan algunas láminas de personajes, escenarios e incluso autores que fueron referentes para el proceso creativo del autor.
Personalmente, he disfrutado enormemente de la lectura a pesar de que el terror no es mi género predilecto. Me he sentido completamente abstraída tanto por su ambientación y personajes como por su historia, y si bien el final me ha resultado algo abrupto y desalentador, en su totalidad no me ha defraudado, pues con cada tanda de lectura he sentido cómo las palabras de Hester traspasaba el papel y me transmitían esa sensación asfixiante de temor, intriga e inquietud, algo que se agradece en una lectura de esta índole.
March 11, 2021
In 1821 Wickstead, Rhode Island, orphan Hester Stokely finds herself as the live-in help in her uncle’s home, never fully treated like one of the family, despite being told that they see her as a daughter. The fire that took the lives of her parents left her with a facial deformity that causes the townsfolk to shun and mock her, and the boy she loves to disregard her. She finds it difficult to find her place in the town.
When a man rides into their village on a horse, sick and unconscious, it falls to Hester to use her skills as a healer to nurse him back to health, while he is kept in her uncle's barn. After the mysterious man regains consciousness, he is questioned by town elders as to where he came from and why he came to Wickstead. Rather than answer the questions, the stranger flees. Not long behind him, an equally mysterious woman comes to Wickstead looking for the strange man and accuses him of murdering her husband, his brother, and burning his previous town to the ground when a curse.
Before long, illness finds its way to Hester’s family and the village itself. The town, already on alert from the disappearance of the stranger, is thrown into paranoia and suspicion. When people start dying from the mysterious illness, town elders begin to subscribe to occult practices to try to end the curse brought on by the stranger. When the mysterious stranger is captured, Hester is eager to hear his tale and how to end the curse upon Wickstead.
I love historical horror and from the first time I read the description of the book, I had to read it. I have to say, Tim McGregor did a magnificent job with this book. In Hearts Strange and Dreadful, he created a completely immersive world with fully realized characters that felt real. I was easily able to visualize myself in 1820s New England in Wickstead and feel like I was observing the story firsthand. I love the character of Hester, her tenacity and loyalty to those she loves and wants to protect. I felt her frustration when the town elders and her aunt and uncle discounted her when she was trying to convey what was occurring in the town. Even the secondary characters of her Uncle Pardon, Aunt Katherine, her cousins, as well as Will and Henry are so well written that they all feel like real people.
The story is slow building, steeping you in every sight and smell of Wickstead, from the beer hall to the butchering of sheep. While it may seem like the story is slow at times, stick with it. You will be invested, and parts of this story will shock you.
Without giving anything away, I want to talk about the ending of the story. I felt like the story was moving along to its logical conclusion, but I was surprised by the left turn it took. I kept checking the page numbers left on my kindle, wondering if there would be another twist in Hester’s story. It did not end how I expected (and hoped) it would end, and I think that made the story even better.
This is my third story that I have covered for Off Limits Press since I began reviewing late last year, and I have to say the stories keep getting better and better. The press is grabbing some real talent and putting out amazing stories and I look forward to seeing what else they are planning for us.
Disclaimer: Thank you to Off Limits Press for providing me an e-ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
When a man rides into their village on a horse, sick and unconscious, it falls to Hester to use her skills as a healer to nurse him back to health, while he is kept in her uncle's barn. After the mysterious man regains consciousness, he is questioned by town elders as to where he came from and why he came to Wickstead. Rather than answer the questions, the stranger flees. Not long behind him, an equally mysterious woman comes to Wickstead looking for the strange man and accuses him of murdering her husband, his brother, and burning his previous town to the ground when a curse.
Before long, illness finds its way to Hester’s family and the village itself. The town, already on alert from the disappearance of the stranger, is thrown into paranoia and suspicion. When people start dying from the mysterious illness, town elders begin to subscribe to occult practices to try to end the curse brought on by the stranger. When the mysterious stranger is captured, Hester is eager to hear his tale and how to end the curse upon Wickstead.
I love historical horror and from the first time I read the description of the book, I had to read it. I have to say, Tim McGregor did a magnificent job with this book. In Hearts Strange and Dreadful, he created a completely immersive world with fully realized characters that felt real. I was easily able to visualize myself in 1820s New England in Wickstead and feel like I was observing the story firsthand. I love the character of Hester, her tenacity and loyalty to those she loves and wants to protect. I felt her frustration when the town elders and her aunt and uncle discounted her when she was trying to convey what was occurring in the town. Even the secondary characters of her Uncle Pardon, Aunt Katherine, her cousins, as well as Will and Henry are so well written that they all feel like real people.
