Dark Matter: the gripping ghost story from the author of WAKENHYRST

Product Information

Author Michelle Paver was another wonder to me. Her knowledge of life in the Arctic is so extensive I had to find out more about her and read that Michelle traveled to Finland, Greenland, Sweden, Norway, Arctic Canada, and the Carpathian Mountains. She has slept on reindeer skins, swum with wild killer whales, and gotten nose to nose with polar bears and wolves to research her books. That explained why her book was so realistic and believable. When the summer is over and darkness sets in, you can truly visualise the derelict trappers hut, the ice, the snow and harsh landscape. A tightly wrought tale that keeps the reader wondering to the end whether the terror is merely psychological, or if there is in fact something dark haunting the slopes of Kangchenjunga. This is the perfect present to yourself now that we're going into winter and the need arises for darker, scarier reads. Trust me: you won't be sorry * MY FAVOURITE BOOKS *

This book is set in the east of England. The large manor house Wakes End is set on the edge of wild, eerie fenland. Odours from the swamps infiltrate the house and it’s dangerous to wander outside alone. I had never heard of a ‘Doom’ and on googling the Wenhaston Doom that Paver used as inspiration for the Wakenhyrst Doom, I found that the images were fantastic!

Summary

Dark Matter is terrifying. The only novel to really get under my skin and infiltrate my nightmares.” I didn’t tell anyone except my agent that I was writing a ghost story, because I didn’t want to get bogged down in a deal, and I didn’t want a deadline. I have been reading quite a lot of Gothic Fiction novels of late and finding my joy in most of them but Wakenhyrst just didn’t create the suspense or tension I was expecting. Paver once again brings her distinctive style to DARK MATTER. A lot of attention is paid to the natural landscape, making it a captivating read for the explorer's heart. DARK MATTER has a very strong sense of realism, testimony of the thorough research involved, and of Paver's own experience in the Arctic circle * SONGS OF THE FOREST blog * So when he’s offered the chance to be the wireless operator on an Arctic expedition, he jumps at it. Spirits are high as the ship leaves Norway: five men and eight huskies, crossing the Barents Sea by the light of the midnight sun. At last they reach the remote, uninhabited bay where they will camp for the next year.

This is a blood-curdling ghost story” agrees Victoria Moore in the Daily Mail, “evocative not just of icy northern wastes but of a mind as, trapped, it turns in on itself.”Allie – You and me, both! I love both the original and the Carpenter version. I hope you enjoy this book! Paver was in the middle of research for another adult novel – Wakenhyrst, about a lonely child growing up in the middle of the marshes in Edwardian Suffolk – so she had to put the germ of an idea for what would become Viper’s Daughter aside. But she’s no stranger to letting ideas percolate until they find their time: while studying biochemistry at Oxford in the late 70s, she found herself getting increasingly interested in writing and attempted a Mills & Boon. “It was absolute rubbish. I was so arrogant. I had complete contempt for Mills & Boon and thought it must be easy, so wrote it in three weeks and sent it in. Of course it got rejected.” For teenagers, we're recommending Dark Matter by Michelle Paver. A crossover book straddling both older teens and adults, it's a chilling ghost story set in the stark, desolate environment of the Arctic. Subtle and evocative, it's an absorbing and intelligent read. Not many people can write historical fiction without anachronism but with a contemporary feel and Michelle Paver is one of them. * THE BOOK BAG * Hmm. I have no doubt at all that Michelle Paver is a talented author, she certainly writes about the cold and snow very well, but... well I wasn’t at all scared. Not once. I felt the same way about 'Dark Matter,' I couldn’t see what everyone else was talking about, I still don’t. The two novels are very similar and sadly I was underwhelmed by both of them.

After listening to "Dark Matter" by Michelle Paver I wanted to try another of her books. Chose the audio version of Wakenhyrst and think Juanita McMahon did a great job at interpreting and presenting the different characters. Her ability to capture emotions, in Edmund Stearn's case "disdain" toward everyone and especially toward women, and individualize the personalities made it possible to identify a particular point of view or the set of values the different characters had. The story is set between 1906 (Maud is 8-yrs-old) and 1966 and I found the treatment of women and the antiquated beliefs of the Edwardian period fascinating and appalling. Thank goodness women have made it out of that. Maud is a young girl, living with her repressive father (after her mother dies) in a house on the Suffolk Fens. She is a beautifully drawn character, as are her father & the servants occupying their house. Paver creates what feels like an incredibly authentic place & time & the story is very absorbing. I admire this wonderful writer, as she enabled me to understand the characters religious & superstitious beliefs, even though I have absolutely none of these beliefs myself. Gruhuken is reportedly haunted, and hints as to why are skilfully drip-fed through a tense and strangely beautiful narrative that bristles with the static electricity of a stark, vast, frozen Arctic night * METRO *

Dark Matter is the perfect terrifying read for those who, well, love to be terrified! * BOOKSYOULOVE *

A large manor house, Wake's End, sits on the edge of a bleak Fen, just outside the town of Wakenhyrst. It is the home of Edmund Stearn and his family – a historian, scholar and land-owner, he's an upstanding member of the local community. But all is not well at Wake's End. Edmund dominates his family tyrannically, in particular daughter Maud. When Maud's mother dies in childbirth and she's left alone with her strict, disciplinarian father, Maud's isolation drives her to her father's study, where she happens upon his diary. Wakenhyrst mostly takes place in the early 20th century, just prior to the first World War, and combines creepy medieval church art; old religious notions of witchcraft, demonic possession, and saintly miracles; lingering pagan superstitions (leaving a bowl of bread and milk at the door, for witches); a creaky old manor house; the eerie natural beauty of the watery fens. The details of a murder are provided upfront, the rest of the book covers the events leading up to it. So you get a great early hook, but it also means the book drags a little towards the end - knowing what’s coming, I grew impatient to finally get there, and it’s a real slow burn.

Dark Matter is to me, exactly the sort of Horror story I enjoy ? the one that scares but at the same time unveils something about human condition * THE BOOK SMUGGLERS *