Elizabeth Hand

Wylding Hall

This Shirley Jackson Award–winning novel is “a true surreal phantasmagoria . . . [a] gothic supernatural” horror story set in the decadent world of British rock (Chelsea Quinn Yarbro). When the young members of a British acid-folk band are compelled by their manager to record their unique music, they hole up at Wylding Hall, an ancient country house with dark secrets. There they create the album that will make their reputation, but at a terrifying cost: Julian Blake, the group’s lead singer, disappears within the mansion and is never seen or heard from again. Now, years later, the surviving musicians, along with their friends and lovers—including a psychic, a photographer, and the band’s manager—meet with a young documentary filmmaker to tell their own versions of what happened that summer. But whose story is true? And what really happened to Julian Blake?

This was a decent book, but I did not enjoy it as much as "A Haunting on the Hill" or "Hokuloa Road".  The basic story of the disappearance of a band member while a musical group is on retreat to create new songs is intriguing, but I did not like the narrative structure of the story being told as reflections on the past by the other people who were there.  I think a traditional linear telling of the story from start to finish would have made for much better suspense, intrigue, and distrust among the band members and it would have been more enjoyable for me as a reader.  

shellybn

Janice Hopper

I've heard about this book for years, and had it in ebook format before it became available in audio in Audible Plus catalog. I needed something to occupy my mind while I was stripping wallpaper, so this was it!

I think this book is considered sort of a classic. I think it's probably better in audio (for me) than eye-read, since it consists of lots of different viewpoints, jumping back and forth. The audio version used different people for each, and that really helped to keep things straight for me.

A promising '70s acid folk band goes off for a retreat to play music and let their creativity flourish. They stay in Wylding Hall, an old Tudor mansion that seems to be a bit more than it appears. There are passages that come and go (or are found once, and then lost, then found again). There's a prehistoric barrow nearby. The locals warn these hippies not to go wandering around after dark, but refuse to explain why. There seems to be an unusual number of wrens about, and references to the old post-Christmas habit of hunting the wren.

The band records what they plan to be a rough-cut of their next album in the outdoors. Some fortuitous photographs taken by a local boy show something mysterious.

And then the lead singer and guiding spirit of the band disappears after he meets a mysterious woman in a pub.

There's a slow revelation going on here. Is this a young man running off for who knows what reason, or is there something less canny happening? It's all quite well done and nicely written. 

It certainly helped my wallpaper stripping to go faster! I liked the writing.

Jayme Bosio

I originally gave this story 4 stars because it was interesting and subtle in its creepiness. But after thinking about it I changed my mind. I did enjoy the story, but was left with a lot of questions that I never got the answer to. Some readers like that...and this is the book for them.

This was pretty interesting! I just wish it were longer and there were more things explained. I did enjoy the atmosphere of it, and reading it so close to Daisy Jones & The Six was interesting because it was like "take that book but make it horror." There wasn't really anything I disliked about it, it just didn't wow me.

Ashley Williams

Honestly it was just ok. Nothing really happened. 

Ben Nathan

Really interesting story told through interviews. Usually not a fan of that style but love when it's done well. The mix of unease, fantastical, and a twinge of background horror without the scares was quality. What I really want is that album

Wylding Hall

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