The story is slow building, steeping you in every sight and smell of Wickstead, from the beer hall to the butchering of sheep. While it may seem like the story is slow at times, stick with it. You will be invested, and parts of this story will shock you.
Without giving anything away, I want to talk about the ending of the story. I felt like the story was moving along to its logical conclusion, but I was surprised by the left turn it took. I kept checking the page numbers left on my kindle, wondering if there would be another twist in Hester’s story. It did not end how I expected (and hoped) it would end, and I think that made the story even better.
This is my third story that I have covered for Off Limits Press since I began reviewing late last year, and I have to say the stories keep getting better and better. The press is grabbing some real talent and putting out amazing stories and I look forward to seeing what else they are planning for us.
Disclaimer: Thank you to Off Limits Press for providing me an e-ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
February 16, 2021
I thought I was going to enjoy this historical horror novel, but I didn't expect to love it as much as I did! This one is going to stick with me for a long time to come.
This book is character driven and atmospheric. It is set in 1821 Rhode Island. This story is told in first person by our female protagonist, Hester who is an orphan that lives with her uncle and his family. She feels like little more than a servant in their home. One day a deadly plague come to town of Wickstead. Hester watches those around quickly fall ill. The townspeople watch their loved ones waste away. Soon it becomes clear to Hester that there is something more dangerous than disease that has come to her small town. Hester must confront this evil to save her family and her town.
This is book is a slow burn, that builds a sense of dread that keeps you reading. You will be totally invested and have to know what is going to happen to Hester and the people of Wickstead. I don't want to say too much, but hold on to your heart because that ending will leave you feeling torn and conflicted.
Thank you to Off Limits Press for sending me a copy of Hearts Strange and Dreadful in exchange for my honest review!
This book is character driven and atmospheric. It is set in 1821 Rhode Island. This story is told in first person by our female protagonist, Hester who is an orphan that lives with her uncle and his family. She feels like little more than a servant in their home. One day a deadly plague come to town of Wickstead. Hester watches those around quickly fall ill. The townspeople watch their loved ones waste away. Soon it becomes clear to Hester that there is something more dangerous than disease that has come to her small town. Hester must confront this evil to save her family and her town.
This is book is a slow burn, that builds a sense of dread that keeps you reading. You will be totally invested and have to know what is going to happen to Hester and the people of Wickstead. I don't want to say too much, but hold on to your heart because that ending will leave you feeling torn and conflicted.
Thank you to Off Limits Press for sending me a copy of Hearts Strange and Dreadful in exchange for my honest review!
April 26, 2024
I've so much to say here, I hope I can get it all out.
First and foremost, this book...this damned book. It's incredible. After finishing McGregor's WASPS IN THE ICE CREAM I'd been looking for more from him. At the time, the bookstore was out of everything except this one, which I bought without even bothering to read the back.
I'm typically not too enamoured of historical settings, but in the last couple of months, I've been entranced by Brom's SLEWFOOT and even moreso by Alex Grecian's RED RABBIT but I have to say, of the three, this one absolutely grabbed me.
McGregor's strengths are all on display here:
His characters live and breath and settle into your heart as real people. I ached for Hester. And Will, for all of that. But every single character is finely crafted and carefully drawn. Which ties into one of McGregor's other strengths...don't come into one of his novels expecting slam bang action in the first three-quarters of the book. McGregor is an absolute master of slowly building both the story and the tension, building not with big bricks, but specifically chosen small stones, carefully fitted into place. You may think, as the reader, that he's overloading you with extraneous detail, but he's not. All that detail pays off. ALL of it. So, all those things you learn about the people, the town, their attitudes and their behaviours...your patience is rewarded.
And finally, there's the sheer storytelling ability of the author. Very much like WASPS you'll feel very little horror in the first half, and only some in the third quarter. But that last bit?
Damn.
Without spoiling anything, I will say that McGregor crafted—and I choose that word carefully, because this guy does magic with words that goes beyond writing—scenes that left me teared up, heartbroken. I went through one entire sequence, and it actually, honestly, hurt to swallow because I had a lump in my throat through the entire scene. Other scenes left my heart thudding in my chest. Several times, I know I whispered expletives, or things like, "oh no..."
There's books that are a great read. And I love those. I can examine the language, the style. They're a great experience.
