Time for another batch of short reviews. The two novels I’m reviewing in this post contain elements such as folklore, witches, fantasy and ghosts for example, that seldom feature in my reading. If I do end up with a book like this, then it’s either by accident, it was a book club choice or I was nursing a cold and couldn’t cope with anything demanding.

Salt and Skin by Eliza Henry-Jones

When I came across this novel by Australian author Eliza Henry-Jones I was preparing to visit some of the islands off the western coast of Scotland. Though I wasn’t going to get as far north as the Orkney Islands, where this novel is set, I reckoned there would be some similarities between the locations.

The book begins with the arrival on the island of Seannay of a young widow Luda Managan and her two teenage children, Darcy and Min. They’ve left Australia after traumatic events, the nature of which isn’t disclosed until late in the novel.

The family’s introduction to the islanders begins badly when she takes a photograph of a child shortly after her death in a rock fall. It turns the locals agains her, creating a climate of suspicion about everything she does subsequently. Her children do make friends, most significantly with Theo, a foundling washed up on the island years before with webbing between his fingers. The islanders believe he is a selkie.

On level Salt and Skin is a novel about overcoming grief, reconciling with the past and making new connections. There are, however, multiple other storylines and threads . One deals with the mystery of Theo’s origin and another involving a special skill held by some islanders to to see hidden scars on the skin of anyone on Seannay.  There’s a third strand which links protective engravings on the walls of the house occupied by the Mangans to historical witch trials on the Orkneys.

That’s a lot to pack into one novel and to do justice to them all. Some of those storylines have a promising start but then drift along without any clear resolution. There’s also too much emphasis on the family dynamics. By the end I wasn’t clear what the author was trying to achieve.

The House on Cold Hill by Peter James

I can tolerate witches in fiction if they’re the kind associated with the healing properties of plants, but draw a line at shape shifting seals and ghosts. Which presents a little problem when you’re reading The House on Cold Hill which is full of spectres and phantoms.

When a web designer and his family move into the dilapidated Georgian mansion they discover they are not the only inhabitants.

Within days of their arrival, a strange woman is seen in the background of a FaceTime chat; footsteps are heard throughout the place and phantom drafts whisk through the hallways. As the disturbing occurrences multiply, the family learn that their home has a blighted past.

I found this book in the depths of my E-Reader library when I wanted something undemanding. It was pretty dire though and I can’t believe I actually finished it. The premise is ludicrous — your 12-year-old daughter tells you that she’s seen a man in her room over several nights and you do nothing?? Months go buy in which the strange events become more malevolent and dangerous yet the family continues to live there? I’d have got the hell out of there as fast as possible.

There’s a follow up book apparently but I shan’t be reading it.