It's Spooky Season! Slewfoot by Brom

Available now

CW: animal death and cruelty, human torture, patriarchal bs, horror related terror

It’s almost Spooky Season and this book needs to be on your reading list! It’s so creepy and dark and sad and infuriating and All The Things! I saw this title on a list of underrated horror novels and had never heard of it before and the title and cover immeadiately hooked me. I don’t know about you, but I’ve gotten pretty good at watching the clock app with my Library app up so I can immeadiately put books on hold.

Friends, this book gave me nightmares. You have to read it. It has illustrations! Incredibly creepy illustrations.

In 1666 Connecticut, a young woman named Abitha is facing eviction from her home and years of servitude to her brother-in-law after her husband’s tragic and mysterious death. After a desperate plea to the town’s leaders, Abitha is given one last chance to plant and harvest enough corn to pay off her husband’s debts and finally be free from her evil and overbearing BIL.

Deep in the woods, an ancient spirit is slowly awakening. Surrounded by impish and mischievous spirits, the ancient one struggles to remember his past and his connection to the woods around him. When he notices Abitha, he is drawn to her in ways he can’t explain. Intent on gaining her trust, he leaves her small gifts of food and offers protections against the threats of the local men and the law. His quiet and protective nature slowly begins to win Abitha over and when her situation turns dire, she knows he is the only one who can save her and the two begin a tenuous friendship.

Together, Abitha and Samson, the ancient one, work to thwart the threats against Abitha’s land, but end up inciting a war between the Pagans and the Puritans.

Slewfoot is a beautifully written horror tale set in Puritanical New England. From the first page, we know that Something is waking up in the forest. In that same forest, we meet Abitha and learn that this is not the life she dreamed for. Forced to cross an ocean and marry a man she had never met, she has to hide her mother’s Pagan teachings and beliefs and live the strict and austere life of a Puritan wife. She’s tired, cold, hungry and has lost their last goat in the woods. If that wasn’t enough stress, she feels guilty her husband isn’t disappointed in her and they return home to find his evil, nasty brother there to inform them he has sold their home to pay off his debts. Edward, Abitha’s husband, is a timid and meek man and really struggles to stand up for himself and his wife. Abitha can’t speak her mind without the threat of harm and punishment from the Puritanical town leaders. It’s this exchange that sets off a dangerous chain of events that pits Wallace, the BIL, against Abitha. The amount of patriarchal nonsense that we are forced to listen to from These Men! It was absolutely enraging to read but our Abitha is a fierce and determined soul who and it’s impossible to not root for her. Even at her lowest point, she never gives up and puts up an incredible fight against everyone who is wishing her her failure.

Samson, or the Ancient Spirit, is a fascinating character. He awakens with the help of spirits who look like small children in animal suits-and bizarre animals at that. A floating fish, a raven, and an opossum but with human children’s faces-you have to see the illustrations, they’re incredible. Samson is named for Abitha’s poor goat how was lured to his death to feed him. He has no memory and isn’t by nature a hateful or evil entity. Being around Abitha seems to calm him he is drawn to her in a way he can’t understand. As he grows into his power, he becomes more and more animated and friendly with Abitha, but he also grows incredibly protective of her. It makes for a fascinating dynamic because Abitha is convinced he’s the devil, but he doesn’t want to hurt her, and in fact, wants to protect her. Also, Abitha seems to have some powers of some kind…that are amplified by working her magic with Samson.

I don’t want to spoil the ending so I’ll leave you with this:

Abitha is incredible. I loved the journey her character ended up taking.

I loved this book and now I need everything written by this author.

Everything.

If you’d like to add this book to your shelf, you can click on the cover or here for ordering information.

As always, links are affiliate links, including Amazon Associate links, and I may earn from qualifying purchases. As always, tell your Library they need this on their shelves because we can’t know about EVERY book even though we wish we could.

Happy Spooky Season!