The Needfire

by M.K. Hardy

A Scottish sapphic Gothic horror debut for fans of Rebecca and The Hacienda.

You are afraid of the border places. You are afraid of the fork in the road.

Fleeing her mistakes in Glasgow for a marriage of convenience, Norah Mackenzie’s new home on an estate far in the north of Scotland is a chance for freedom, a fresh start. But in the dim, draughty corridors of Corrain House, something is very wrong. Despite their warm correspondence, her distant, melancholic husband does not seem to know her. She is plagued by ghost ships on the sea, spectres at the corner of her eye, by winding, grasping roots. Her only possible companion, the housekeeper Agnes Gunn, is by turns unnerving and alluring, and harbours uncanny secrets of her own.

As the foundations crumble beneath her feet, Norah must uncover the truth about Corrain House, her husband, Agnes, and herself, if she is to find the freedom she has been chasing.

Genres: Horror, Gothic, Lesbian, Historical Fiction, Queer, Fiction, Romance

380 pages, Hardcover

First published July 31, 2025

About the author

MK Hardy is the pen name for two geeky women living and writing together in Scotland.

Their debut Sapphic Gothic Horror, The Needfire, is out now from Solaris Books!

Reviews

[Sadie Hartmann · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Needfire by M. K. Hardy
July 31st | 380 pages
Recommended for readers who enjoy:
-A slow burn
-Gothic atmosphere, mood, and setting
-Sapphic longing and desire
-Secrets, lies, and mysteries
-Historical fiction
-Stories set in Scotland
A debut, sapphic, gothic tale written by M. K. Hardy which is a pen name for two women living and writing together in Scotland. One thing I love the most about gothic fiction is the underlying theme of people being trapped in a terrible situation they can’t escape. In the Needfire, it’s the late 1800s and Norah has married Lord Barland, owner of the estate, Corrain House. She is making her very first journey out to her new home to meet the man she’s supposed to be with for the rest for life, for the first time. Of course, once she gets there, the man is not what she expected, the house staff behaves strangely toward her, and the villagers seem a little spooked. It takes some time for this story to find its pacing but once it gets going, there is a lot here to love. A strong debut and I’m eager for more.

[Johanna Van]

I got to blurb this book!

“The Needfire combines all the elements of a traditional gothic novel – the derelict grand estate, the festering secrets, the prophetic dreams – with the more modern slow-burn sapphic love story. Add a pinch of witchcraft and a generous helping of female rage, and you end up with a haunting page-turner that demands to be felt.”

[Faith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yearning: 10/10 palpable

Atmosphere: 10/10 eerie

Lesbians: 12/10 gay

Horror: 15/10 ARE YOU HAPPY? I DID NOT SLEEP FOR DAYS. I AM STILL SCARED OF TREES. I CANNOT LOOK AT A SHEEP. JUST BURN IT ALL DOWN

Ahem. Sorry. Read the book, it’s great.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was lucky enough to beta read The Needfire as MK Hardy were writing it and it has stayed with me since. A phenomenally atmospheric, beautifully written love story inside one of the most haunting supernatural horror stories I've ever read. Pick it up - you won't regret it.

[Geertje · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gothic, my love!

Perfect for fans of Rebecca (especially those freaks like me who always wondered what would've happened if it was gay and the I would have gotten together with Mrs Danvers).

[Silver Star · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. What an amazing, fantastically written story. This is an excellent piece of gothic fiction.

Set in 1890s Scotland, the story follows Norah, who goes to a remote house to be married to a man she’s only corresponded with by letter. When she gets there, her new husband hardly talks and the housekeeper Agnes is acting suspiciously….everyone has lots of secrets which unfold over the course of the story. The house and local land are spooky and mysterious. The descriptions of the house, sea and landscape are poetic and stunning.
Beautifully gothic, atmospheric with creeping tension this scared the pants off me! I enjoyed the slow start and then fast pace towards the end.
Loved Norah and her development throughout the book. Really enjoyed the resolution too.
Amazing! Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the copy to review!

[Angie Spoto · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Needfire is a gothic-lover’s dream. Writhing with a dark and luscious atmosphere, the story unfolds against the backdrop of a bleak Scottish landscape with a cast of characters whose actions blur the lines between right and wrong, justice and revenge. It has everything I yearn for in a gothic tale: a sapphic romance, a houseful of secrets, and a scorching sense of dread.