But then there's books that go far beyond that. They become the reader's reality for a time. You slip out of your own life, and you fall into the world inside that book. That's a far more rare experience for me, but it happened here. I found myself two hundred years in the past, and I lived this book.
Why Tim McGregor doesn't have a major book deal and is lauded as one of the premiere authors of our time—not just a horror author, but an Author—is a mystery to me.
This is a brilliant book.
First and foremost, this book...this damned book. It's incredible. After finishing McGregor's WASPS IN THE ICE CREAM I'd been looking for more from him. At the time, the bookstore was out of everything except this one, which I bought without even bothering to read the back.
I'm typically not too enamoured of historical settings, but in the last couple of months, I've been entranced by Brom's SLEWFOOT and even moreso by Alex Grecian's RED RABBIT but I have to say, of the three, this one absolutely grabbed me.
McGregor's strengths are all on display here:
His characters live and breath and settle into your heart as real people. I ached for Hester. And Will, for all of that. But every single character is finely crafted and carefully drawn. Which ties into one of McGregor's other strengths...don't come into one of his novels expecting slam bang action in the first three-quarters of the book. McGregor is an absolute master of slowly building both the story and the tension, building not with big bricks, but specifically chosen small stones, carefully fitted into place. You may think, as the reader, that he's overloading you with extraneous detail, but he's not. All that detail pays off. ALL of it. So, all those things you learn about the people, the town, their attitudes and their behaviours...your patience is rewarded.
And finally, there's the sheer storytelling ability of the author. Very much like WASPS you'll feel very little horror in the first half, and only some in the third quarter. But that last bit?
Damn.
Without spoiling anything, I will say that McGregor crafted—and I choose that word carefully, because this guy does magic with words that goes beyond writing—scenes that left me teared up, heartbroken. I went through one entire sequence, and it actually, honestly, hurt to swallow because I had a lump in my throat through the entire scene. Other scenes left my heart thudding in my chest. Several times, I know I whispered expletives, or things like, "oh no..."
There's books that are a great read. And I love those. I can examine the language, the style. They're a great experience.
But then there's books that go far beyond that. They become the reader's reality for a time. You slip out of your own life, and you fall into the world inside that book. That's a far more rare experience for me, but it happened here. I found myself two hundred years in the past, and I lived this book.
Why Tim McGregor doesn't have a major book deal and is lauded as one of the premiere authors of our time—not just a horror author, but an Author—is a mystery to me.
This is a brilliant book.
February 15, 2021
I'm all about this character driven historical horror! I don't know that I've read a lot of historical horror, so I went into this not sure what to really expect. Being immersed in this world for a few days was just what I needed. You know those books you read that transport you to another time, another world? The creepy, isolated atmosphere McGregor crafted was incredibly absorbing and immersive. I felt like I was one of the villagers, standing right alongside Hester, in 1820s New England as we desperately try to stop the spread of a sinister, dark plague as it claims more victims. There's a certain mysterious nature to the illness which creates a horror all of its own.
Where some may call this a slow burner, I would say that all of the build up is truly necessary to really bring you into the world of Wickstead, RI and make you FEEL the events as the characters are living them. Hester Stokely loses her family in a house fire that leaves her with a sizeable scar on her face and a new home with her aunt, uncle, and their children. Sadly as is true for the time, she is treated as a sort-of housemaid, doing all of the "woman's work" within the household (cooking, cleaning, caring for her cousins). Hester will quickly become your favorite character, and you'll find yourself in her corner. One day, Death rides into the small village in the form of a severely ill, barely responsive man slumped over his horse. This is where the true mystery begins to take hold. Once the story consumes you, and you're totally invested, hold on to your heart, because McGregor puts it through the spin cycle.
Off Limits Press has been pumping out some absolutely phenomenal horror, and this book is no exception!!! If historical settings or slow-building, atmospheric and mysterious horror is your thing, I think you'll find this one really enjoyable.
Thank you to Off Limits Press for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!
Where some may call this a slow burner, I would say that all of the build up is truly necessary to really bring you into the world of Wickstead, RI and make you FEEL the events as the characters are living them. Hester Stokely loses her family in a house fire that leaves her with a sizeable scar on her face and a new home with her aunt, uncle, and their children. Sadly as is true for the time, she is treated as a sort-of housemaid, doing all of the "woman's work" within the household (cooking, cleaning, caring for her cousins). Hester will quickly become your favorite character, and you'll find yourself in her corner. One day, Death rides into the small village in the form of a severely ill, barely responsive man slumped over his horse. This is where the true mystery begins to take hold. Once the story consumes you, and you're totally invested, hold on to your heart, because McGregor puts it through the spin cycle.
