The Ghost Woods by C.J. Cooke

Wow. Just wow. Where to start with The Ghost Woods?

C.J. Cooke’s The Ghost Woods follows Pearl and Mabel, two seemingly different girls who fall pregnant out of wedlock and end up at Lichen Hall under the charge of the foreboding Mrs Whitlock. Six years separate their stories initially and we see how they each cope with the strange goings on in the house.

A book dealing with themes of love, motherhood, queerness, otherness and fungus, The Ghost Woods takes a stark look at how women, particularly queer women, were treated in Scotland of the 1950s and 60s.

A dark, intriguing novel, it initially took me quite a while to get into. I can't quite put my finger on what I struggled with so much, but I'm so glad I persevered. I particularly loved the other girls in the house - Morven, Rahmi and Aretta, and the girls’ relationship with them and poor Sylvan. Mabel and Morven’s tragic love story really made the book gripping as I eased myself back into it and I was so gutted when it was brought to such an abrupt end. Honestly, it was practically a lesbian polycule looking after Sylvan for the first six years of his life and I think that's beautiful.

I haven't read the previous two books Cooke wrote as part of this thematically connected trio of novels, but I definitely will be. She is a master at making you doubt the facts in front of you and while I wasn't expecting a science lesson on fungus and mycology from a gothic novel about pregnant women I'm not complaining in the slightest.