[Jamedi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review originally on JamReads

The Needfire is a gothic horror written by the Scottish duo MK Hardy, published by Solaris. A novel that blends together the traditional gothic motifs with more modern elements such as the sapphic slowburn romance, creating a fantastically written story with a dark atmosphere that plays into the backdrop of the Scottish landscape, topped by a perfect cast.

Norah Mackenzie, fleeing from the debts left by her alcoholic father, travels from Glasgow to the very north of Scotland; all in order to get married with Lord Alexander Barland, one of the men whose father owed money, who was really kind in his correspondence, despite being a bit cryptic. An opportunity to start with a marriage of convenience; however, all this hope is received with indifference by his new husband, almost a different man than the one she exchanged letters. Norah starts to be plagued by nightmares and strange dreams, and with Alexander acting weirdly, the state seems to be run by the enigmatic housekeeper, Gunn; a woman towards whom Norah finds herself pulled. With the villagers also being wary of Corrain House, Norah must discover what more is behind the state and reassure she's not losing her mind.

Characterization is part of what makes this novel so memorable. Norah is a great lead character, not totally innocent, fleeing from Glasgow to marry a man she doesn't know; at the end, coming to Corrain House is just the chance for a new life for her. Gunn is the other character that steals the scenario; a really enigmatic character who acts as the conductor thread for the plot, being necessary at many points. The attraction between these two will be a slowburn that also plays into the imbalance of the positions, slowly moving towards ignoring that in order to finally trust the other.

The setting is another of the highlights, creating a dark but also a bit decadent atmosphere at the center of Corrain House, also using the location to introduce more tension; a bit of a cautionary tale about the spoil of the natural resources can be read between lines, mashed together with Scottish myths.
The pacing is a bit too slow for my taste, especially because you could feel the characters moving too cautiously for what I would have expected; but it is true that is compensated with a superb development of the main duo.

The Needfire is a great sapphic gothic novel, a perfect choice if you want a highly atmospheric proposal with a bit of a modern touch; a debut that puts MK Hardy as a voice to continue following in the next years.

[Ellen-Arwen Tristram · Rating 4 out of 5]

Scottish sapphic Gothic horror? Wow - such a niche genre; one I was so excited for, and thank you to Solaris and NetGalley for the review copy. Honestly? - I hadn't even thought of this combination of genre and place and character, so I didn't know it was lacking in my life until I read it!

Norah Mackenzie needs to escape her life (and mistakes) in Glasgow, and her best option seems to be to escape to the Highlands and marry a man who her alcoholic father owed money to, she's never met, decided to waive the money owed, started a sort of courtship, then almost went back on it with some cryptic warnings... okay, Norah is feeling desperate. But hopeful too, in spite of everything. This could be the making of her - Alexander wants her. She isn't wanted in Glasgow.

Further North, the world Norah discovers is beyond anything she could have dreamed of... Her betrothed is, somehow, less than she expected. He barely speaks, and this woman, the housekeeper Gunn, seems to run the entire estate. Who is Gunn really, and what is her connection to Barlow? Is Norah truly forgetting portions of time, or is the embarrassing amount of wine she drinks to blame? And what are the mutterings of curses, witchery, visions of dark trees and festering smells...?

It's an incredibly atmospheric book, but - for me - the pacing was off. The first 30% or so was almost painfully slow and when it sped up, the story arc wasn't consistent. After reading the acknowledgments, I can see that M.K. Hardy (two Scottish women) had a real job of pulling this together when their previous editor/agent was no longer available, and it became a real team effort of friends, colleagues etc to get this past the deadline date. I admire their tenacity, but I think it would have felt cleaner, an easier read, with a single editor - a single clearer thread running through the book, pushing forward in the right places, and pulling back at others.

I wanted to like this very much - Scottish lesbian Gothic! - and it fell slightly short of the mark. What would be ideal would be for an editor to get hold of this, tighten it up, and print a second run that just eases out all the creases... I want this to be a success for M.K Hardy, as it deserves to be, but I'm not sure whether in its current somewhat unwieldy state some readers will sadly give up prematurely...

M.K. Hardy describe it as 'giving a voice to those exploited and overlooked in this tumultuous period of history – including the land itself' - this is a brilliant description of the novel (although there's plenty of Sapphic fun as well 😉) and I hope that people beyond Scotland will also be entranced and moved to discover more about the region and the history, because it is certainly overlooked.