Off Limits Press has been pumping out some absolutely phenomenal horror, and this book is no exception!!! If historical settings or slow-building, atmospheric and mysterious horror is your thing, I think you'll find this one really enjoyable.
Thank you to Off Limits Press for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!
January 11, 2021
This was my first novel from Tim McGregor and it did not disappoint. Brooding and Dark atmosphere, world building that pulled you into the story, and strong character development.
This book was a supernatural period piece set in the 1800’s. This time period is rife with superstition and strange rituals.
The book started out slow for me as I wasn’t expecting a period piece. (I didn’t read anything about book beforehand) But it quickly picked up after the mysterious stranger arrived. And kept charging ahead for the rest of the book.
The protagonist, Hester, finds herself living with her Aunt and Uncle after a tragedy made her an orphan. To make matters worse, she suffers from a facial scar which makes her very self conscious. Is she actually a part of this family or just a servant? I asked myself this throughout the entire novel. Sickness takes over the small town after a stranger appears and what follows are accusations, neighbor against neighbor and death.
I felt Hester was a strong lead character. I was very invested in what happened to her and how she felt. It was hideous what some of the town bullies put her through, however she was a strong willed woman for the 1800’s and actually spoke up instead of staying silent. She was niece, cousin, sister, mother and hero all in one.
The other secondary characters were equally fleshed out. I especially loved the dynamic between Hester and Will; Hester and Henry, the love interests. I typically hate my horror with romance. This was an exception as I loved Hesters character so much.
I loved this book. The only issue for me was, of course, that I had already pictured Hester’s future in my head. Because I was attached. But that’s a good book! I’ll be thinking about this one for awhile.
This book was a supernatural period piece set in the 1800’s. This time period is rife with superstition and strange rituals.
The book started out slow for me as I wasn’t expecting a period piece. (I didn’t read anything about book beforehand) But it quickly picked up after the mysterious stranger arrived. And kept charging ahead for the rest of the book.
The protagonist, Hester, finds herself living with her Aunt and Uncle after a tragedy made her an orphan. To make matters worse, she suffers from a facial scar which makes her very self conscious. Is she actually a part of this family or just a servant? I asked myself this throughout the entire novel. Sickness takes over the small town after a stranger appears and what follows are accusations, neighbor against neighbor and death.
I felt Hester was a strong lead character. I was very invested in what happened to her and how she felt. It was hideous what some of the town bullies put her through, however she was a strong willed woman for the 1800’s and actually spoke up instead of staying silent. She was niece, cousin, sister, mother and hero all in one.
The other secondary characters were equally fleshed out. I especially loved the dynamic between Hester and Will; Hester and Henry, the love interests. I typically hate my horror with romance. This was an exception as I loved Hesters character so much.
I loved this book. The only issue for me was, of course, that I had already pictured Hester’s future in my head. Because I was attached. But that’s a good book! I’ll be thinking about this one for awhile.
February 15, 2021
Hearts Strange and Dreadful is set New England in the 1820s. Hester Stokely is an orphan who lost parents in a fire a few years prior. She retains a large scar on her face from the fire. She is grateful to have been taken in by her aunt and uncle who live in the pious town of Wickstead, RI, but the relationship is tenuous. Hester is treated much like a servant by the family and not kindly by the rest of the town. She's a little different, even beyond her scar - a little too smart and too independent for the townsfolk. Uppity women, I tell ya. She has had some training as a healer and seems to have some natural abilities to that end. When a deadly plague starts claiming victims in the town, her healing skills are in great demand. At first, it seems to be consumption, but as the disease spreads, it becomes clear to Hester that the local deaths are being caused by something darker and more sinister.
This was a great book. I found myself really enjoying the historical perspectives as well as the horror. The characters in this book were rich and well developed, particularly Hester who was likable, relatable and sympathetic. I would love to read another book about where Hester's life goes from here - I have some ideas for her. Overall, it was an enjoyable story filled out with vibrant and real-feeling characters. There were good solid scares and a buildup of tension and drama as the plot progressed to it's climax. I would recommend it to fans of historical horror and dark historical fiction.
Thank you to Off Limits press for me with providing an e-ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.
