The Dark Between The Trees

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This did mean however that I had a bit of a hard time singling out characters or needing a while to figure out that the pov had actually changed until I got more familiar with all the individual names. Some stood out more than others of course but even then I occasionally lost a beat in needing to figure out whose eyes I was seeing through exactly. (Side note this only happened within either of the two timelines of course, as past and present were clearly divided.) Not in terms of specifics, but I’m telling you, the general vibes of mid-seventeenth-century English ghost stories are wild. It makes so much sense that they are – living in the middle of a country at war with itself is enough to give anyone anxiety, and nightmares. There’s a sense of individuals with hardly any true information, but still trying to explain the unexplainable, that I really wanted to draw on in the book. How much historical research did you do when writing Captain Davies’ story, which takes place in the 1600s?

The very end of the book even left me quite impressed as I found it quite a gutsy move to wrap things up the way that Barnett did. To me it fit within the whole theme and vibe of the story but to others it may seem completely different if not downright contentious! I’m actually looking forward to more people reading this so that I can discuss it with someone! The Dark Between The Trees weaves two stories together over centuries…two very creepy stories. The subtitle “Getting Lost is Safer than Being Found” is a clue although neither is a good choice. Barnett has a gift of building her story and its world. The novel alternates between the group led by Davies, and the group led by Dr. Alice Christopher. The narrative jumps right in, no lengthy exposition, but a constant flow of context while the events don’t cease. Right from the onset, the thrill and horror is built up. It is one thing to include visible ghosts in a story, or a legend that exists only in one version and is quite solid. Nothing such is happening in the Moresby woods; the entity that haunts it is invisible, the forest is conscious and hearing, and the environ not quite familiar in terms of known geography. Common sense and logic are wasted, and not even modern tech stands. It is an unfamiliar world that we are too scared to think of, made quite alive. It is Bermuda Triangle but without casual accounts or conspiracies. It unsettles not just the characters, but also the readers.What drew you to writing in this specific genre? Do you have any tips or advice for authors who want to write a thriller?

I absolutely loved the group of women who make up the "present " day group as they seek to discover the truth surrounding the legends of these woods and what has happened to the soldiers from the "past" that wandered in after an ambush. I absolutely loved the group of wom The Dark Between the Trees comes out tomorrow October 11th and it is the perfect spooky and eerie read for anyone looking for a gothic folk story with incredible ambiance, creatures that prowl in the dark and an enemy that isn’t quite what you’d expect. Also, if you’re in any way involved in academia this book will speak to your deepest peeves and you’ll feel understood hahah. Overall the book was excellent but I was deflated from the ending but it really left me wanting more. I look forward to what the author next brings out. The leader of my modern group is an academic historian called Alice, who wants most of all to know what it must have felt like to be one of the missing group of seventeenth-century soldiers. And that’s what I always want to know about history too! I want to know what it felt like, and how that was different from my own experiences of the world. Putting those next to each other was a cool way to highlight their similarities and differences – and the strengths and weaknesses of both. What was the process of telling those two stories?Monomaniacal characters are extremely fascinating to me, especially when the author can show that devolution or character decay in a gradual but inexorable manner that really hooks the reader. Barnett, I think, did pretty well in that regard here! Then we leap to the present day, where a group of women, led by academic Dr. Alice Christopher, enter the forbidden woods to investigate the past weirdness. For Dr. Christopher, this is the realization of a life-long dream, previously denied due to sexism and general academic prejudice. Dragging four unsuspecting women behind her, their experiences begin to mirror those of the 1643 soldiers. Five women led by a historian go into a remote wood in northern England, looking for traces of a group of soldiers who disappeared in it during the English Civil War in the seventeenth century. Only two of the soldiers were ever seen again, and their stories about what happened to them make no sense—stories of shifting landscapes and of a creeping shadow that seemed to follow them through the trees. But whatever it was that found those soldiers, it still walks the woods… Well, I wrote a quite in-depth podcast on the early part of the civil wars, so I did do a fair bit of research on the period – although most of it predated me actually writing the novel. In some ways, the 2009 half of the book is a reflection of my early discovery that researching the 1640s is difficult and frustrating if you want to do it justice! What are you reading right now? The setting. I love a mysterious wood with an unseen creature and questions about how it came to be. The addition of two different times (present and hundreds of years ago) was a nice touch, in my opinion, and made things interesting

Today: five women are headed into Moresby Wood to discover, once and for all, what happened to that unfortunate group of soldiers. Led by Dr Alice Christopher, an historian who has devoted her entire academic career to uncovering the secrets of Moresby Wood. Armed with metal detectors, GPS units, mobile phones and the most recent map of the area (which is nearly 50 years old), Dr Christopher’s group enters the wood ready for anything.Overall, a great read for horror fans who love: stories set in the forest, a sense of mystery and exploration, fans of the Ritual or the Descent, and a clean horror that doesn't rely on discomfort or immorality to creep you out. I would recommend this to other horror fans. Hello again dear reader, it is October and spooky season is on 🎃. So how about a review for a surrealist gothic folk-thriller?? That sounds like a bit of a mouthful but broken down in other terms this is the kind of book that is 80% just supernatural vibes surrounding a very simple plot that will have you coming out of it more than a little confused but satisfied nonetheless. There are constant time shifts and eventual melding that may confuse readers but I was able to fall into the rhythm and I think this also parallels one of the features of the forest which, itself and for the various captured parties, is constantly shifting between different periods of its existence. The interaction between past and present (and not-quite-present) is still fascinating to me, and it’s something I’m still trying to explore in my next book. Although at this rate I think the next one will look quite different from The Dark Between the Trees! I’m still working out exactly what it’ll look like – but watch this space. Barnett employs one of the story telling devices I enjoy the most which is unfolding parallel plots, one in the past and one in the present.

Admittedly, I'm undecided on the ending. I sort of expected something bigger, something that would act as more of a gut punch. But maybe the understated element of the chosen ending is brilliant, maybe this is in fact the better ending.It's a multiple timeline tale of people trapped in a single piece of sinister forest somewhere unspecified in the north of England. There's a medieval storyline (told through the modern storyline), an English Civil War narrative, and a 21st century story, as well as an overarching sense of the ancient - long predating all of those historical periods. I like the way their life has been shown, there's no great long exposition, but there's still clearly thought out world building which is dead interesting and I want to know more about the people and why the live in this place surrounded by all the dark and why they think they're alone, and where the Ego character came from. Fiona Barnett lives in Edinburgh and grew up near the New Forest with stories of Roundheads and Cavaliers, and ancient secrets in the heart of the woods. She has podcasted on the British Civil Wars, and her short fiction has appeared in Haunted Voices: An Anthology of Scottish Gothic Storytelling. Rebekah Simmers interviews her on the release of her novel, The Dark Between the Trees, a Gothic thriller set in 1643. The story could get very slow at times and while there's nothing wrong with this slow burn, I found myself hoping something exciting would actually happen when it never did. However, this wasn't a major issue in the book