Difficult to review - there's SO much potential here, but it needs those finishing touches to become the bestseller it deserves to be.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is as gothic and horror as anyone can get ... a bit of a slow start, took me a moment to be invested in the characters and the story.

It took us down a path that felt predictable but then had a brutal, but great conclusion that I appreciated.

*netgalley UK

[Stasia Roze · Rating 2 out of 5]

I did find this book quite hard to get into, the first 30% was probably too long, I wish this bit had been cut shorter, as the book only starts to grab your attention around 30%. Unfortunately the pacing goes right back to 0 mph and it’s another struggle to get through. But then again, something happens at about 51% the hooks you win straight away. If this hadn’t been an ARC I’d have DNFd so please read this review with that in mind. 


It’s easy to bond with the main character because you are just as lost as she is, although I can’t decide if that is a good thing.


Described as a horror, I wish there a bit more suspense in the book. Whenever something with the potential to be horror happens, they are flashed over by the author so quickly that it is over before it starts. In the slower parts of the book the author could have built suspense and planted seeds to get your mind going. It’s common knowledge that half of horror is your own thoughts working over time about the worst things that could happen. 


The romance in the book is a very slow burn which has the air of regent yearning from the lady of the house. It’s not quite the lesbian love affair you want it to be. There are also a few grammatical and spelling errors that a quick edit would have picked up on. 


The choice to make the FMC plus sized is confusing. The only thing it brings is a way for her and her month to insult her? Whenever she spoke about her weight or her size, it was only negative and I don't quite understand why the author would include a plus size woman just to constantly be negative about her size. It brought nothing to the plot, rather it’s just cheap shots. 


I can see from the author's note at the end that they struggled to write the book and get it all out and that it was quite a long process until the ending which was rushed out in 3 weeks. And I think, as a reader, I can tell that I can tell that this isn't a cherished love or a passion. I feel like this story has just been written to be written. And not because the author is really inspired and empowered to tell a message.

[Rach A.]

A Scottish….sapphic ….gothic horror?! are you kidding was this literally made for me???

[Paulina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Creepy plants are certainly a big theme for this year's horror and I'm not complaining. 

The Needfire is an engrossing gothic novel in it's best form, as it comes with sapphic yearning. We follow Norah, who moves to an estate in North of Scotland to marry her husband who she's only exchanged letters with. The man she meets is not exactly what she expected but she's quickly distracted by the mysterious housekeeper, Agnes.

The mystery threaded throughout this story is honestly brilliant, the book gives you enough to figure certain things for yourself while keeping other reveals until the end. Agnes is a brilliant character, you never know how much you can trust her but her chemistry with Norah is so palpable that it's easy to come under Agnes' spell.

The Scottish Highlands give this book a gorgeous and at the same time unsettling backdrop. If you've ever experienced Scottish haar you know there's something about it that absolutely makes you feel like you're in a gothic novel.

This book is a great read if you're looking for a satisfying gothic novel but it's also brilliant if you want to feel yourself lost in Scottish scenery.

Thank you to Solaris and M.K. Hardy for providing me with the ARC.

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Set in the 1890s in the remote wilds of the Scottish Highlands, we follow Norah, a woman who is escaping Glasgow, from the societal confines. She marries for a chance of freedom, a fresh start from her troubles at home.

Her new home is the litterally crumbling Corain House. Her husband is distant, distracted, and feels like a stranger. He doesn't seem to know her despite their warm, written correspondence. Her only companion seems to be the housekeeper Agnes Gunn, who appears to be hiding secrets of her own.

The descriptions of the sea and landscape were atmospheric and hauntingly beautiful. The story is gothic and dark, and I was invested from the start. It is beautifully written, rich, atmospheric, and creepy.

I loved how the author described the connection between Norah and Agnes. A lot of which we come to realise has already developed before Norah arrives in the house.

There was a growing sense of unease throughout the story, but I did expect more horror elements to unsettle you as a reader. The descriptions seemed to be over as quickly as they started. I did love how the house came alive the longer Norah spent there.

The authors note at the end says that the book was a long process other than the ending, which was rushed out in 3 weeks, and I think you can sense that as a reader, it didn't have as much passion as the rest of the book and things all seemed to happen quite quickly.

I would definitely recommend this book if you enjoy a gothic, sapphic, slow burn with elements of witchcraft set in Scotland. I did really enjoy this authors writing and will definitely be picking up their books in the future.