This was a great book. I found myself really enjoying the historical perspectives as well as the horror. The characters in this book were rich and well developed, particularly Hester who was likable, relatable and sympathetic. I would love to read another book about where Hester's life goes from here - I have some ideas for her. Overall, it was an enjoyable story filled out with vibrant and real-feeling characters. There were good solid scares and a buildup of tension and drama as the plot progressed to it's climax. I would recommend it to fans of historical horror and dark historical fiction.
Thank you to Off Limits press for me with providing an e-ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.
February 22, 2021
Hearts Strange and Dreadful by Tim McGregor is a historical horror that will break your heart over and over again, while you can’t help but hope that the main character will find a bit of true happiness.
CW: Death due to sudden illness.
Full disclosure: I was given a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This did not affect my rating in any way.
More here: https://www.ericarobynreads.com/book-...
CW: Death due to sudden illness.
Full disclosure: I was given a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This did not affect my rating in any way.
More here: https://www.ericarobynreads.com/book-...
January 12, 2021
"It takes a careful hand to present a story that echoes so many modern sentiments without marring the veneer of a period piece. Hearts Strange and Dreadful does it beautifully."
You can read my full review at iHorror.com!
https://www.ihorror.com/tim-mcgregors...
You can read my full review at iHorror.com!
https://www.ihorror.com/tim-mcgregors...
February 25, 2021
What a delectable novel to read in the dark, cold, waning days of winter, as they give way to the gray-slushed thaw of early spring! What a fitting story for the current plagues of the past year and our near future. What an impressive dawn for the new Off Limits Press, with Hearts Strange and Dreadful serving as the novel debut for their catalog. What an exceptional voice Tim McGregor has created in his protagonist Hester Stokely. What a stirring, heart-wrenching tale of familial devotion and feminine fortitude. What a successful rendering of a classic horror staple into a historical setting, which somehow also reads fresh and relevant for the present: timeless themes in genre fiction that could just as easily pass for conventional literature with a supernatural twist.
It is 1821. While daily life remains full of struggles, New Englanders enjoy relative peace and prosperity, but still recall recent wars past, and a season of strange weather and abnormal darkness. After the tragic death of her parents in a house fire during that gloomier period, orphaned Hester Stokely moved from the Rhode Island town where she was born to the nearby Wickstead to live with her paternal uncle Pardon, his wife Katherine, and their six children. Though welcomed into the family there and feeling deeply appreciative, Hester cannot help but also feel secondary to the primary offspring; she feels the weight of added expectations and responsibilities around the home and land, as if to earn her keep not assured by direct birthright. While proud and confident in her intellect, domestic abilities, and common sense, Hester cannot help but feel inadequate in her spiritual resolve compared to her pious and devout sister cousin Faith. With a deep scar marring her own face, Hester can only look at the beauty and social success of her other sister cousin Prudence and dream of the joy, comfort, or ease for which Pru seems destined.
Despite such doubts in herself, Hester persists in doing what is necessary, of doing her best, and being as kind and grateful as she can manage. While some Wickstead residents mock Hester's appearance and abuse her ready willingness and aptitude to help, others come to her support, particularly her steadfast friend Will, who also bears disfigurement (a lost arm) and comes from a less affluent Wickstead farming family. But Hester's yearning is directed toward Henry, the handsome son of the town innkeepers, who shows occasional kindness to, and notice of, her.
The life of Wickstead's residents becomes unbalanced with the arrival of an injured and raving man on a near-dead horse. Taken in by Pardon's aid and nursed by Hester in the family barn, the half-crazed man, a resident of Hester's nearby birth town, reveals frightening, nigh unbelievable news: a plague of galloping consumption appeared in the town, rapidly raging from homestead to homestead, felling countless and driving survivors to fear and paranoia. Spinning out of control with superstition, grounds were torn up, graves desecrated; mobs looked to the cleansing power of fire, but could not contain the chaos. Utterly burnt to the ground the town is no more. The man has fled carrying talismans of protection that bear the reek of vile idolatrous Catholicism to the puritan-descended residents of Wickstead. Though apparently the only survivor if his tale bears true, the man also attempts to flee his caregivers despite his serious injuries, lamenting of a dangerous force in pursuit that will kill him, and which could bring destruction to all.
As the town leaders (with Pardon among them) debate what to do about the man and his dire news, a wealthy, widowed Lady also arrives in town at the Inn as a refugee from the nearby town, damning the man as the cause of its destruction and offering a generous reward for his capture and punishment. However, returning to the barn, Pardon finds the raving man has escaped and fled, apparently, not without leaving something behind. That next morning, Hester finds Prudence sprawled on the floor by the entry, returned after a clandestine night-time rendezvous with her fiancé, racked with a cough and symptoms of consumption. As Hester and the family deal with their tragedy, fear and paranoia begin spreading in Wickstead, just as the stranger said occurred in the nearby town. Unable to discern the plague's exact nature and ill-equipped to defend against it, Hester nonetheless perseveres to do everything that is in her power and resolve, even as the threat reveals itself to be far darker than normal consumptive contagion.
