Welcome to Litsy!

I‘m surprised this was a #BOTM offering, because it‘s a strange story…entrancing, but a weird genre blend. The Haddesley family keeps to themselves on their WV land, inside their crumbling manor bordering the cranberry bog (no mention of the spiders, the one bit of creepiness I was prepared for!). When the patriarch lays dying, his estranged daughter returns after a decade. These 5 adult children flounder in this fresh but grimily beautiful book.

This was a strange book with a unique pay off.

I think I liked this. Not too certain. It was weird and
unnerving but I think that was the point.

https://wildwoodreads.com/2025/08/18/the-bog-wife-review/

Well. That was strange. I just finished up The Bog Wife and I‘m going to have to wrap my head around this story before I review it. I don‘t know if I loved it or hated it, but I do know I‘m terribly unsettled. 😂😂😂

This book intertwines the POVs of the five Haddesley siblings, latest in a family that has an ancient compact with a bog, in which they give the bog the body of their patriarch and it gives them a wife for the new patriarch. I absolutely loved it. Magrat isn‘t a huge fan of being used as a book rest, but it didn‘t scare her off my lap.

“Her siblings were not… just the same as they had been ten years ago. They were worse. They had spent the decade of her absence growing around one another like roots in the same crowded patch of earth, contorting themselves so everyone could fit.”

This novel did not go in any of the several directions I expected it to, which was actually kind of delightful. It's a bizarre story of family systems, mourning, and discovering new ways of upholding responsibilities when the old ones no longer work. In a way, it's kind of a coming-of-age story for the painful growing up one does when our parents no longer carry us (literally and metaphorically), for whatever reason and at whatever age.

We'll see if Silo and I can make some reading progress before this one is due back at the library. I have not had near as much reading time so far this week as I would prefer. Or as Silo would prefer.

I really wanted to like this, as the premise sounded awesome. But for me, it didn‘t live up to the premise. I struggled to become engaged in the story and to connect with any of the characters. Maybe my expectations were too high because of all the hype, but this one wasn‘t for me.

The Haddesleys are an old family that has a compact with the bog they live on: they take care of the land and the bog will provide the eldest male nd heir with a wife. But now the family home is in disrepair and the heir, well, he isn't so into the bog.

I felt a general sense of unease and uncomfortableness while reading and I mean that in the best way. Plus bog. We know how I feel about bogs.

Blue box day! Some gothic and witchy goodness for October. #BOTM