[Meg · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Needfire opens with an intensely gothic setting and an intriguing set up. Norah Mackenzie arrives in a remote part of Scotland on a dreary, dark and foggy evening. She abruptly marries a man she barely knows and begins a new life as mistress of an eerie house with only the taciturn housekeeper for company. This was a very atmospheric, slow-burn read with supernatural elements and I liked the way that the novel was imbued with mystery. However, I didn’t find the narrative especially gripping and I predicted a key plot twist early in the story. I chose to read this because it was marketed for fans of Rebecca. While I can see how comparisons have been drawn between the two works, I didn't enjoy The Needfire as much as Rebecca.

Thank you to the publishers – Rebellion | Solaris – and NetGalley for sharing this eARC with me in exchange for an honest review.

[Book To Nature · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you for this ARC from NetGally.

I enjoyed the book but I didn't feel the relationship between Norah and Agnes would develop as it did the signs for it and tensions just weren't there and then it was happening but it felt very cold and lifeless.

I wanted more thrilling horror elements considering it was likened to the hacienda and Rebecca. It was a gothic story set in a vivid isolated setting but I feel the similarities stop there.

The pacing of the book was also lacking as I felt so much happened in the last 10% of the book and the rest did nothing but up tension to the ending.

I liked the author's writing style so I would pick up their books again but would hope for a story with more substance.

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read an eARC of this book on NetGalley so thank you to the author and the publisher.

This book was so atmospheric. It mostly takes place in an isolated, coastal village in Northern Scotland, and we are largely restricted to the local manor. A home teetering on the edge of a perilous looking cliff. Our main character has travelled from Glasgow to marry the owner of said home, following an exchange of letters. This will help her family, but also allows her to escape a situation that she no longer wishes to be in. The setting is perfect for this book, we have suspicious locals, ghostly apparitions on the sea, a looming manor. There’s a real sense of unease here which is compounded by the isolation. The house is inhabited only by the taciturn housekeeper and the disturbed owner. There’s an animosity coming from the villagers and everyone seems to be keeping secrets. Our main character is dropped into a world of old grudges and everyone seems to know something she doesn’t.

There’s a growing sense of unease, and our main character can’t trust her own senses at times. This book feels increasingly insidious and disturbing as we learn more about what has transpired.

This was a great gothic novel, it nailed the atmosphere and themes and made for an entertaining, mysterious and unnerving read.

[Lydia ☽︎ · Rating 2 out of 5]

This took me FOREVER to get through.
I spent the first 50% of the book hoping it would pick up and the last 50% trudging through it because I felt I’d come too far to DNF it.

I can’t decide what made this book such a slog to read; whether it was the writing, the pacing, the characters…all of the above?
I also think this story could have easily been condensed into a novella, there just wasn’t enough plot here for a full-length novel.

My 2-star rating is purely for the setting and the premise (even though it was executed poorly in my opinion).

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25/5

Thank you so much to @solarisbooks for the ARC!

As promised in my last post, here's another sapphic horror recommendation for you! The Needfire by author duo MK Hardy is a sumptuously gothic standalone set in late 19th Century remote Scotland. I love a historical fiction with paranormal aspects as you get to learn about real events of the time and this novel explores the aftermath of the Highland Clearances during which there was a significant number of tenants evicted from the land in the Scottish Highlands.

MK Hardy describe it as 'giving a voice to those exploited and overlooked in this tumultuous period of history – including the land itself' and I especially loved this aspect. The gothic atmosphere, time and place is so well-realised that I felt swept away to the foggy and wild estate of Corrain House that feels to our main character Norah like the edge of the world, following her escape from Glasgow to a marriage of convenience.

She soon realises all may not be as it seemed and I could definitely feel the influence of gothic classics such as Rebecca - the mystery, suspense and unravelling of Norah's reality had me turning the pages and I devoured this over a grey and rainy weekend.

🗝️Lush prose
🗝️Sapphic yearning
🗝️Slow creeping dread
🗝️Witches
🗝️Folk/ natural horror

It moves at a slower but steady pace that builds up, and I was surprised by some of the twists! I wasn’t sure about some of Norah's choices towards the end but honestly this woman has been slowly losing her mind throughout the events of this book so that kind of makes sense.

I definitely recommend this to anyone who loves gothic fiction, it's such an impressive debut and will be perfect for the 'ber months to come!