With a narrative told from Hester's first-person perspective, McGregor immediately establishes the tenacity of his female protagonist amid the hardships of 1820s New England rural society. The novel opens with a scene where Hester's two older brother cousins have difficulty completing their responsibilities in butchering a lamb. Unable to handle the discomfort of the gore, the boys pass the most difficult parts of the jobs to Hester. Though she likes the task no more than they, she has the experience and maturity to follow the task through her discomfort. She does what is necessary. Unlike her brother cousins, she also has no power or privilege to refuse the job, for she lives in their household at their mercy and grace.
This short introductory scene symbolizes the rest of the novel, with Hester showing that of everyone she is the most 'adult'. No matter the difficulty or what it requires of her to let go, she will get the job done. What use is complaining? All other characters show some degree of this, but no one else embodies it to Hester's degree. Yet, she also has moments of 'weakness' in the sense that she gives in to her desires or dreams. When she does, she feels slightly guilty, and prays or thinks of wanting to have more strength for future moments. Yet, one gets the sense she wouldn't change those decisions even if she (and her society) don't put value (or punish) such acts of self-care.
In this way, with this voice, McGregor writes historical fiction that realistically roots itself in the 1820s with its particular adversity and culturally imposed limitations for women without celebrating or extolling that. And with the plot featuring a plague, isolation, and additional care responsibilities, it serves as very potent reminder of how much this misogyny remains ever-present in today's society as amid the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic women have been expected to make the greater professional sacrifices in child care and domestic maintenance. How many right now are doing what they'd otherwise find inconceivable or impossible, simply because there is no other option. Hard tasks need to be done. The only other alternative is loss to family, giving up life. This is the battle at the center of Hearts Strange and Dreadful, this is the core of Hester's fortitude, the appeal of her voice, and the heart-breaking nature of her narrative.
Hearts Strange and Dreadful will be a gut-wrenching in many spots; not to spoil anything specific, it's ending may particularly feel bittersweet to many. Though a sequel is by no means necessary, one finishes this novel knowing that it is not the actual end of Hester's story, but it is the clear and proper end to this one. Hardship and discomfort continues. This is the 1820s for a rural woman with a scarred visage. But there is certainty that Hester will go on just as strongly, and that some happiness and betterment can be achievable even with that hardship. Everything that Hester looked upon with admiration and jealousy - what she saw as lacking or impossible in her life - has died; her perceived deficiencies actually gave her strength and have allowed her to survive. That will go on.
With this novel McGregor has done something that I've seen a lot of mainstream authors try to do under mainstream, conventional literature marketing: write a horror story featuring an iconic legend that everyone is familiar with, but leave it unnamed and somehow keep it essential and interesting. The first I can think to do this is one of the most famous horror writers in existence, and it worked fairly well. More recent ones I've seen were disappointing. They flirted with genre while trying to keep 'respectable' and clever. They failed at all that. Hearts Strange and Dreadful succeeds at this fantastically, first by doing the reverse: marketing as horror, but having the bulk of the novel present itself within pure realism. The historical setting makes this possible. To us, plague and disease is something relatively well-defined and real. Galloping consumption is tuberculosis, caused by a bacteria, Mycobacterium tuberculosis. We can fight it (albeit with resistance looming) via antibiotics. For the characters of this novel, however, the plague that descends upon Wickstead is supernatural, uncanny. The treatments even by established groups of society (early 'doctors', barber-surgeons, etc) are seen as suspect with superstition and religious faith being more assured protections or hopes. By the time the novel gets to things that would be supernatural for we the readers, there is no change in the tone of the novel or its characters. If anything the supernatural (from our perspective) now presents a physical reality for them that the conventional, actual realistic cause of an invisible microbe, never could within this setting prior to the invention of the microscope. The novel just keeps reading like conventional historical literature.
