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Book Review
Oct. 18th, 2021 11:05 amWylding Hall
by Elizabeth Hand
This short, eerie novel is set in the early 1970s at Wylding Hall, a neglected manor house in the English countryside. The members of the folk-rock band Windhollow Faire have moved in for the summer to work on material for their sophomore album. Over the course of their stay, they all experience various strange and disturbing things, culminating in the mysterious disappearance of their lead singer Julian Blake.
I loved Wylding Hall - it's a great example of Hand's work. It packed so much great stuff into less than 200 pages: very old places, music and musicians, a wonderful uncanny atmosphere, evocation of the ancient and supernatural, and interesting characters. It's told in the form of a series of transcripts from documentary interviews conducted years after the summer at Wylding Hall, which works perfectly for a story that deals with half-understood old folk beliefs and shadowy things that cannot be explained. My only disappointments are that Wylding Hall is not a real place I can visit and Windhollow Faire are not a real band I can listen to.
by Elizabeth Hand
This short, eerie novel is set in the early 1970s at Wylding Hall, a neglected manor house in the English countryside. The members of the folk-rock band Windhollow Faire have moved in for the summer to work on material for their sophomore album. Over the course of their stay, they all experience various strange and disturbing things, culminating in the mysterious disappearance of their lead singer Julian Blake.
I loved Wylding Hall - it's a great example of Hand's work. It packed so much great stuff into less than 200 pages: very old places, music and musicians, a wonderful uncanny atmosphere, evocation of the ancient and supernatural, and interesting characters. It's told in the form of a series of transcripts from documentary interviews conducted years after the summer at Wylding Hall, which works perfectly for a story that deals with half-understood old folk beliefs and shadowy things that cannot be explained. My only disappointments are that Wylding Hall is not a real place I can visit and Windhollow Faire are not a real band I can listen to.