[Emily Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wuthering Heights meets A Scatter of Light in this sapphic gothic novel filled to the brim with spooky trees, hazardous houses and the feeling of the main character slowly losing her grip on reality.

Emoji Aesthetic: 🪻🐦‍⬛🎨🪾🌬️🪟

Listen to
🎶 Monster - Dodie
🎶 Fare Well - Hozier
🎶 Ramblings of a Lunatic - Bears in Trees

Have you ever read something and been like: this is beautiful but also deeply, deeply disturbing? That’s how I felt reading this book. It was written so unbelievably well, I got the creeps just reading the descriptions. At the beginning of the book, everything is just slightly off-putting. As the story progresses, you begin to really notice that the narrative and the rest don’t fit; the main character is slowly losing the plot. It was done incredibly well.
I also love that the sapphic love is described both as both harsh and pointy, needing and devouring, AND as soft and still. Generally, of course, the main love story is toxic as hell, but it’s a gothic novel, so I expected it. I also really enjoy how both women in the story subverted gender roles and societal expectations placed on them in their own ways. Overall, would recommend!

TW: death, needles, animal death (lamb), gore, drugging

I received a complementary copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

[Bayley Reynolds · Rating 4 out of 5]

Arc received from NetGalley and Solaris for a fair review in return

4.5

Omg this was such a great book to read in pride month, the perfect blend of palpable writing, descriptive setting in Scotland, slowburn sapphic romance and I loved it soooo much

[Izzy · Rating 4 out of 5]

With thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for gifting an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

I was really intrigued by the blurb and cover of this book, and I’m always a fan of gothic literature set in the Highlands. The plot starts very slowly and takes a while to really pick up pace, but is quite intriguing once it gets going.

In terms of gothic and horror, there were some genuinely creepy, spine-tingling moments, and I found it hard to put down for the last third or so of the book.

I did feel quite unsure about what was actually going on for quite a lot of the book, although the main character is also mostly in the dark so this is understandable, and it did add to a general sense of unease as I was reading.

The writing was a bit repetitive at times, which I think sometimes worked in showing the remoteness of the house and the bleakness of Norah’s life there, but at other times it took me out of the suspense of the plot - they seem to spend half the book making or drinking tea!

The romance plot was okay, although I think it suffered from quite rushed development of both Norah and Agnes. Norah’s backstory was a very interesting premise but the length of the book doesn’t really give much chance to properly explore it. I also felt like the book didn’t have chance to do the complexities of Agnes’s character justice, particularly because it is Norah’s perspective we read, so I would like to have seen more of her.

Overall it’s a good, quick gothic read, ideal for anyone who enjoys nature horror, creepy country houses, and remote Scottish Highland settings.

[Payal · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book, but had to DNF. Well, sort of—I gave up at 60% and went ahead to the last three chapters. The remote, spooky setting was brilliant and atmospheric, but the pacing was way too slow. Plus, I had zero emotional connection with either Norah or Agnes, and had no sense of a spark between them. The horror/supernatural aspect too was too obvious. My biggest gripe is the pace—noting really happened in half the book, and the story could have easily been condensed into half its size. The only decent twist/reveal was the truth about Alexander.

(Review copy from NetGalley)

[Hannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5! While there were at times elements I really enjoyed (the atmosphere, the creeping dread, sapphics!) I feel like I was left largely wanting as I read.

Thank you to Solaris for an early copy! All thoughts are my own

The first 30% of the book was slow paced but well developed, and the while the plot picked up after 50%, I found myself wanting more - more of Agnes and Norah’s chemistry, which felt hinged on the edge of filled out. More of the gothic horror elements we were promised, more suspense, more bread crumbs in those quiet moments to really unsettle us. More… direction?

There’s a note at the end of this wherein the authors describe the haze in which the latter half of the book was completed, and I can’t help but think it shows. We get a sturdy backstory for Norah but other than a glimpse of Agnes’s trauma and family history we don’t really know anything about her; which impacts the genuine connection between the two women which the story hinges on.

Their connection is supposed to be the thing that breaks the cycle of violence against the land, and if I cannot truly believe that these women love each other as to have the same impact as to break the hold of eldritch folkloric power over the whole situation, then I’m not sure it’s ticked that box for me. That said, I found aspects of their romance pleasing - I’m a fan of slow and this delivers, and I do enjoy a lot of yearning and while I would have liked ~more yearning (there is never enough I want my characters sick with it) I did enjoy this tentative, growing, quickening which Norah experiences. I found their dynamic had a lot of potential, I just wanted more meat on the skeleton of them.