This also makes Hearts Strange and Dreadful chilling in its horror, for it seems very plausible from that perspective of a plague, and we see bits of it in our lives now. Adding to the chilling atmosphere of it all is the rural isolation of the settings: towns near but still separated by significant distances. Even before our lives were so intertwined by easy travel, pandemic was a grave threat. That realistic, chilling horror behind the novel and its atmosphere slowly builds as Wickstead descends further into fear. By the novel's close McGregor builds this to intense moments of visceral horror that fans of the genre will appreciate and will have been awaiting; gore presaged by the opening scene of Hester's slaughter of the lamb.
I feel as though there is still a lot one could say about this novel, but I'll finish things off before droning on too long. I'm not sure I could imagine this novel being written any better. I stupidly left my copy of the book at home or I would have put quotes in here to show the power of its language and Hester's voice. It's still rather early in 2021, but I can be certain that this novel will feature as one of my favorites for the year, and even more I can see it as a novel I could look forward to returning to reread; savor it a second time in a year to come. McGregor's writing is new to me, but I'll be keeping my eye out for future releases by him or copies of his previously published work. And I'm eager to start the next of Off Limits Press's offerings.
It is 1821. While daily life remains full of struggles, New Englanders enjoy relative peace and prosperity, but still recall recent wars past, and a season of strange weather and abnormal darkness. After the tragic death of her parents in a house fire during that gloomier period, orphaned Hester Stokely moved from the Rhode Island town where she was born to the nearby Wickstead to live with her paternal uncle Pardon, his wife Katherine, and their six children. Though welcomed into the family there and feeling deeply appreciative, Hester cannot help but also feel secondary to the primary offspring; she feels the weight of added expectations and responsibilities around the home and land, as if to earn her keep not assured by direct birthright. While proud and confident in her intellect, domestic abilities, and common sense, Hester cannot help but feel inadequate in her spiritual resolve compared to her pious and devout sister cousin Faith. With a deep scar marring her own face, Hester can only look at the beauty and social success of her other sister cousin Prudence and dream of the joy, comfort, or ease for which Pru seems destined.
Despite such doubts in herself, Hester persists in doing what is necessary, of doing her best, and being as kind and grateful as she can manage. While some Wickstead residents mock Hester's appearance and abuse her ready willingness and aptitude to help, others come to her support, particularly her steadfast friend Will, who also bears disfigurement (a lost arm) and comes from a less affluent Wickstead farming family. But Hester's yearning is directed toward Henry, the handsome son of the town innkeepers, who shows occasional kindness to, and notice of, her.
The life of Wickstead's residents becomes unbalanced with the arrival of an injured and raving man on a near-dead horse. Taken in by Pardon's aid and nursed by Hester in the family barn, the half-crazed man, a resident of Hester's nearby birth town, reveals frightening, nigh unbelievable news: a plague of galloping consumption appeared in the town, rapidly raging from homestead to homestead, felling countless and driving survivors to fear and paranoia. Spinning out of control with superstition, grounds were torn up, graves desecrated; mobs looked to the cleansing power of fire, but could not contain the chaos. Utterly burnt to the ground the town is no more. The man has fled carrying talismans of protection that bear the reek of vile idolatrous Catholicism to the puritan-descended residents of Wickstead. Though apparently the only survivor if his tale bears true, the man also attempts to flee his caregivers despite his serious injuries, lamenting of a dangerous force in pursuit that will kill him, and which could bring destruction to all.
As the town leaders (with Pardon among them) debate what to do about the man and his dire news, a wealthy, widowed Lady also arrives in town at the Inn as a refugee from the nearby town, damning the man as the cause of its destruction and offering a generous reward for his capture and punishment. However, returning to the barn, Pardon finds the raving man has escaped and fled, apparently, not without leaving something behind. That next morning, Hester finds Prudence sprawled on the floor by the entry, returned after a clandestine night-time rendezvous with her fiancé, racked with a cough and symptoms of consumption. As Hester and the family deal with their tragedy, fear and paranoia begin spreading in Wickstead, just as the stranger said occurred in the nearby town. Unable to discern the plague's exact nature and ill-equipped to defend against it, Hester nonetheless perseveres to do everything that is in her power and resolve, even as the threat reveals itself to be far darker than normal consumptive contagion.
With a narrative told from Hester's first-person perspective, McGregor immediately establishes the tenacity of his female protagonist amid the hardships of 1820s New England rural society. The novel opens with a scene where Hester's two older brother cousins have difficulty completing their responsibilities in butchering a lamb. Unable to handle the discomfort of the gore, the boys pass the most difficult parts of the jobs to Hester. Though she likes the task no more than they, she has the experience and maturity to follow the task through her discomfort. She does what is necessary. Unlike her brother cousins, she also has no power or privilege to refuse the job, for she lives in their household at their mercy and grace.