However, I loved the setting - atmospheric and claustrophobic, Norah’s skipping into the hold of the house, and the silent, creeping force within it was engaging. I loved the visceral sense of the House, the way it seemed to come alive the more time Norah spent there; how we were everyday moments given oddly disturbing edges until they were scenes reminiscent of nightmares. This is where the gothic really came into its own, and I would have loved a higher concentration of this atmosphere, this inevitable pull of darkness. At times however it was giving Will’s hallucinations from Hannibal and if there are any Hannigram fans out there, iykyk.

I would have liked more of those horror devices used throughout, and a little harder lean into the gothic horror that was fed to us in morsels, I wanted to feel that rush of madness, that slip of time, the loss of sanity - we had glimpses of it, but I couldn’t help but feel it needed another go over and a few more additions made during edits.

I also found the depiction of Norah’s weight a little less than desirable - she is alluded to be firm-figured, which is absolutely what we love to see, but any mention of her size is immediately surrounded by the negativity and chastisement of her mother. It is a negative qualify, seen through the lens of someone who wishes she were different - and certainly this is reality, but it made it difficult to find this rep positive, and feels more like upholding harmful self-talk about plus sized women than it did a positive reclamation of that for Norah. Small moments in the book, comparatively, but something I noticed.

Plot wise, I am still a little unsure as to the crux of the entity we’re facing - male greed is the Big Bad, of course, down with the patriarchal tendencies to mine and plumb and take from the land boo hiss - but in terms of its resolution and the catalyst that breaks the hold of the misery that Norah witnesses in her husband, the plague of the house which has claimed lives, I am still a little unsure. Was it the Rowan? Was it Agnes? Was the it land itself? I can’t quite say for definite, though the climax of the book hints at the answer. Ambiguity is certainly not an issue for me when I understand the point that was being made - but I can neither quite say it was the vengeance of a woman, or the land, or indeed a combination of the two that I should be celebrating, and that seems a slight oversight on the way this book comes together in it’s more hectic moments.

The ending also cuts off very quickly, and as I’ve said while ambiguity is certainly not a deal breaker for me, I found it’s resolution slightly unsatisfying for the fact that though we had allusions to the cause of this whole thing, it feels like it needs to be rounded out to provide a satisfying ambiguity. This is where the ending 20% could have benefited from a little more tightening (of the screw and of the plot) to give us an edge of the cliff ending that worked slightly better.

However, it’s certainly gothic and a slippery read, an examination of precisely why you should not mess with women or Mother Nature. I loved the Scottish setting, it’s a true gift for all gothic fiction!

[Hayley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you to Rebellion/Solaris Publishing and Net Galley for a free e-ARC of 'The Needfire' by MK Hardy.

The Needfire, set in the 1800s, follows Norah Mackenzie, a queer woman who enters a marriage with a Lord in the north of Scotland. The marriage proposition began from convenience but they begin to develop a closer relationship when corresponding with each other before they meet. However, when she arrives at the dreary and haunting Corrain House and meets her 'distant, melancholic husband', she realises her new life is not what she had expected.

'"We've left scars all over this land. Our rigs and furrows. Our bothies and kilns. Our dry dykes and cairns. Everything fails. You have to wonder when we'll learn." Norah blinked in confusion. "Learned what?" "We're not wanted. We don't belong here."'

I absolutely loved The Needfire! As with most of the ARCs I request, I began the book with no expectations other than being intrigued by the story's premise. I was blown away by the prose and the story's concept - The Needfire is written beautifully and builds the atmosphere of Corrain House and the surrounding land very well. At times, the vocabulary felt a little unnecessarily complex and I found myself having to google a lot of words to understand what was being said - although that may be the fault of my vocabulary and can be somewhat understood through the time period of the book. My only other criticism is that there were some parts of the story that I would have liked to have seen a bit more fleshed out

'You are afraid of the border places. You are afraid of that strand of silver that divides the land from the sea. It promises only uncertainty, change. You cross it quickly, never linger. You put out to open water and you never ever look back lest you see something there you could not stand to lose... You are afraid of thresholds - you carry your brides across them, and your dead out through the wall lest they know the way back. You bury the sinful and unbaptised beneath the perimeters of your kirks. You are afraid of the courtyard. Enclosed on all sides and yet open to the sky, that cursed tree grasping for the light. Growing things where nothing should grow. You are afraid of the moments between not knowing and knowing. That limbo between the path not taken and the consequences of actions. You are afraid of the fork in the road.'

We see Norah slowly lose her mind the longer she stays at Corrain House - MK Hardy write this aspect of the story really well, it was extremely immersive and unsettling. I also loved seeing Norah's relationship with the housekeeper 'Gunn' develop as she settles into the house and they begin to understand and trust each other more.

'Agnes Gunn did not need to use her will on Norah, did not need to ply her with herbs. She had captured her, heart and soul, and Norah could no sooner gainsay her than she could stop the tide.'

Without giving away any spoilers, I enjoyed the ending, it felt like a satisfying and full-circle way for the story to come to a close. I will definitely revisit this book again!

[Beth Robertson · Rating 5 out of 5]

First of all thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for an ARC to review!

So this is one of those books where any time I picked it up I didn't want to put it back down. It's a sapphic gothic horror and anyone who knows me knows that is a combination I'm bound to love. Seeing it compared to Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca on NetGalley and in a few reviews instantly made me curious because that is such an iconic novel and a very bold statement to make. And I honestly wasn't disappointed.

This is a beautifully written gothic horror/romance following Norah a woman who wants to escape her past in the city by marrying a man she's been exchanging letters with who lives in a remote area on the Scottish coast. When she gets there she quickly starts to realise that living at Corrain House might not quite be the married life she envisioned herself having.

The setting of Corrain House works so well for this novel. It's an old building on the cliffs which feels as though it is actively fighting against the natural world surrounding it. Every description we are given makes it sound like a dark unsettling place to be and the land around it doesn't sound much more welcoming. The weather is dark and moody and it all works well to make Norah feel isolated from the outside world. The residents of Corrain don't help much on that front either as they seem distant and unwelcoming and clearly have secrets they'd like to keep hidden.

Plot wise I thoroughly enjoyed this. It was tense and mysterious throughout. There were some things I saw coming but I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing it let me feel a little smart for putting things together a while before Norah did (though I don't think we can hold it against her since I had the unfair advantage of knowing what genre of novel she was in). Still even with predicting some things others came as a complete surprise and looking back I can see the clues/foreshadowing that was present which does make twists/reveals feel more satisfying to me.

It does have a fairly slow pace at times but I feel like that's the norm for the genre and in my opinion it really helps the tension and suspense grow. To be honest if anything I think that it could have been slightly slower paced in parts as although I felt like I understood Norah and her backstory really well I would have loved for Agnes' backstory to be a bit more fleshed out.

Overall if you are a fan of gothic literature but wish it had more lesbian romance in it this is a pretty perfect book for you. My only regret is reading this in the middle of a summer heatwave instead of during autumn/winter when it's all dark and cold out. I definitely feel like it would have added something to the experience for me.

[Daphne Sharpe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Norah Mackenzie is 32 years old and is travelling to the top north of Scotland to meet her husband to be, Lord Alexander Borland. Their engagement and romance has been conducted through the medium of loving correspondence. His family home is Corrain House, set high up on a cliff edge, it has a very dark and foreboding atmosphere. The wedding is performed with no special service or sense of occasion.
Norah is taken aback by Alexander, his letters were so warm and witty, but now she is faced with a taciturn and withdrawn man, who hardly acknowledges her presence or shares the marital bed.
Agnes Gunn is the only servant at Corrain House, not a great talker, but there is something about her that intrigues and warms Norah, a certain excitement when they are talking together, however, this is an unequal relationship, more like subservient mistress and domineering servant.
Gunn seems to hold sway over Alexander and Corrain House, the mystery is why?
The Sutherland landscape is harsh and brutal, scabby soil, only fit for sheep, this comment was the reason that led to the Highland Clearances, which removed so many Crofting families from the land. It seems that both the land and Agnes are in a conspiracy together, but to what end, is part of the plot in this novel.
I found this novel to be more sinister than Gothic. It is full of uncanny events, superstitions, and some just plain weirdness. There are secrets, lies and some almost unbelievable happenings that make the reader wonder what they have stumbled into. I found the characters to have no real depths, and Norah seemed to have a back story that could have been investigated more.
I found this novel to be an unsettling read, but I found that too many questions went unanswered, it was quite unsatisfying, I wanted to know more.