This short introductory scene symbolizes the rest of the novel, with Hester showing that of everyone she is the most 'adult'. No matter the difficulty or what it requires of her to let go, she will get the job done. What use is complaining? All other characters show some degree of this, but no one else embodies it to Hester's degree. Yet, she also has moments of 'weakness' in the sense that she gives in to her desires or dreams. When she does, she feels slightly guilty, and prays or thinks of wanting to have more strength for future moments. Yet, one gets the sense she wouldn't change those decisions even if she (and her society) don't put value (or punish) such acts of self-care.
In this way, with this voice, McGregor writes historical fiction that realistically roots itself in the 1820s with its particular adversity and culturally imposed limitations for women without celebrating or extolling that. And with the plot featuring a plague, isolation, and additional care responsibilities, it serves as very potent reminder of how much this misogyny remains ever-present in today's society as amid the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic women have been expected to make the greater professional sacrifices in child care and domestic maintenance. How many right now are doing what they'd otherwise find inconceivable or impossible, simply because there is no other option. Hard tasks need to be done. The only other alternative is loss to family, giving up life. This is the battle at the center of Hearts Strange and Dreadful, this is the core of Hester's fortitude, the appeal of her voice, and the heart-breaking nature of her narrative.
Hearts Strange and Dreadful will be a gut-wrenching in many spots; not to spoil anything specific, it's ending may particularly feel bittersweet to many. Though a sequel is by no means necessary, one finishes this novel knowing that it is not the actual end of Hester's story, but it is the clear and proper end to this one. Hardship and discomfort continues. This is the 1820s for a rural woman with a scarred visage. But there is certainty that Hester will go on just as strongly, and that some happiness and betterment can be achievable even with that hardship. Everything that Hester looked upon with admiration and jealousy - what she saw as lacking or impossible in her life - has died; her perceived deficiencies actually gave her strength and have allowed her to survive. That will go on.
With this novel McGregor has done something that I've seen a lot of mainstream authors try to do under mainstream, conventional literature marketing: write a horror story featuring an iconic legend that everyone is familiar with, but leave it unnamed and somehow keep it essential and interesting. The first I can think to do this is one of the most famous horror writers in existence, and it worked fairly well. More recent ones I've seen were disappointing. They flirted with genre while trying to keep 'respectable' and clever. They failed at all that. Hearts Strange and Dreadful succeeds at this fantastically, first by doing the reverse: marketing as horror, but having the bulk of the novel present itself within pure realism. The historical setting makes this possible. To us, plague and disease is something relatively well-defined and real. Galloping consumption is tuberculosis, caused by a bacteria, Mycobacterium tuberculosis. We can fight it (albeit with resistance looming) via antibiotics. For the characters of this novel, however, the plague that descends upon Wickstead is supernatural, uncanny. The treatments even by established groups of society (early 'doctors', barber-surgeons, etc) are seen as suspect with superstition and religious faith being more assured protections or hopes. By the time the novel gets to things that would be supernatural for we the readers, there is no change in the tone of the novel or its characters. If anything the supernatural (from our perspective) now presents a physical reality for them that the conventional, actual realistic cause of an invisible microbe, never could within this setting prior to the invention of the microscope. The novel just keeps reading like conventional historical literature.
This also makes Hearts Strange and Dreadful chilling in its horror, for it seems very plausible from that perspective of a plague, and we see bits of it in our lives now. Adding to the chilling atmosphere of it all is the rural isolation of the settings: towns near but still separated by significant distances. Even before our lives were so intertwined by easy travel, pandemic was a grave threat. That realistic, chilling horror behind the novel and its atmosphere slowly builds as Wickstead descends further into fear. By the novel's close McGregor builds this to intense moments of visceral horror that fans of the genre will appreciate and will have been awaiting; gore presaged by the opening scene of Hester's slaughter of the lamb.
I feel as though there is still a lot one could say about this novel, but I'll finish things off before droning on too long. I'm not sure I could imagine this novel being written any better. I stupidly left my copy of the book at home or I would have put quotes in here to show the power of its language and Hester's voice. It's still rather early in 2021, but I can be certain that this novel will feature as one of my favorites for the year, and even more I can see it as a novel I could look forward to returning to reread; savor it a second time in a year to come. McGregor's writing is new to me, but I'll be keeping my eye out for future releases by him or copies of his previously published work. And I'm eager to start the next of Off Limits Press's offerings.
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