[TheHighlandBookshelf · Rating 4 out of 5]

| The Needfire by MK Hardy |

"We've left scars all over this land. Our rigs and furrows. Our bothies and kilns. Our dry dykes and cairns. Everything fails. You have to wonder when we'll learn...

We're not wanted. We don't belong here."

🏰

Fleeing past mistakes in Glasgow, Norah agrees to enter into a marriage of convenience and travels to the far North of Scotland hoping to settle into her new home. Instead, she finds a melancholy husband, a cold and unforgiving land, and the once-grand Corrain House about to crumble into a hungry sea.
Her only solace is in the strange and alluring housekeeper but the villagers whisper that she is a witch...

As soon as I heard that this Scottish sapphic Gothic horror was set in Caithness I knew I HAD to review it. Having grown up in the far north it's often an overlooked place because ofc 'no-one really lives there' (😉).

This book really captured the essence of how rural and harsh the landscape can be. Even now, anyone looking to relocate will be advised to 'spend the winter here' to ensure they know what they're getting into. MK Hardy really caught the bleakness of the freezing dark winter days with very little sunlight and the long difficult journey to get anywhere (still true).
But they also showed the beauty of the place; the frequent sightings of the Northern Lights dancing in the sky and the summertimes where it seems like it never gets truly dark. A place of harsh duality.

The plot takes its time to unfurl and the pacing is definitely on the slower side but I didn't mind this. It felt like a classic gothic horror like The Haunting of Hill House or one of the older Victorian ghost stories. Not scary to a modern audience but with lots of symbolism which the reader is left to unpack.

"YOU ARE AFRAID of the border places.
You are afraid of that strand of silver that divides the land from the sea.
It promises only uncertainty, change.
You cross it quickly, never linger.
You put out to open water and you never ever look back lest you see something there you could not stand to lose."

[Annette Jordan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Needfire by MK Hardy is a darkly atmospheric Gothic read that I could see as being perfect to curl up with on a dark winter's evening next to an open fire while the wind howls outside.
The book follows Norah as she embarks on a marriage of convenience that takes her to a remote part of Scotland in the 1890s and it very quickly becomes apparent that all is not as it seems. Her husband is remote and standoffish, the villagers seem to regard her with distrust or even fear and there is something about Corrain House itself that she finds disturbing. The only person who welcomes her arrival is the housekeeper Agnes, and even then her moods are mercurial and she is definitely keeping secrets of her own.
One of the standout features of this book was how well the authors did with creating a dark and foreboding atmosphere that constantly had me on the edge of my seat, this book is chilling in the best possible way, and as the story unfolded I found myself holding my breath as the hairs rose on the back of my neck. On a side note, if I had not read the author notes at the end of the book I would never have known that M.K. Hardy is in fact a writing team of two authors, the writing style is seamless. I also appreciated the complexity of the characters and really enjoyed the slow build of the connection between Norah and Agnes, seeing their relationship develop was another highlight in a book with so many of them. If you enjoy gothic horror or are looking for a book with immaculate spooky vibes this book needs to be on your radar, but it is more than just the vibes, you also have really descriptive writing and a well crafted plot that combined with the compelling characters really kept me turning those pages.
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own.

[Sifa Poulton · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received an eARC from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. It has not affected my opinions.

3.5 stars

THE NEEDFIRE is a gothic novel with great tension but takes a while to bring any of the more fantastic elements in.

This is such an atmospheric book. It is Gothic with a capital G, playing brilliantly off the bleak beauty of the Highlands (and also the fact that Scotland has such long, dark, dreary winters thanks to its latitude.) It is slow and full of creeping tension. You know something is deeply, desperately wrong and that Norah is going to be caught up in it, unable to get away when she needs to.

I also liked how mercurial a figure Gunn was. Even at the end of the book, it's hard to tell how much I liked her. She's such a morally grey character and her motivations lead her to some actions that are decidedly cruel. And yet she is the force trying to keep everyone else (somewhat) sane.

For most of this book, it simply feels like a highly atmospheric historical, gothic in vibes and setting. There are the wild, barren landscape and a big gloomy manor house. It is mostly the niggling oddness of the husband and the fact the publisher is a SFF imprint that hints that there might be a bit more to the story. The sections in second person also help imply there is some sort of sentience in the land at play.

However, these elements only really come in right in the last 20%. There's a massive change of pace as it goes from slow to frenetic. I liked that the subtle promise came true but I would have liked it to be around much earlier so I didn't keep waiting for something to happen.