PRIORY
Book One of The Oliver Hardacre series
The Priory puts a Gothic spell on you from the moment you finish the Prologue when the narrator, the protagonist, states, “This is what I am, but not who I am. Before you read on, you should know this: the story that lies before you has lain hidden in the obscurity of my childhood memories. I tried to escape, thinking I could outrun it. There is no outrunning your heritage. I am the last Hardacre.”
Oliver Hardacre is that child, that man. The tale moves back and forth between his childhood, in the year 1979, and the terrors he endured and then suppressed at his family estate, the Hardacre Priory, situated in a small coastal town in North Yorkshire, and his life in the present, in Whitby, England. In the present, Oliver is a well-established author of historical ghost tales and the macabre. He has done his best to remain anonymous, using a different name for most of his work. But his name and his past have come back to haunt him. The Priory has been left to him. He is the last and final heir to the Hardacre Priory.
The Priory, once a religious brotherhood, is an entity in and of itself. Winter, it seems, is the only season that perpetually surrounds its lands and gardens. There was a time it had not been so. But for a very long time now it has seethed with a horrific life of its own and seems to be watching and waiting to do its evil to those who enter and live within its walls. And then there is the ancient oak, who hungers for what it wants and what it wants is unholy.
Ms. Wright’s style is Victorian gothic and she has it down to perfection. She is in my opinion one of the truly great contemporary authors in this genre. Every sentence is a pleasure to read, beautiful, dangerous, eerie and unnerving. Half the terror and fun is its implied, half spoken truths and mysterious clues. You are in a twilight world of mist and shifting reflections of what truly is or may be, trying to see the whole…the truth. The ending will thrill you and you will happily learn that this is book one of the Oliver Hardacre series.
Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.
Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.
Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.
Unwell Hydration from Alex Cooper
Hydrate & focus with every sip Shop now
Shop this series
See full series- Kindle Price:$10.12By placing your order, you're purchasing a license to the content and you agree to the Kindle Store Terms of Use.
Shop this series
There are 2 books in this series.
Kindle Price:
$10.12
By placing your order, you're purchasing a license to the content and you agree to the Kindle Store Terms of Use.
Customers who bought this item also bought
Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1
From the Publisher
About the author
Quiet horror at its best
Oliver Hardacre is the last in the Hardacre family line. He’s made a successful career as an author, writing under a different name and staying well out of sight. He has forgotten/suppressed much of his childhood but when he’s driven to revisit the family estate that is now his, he discovers just what he’s inherited. It’s no surprise that I loved this gothic tale. Quiet horror is my favorite and the author has really outdone herself here. The Priory itself is a masterpiece of a haunted house, stuck in perpetual winter and not as empty as it should be. I made the mistake of picking this up in the middle of a busy work week and had to settle for reading it a little at a time when I just wanted to binge read instead. Highly recommended!
Top reviews from the United States
There was a problem filtering reviews. Please reload the page.
- Reviewed in the United States on September 26, 2021
- Reviewed in the United States on April 6, 2022
Top reviews from other countries
- J. T. CroftReviewed in the United Kingdom on April 3, 2023
An emotionally resonant, menacing, supernatural Gothic tale exploring family, fate, and faith.
Priory is a gripping and emotional story that captures the intricacies of family bonds and the impact of fate, secrets and darkness through the Gothic lens of a house and the duality of good versus evil raging through its crumbling stones. The novel deftly moves between the past and present to explore the lives of two twins, Elliot and Oliver, who are the last in a line of Hardacres, a family firmly held in thrall by an intense and malign force.J. T. CroftAn emotionally resonant, menacing, supernatural Gothic tale exploring family, fate, and faith.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 3, 2023
Characters are well-crafted and genuine, each wearing their heart on their sleeves, and the author does an outstanding job conveying the gamut of emotions experienced by the brothers along with their courageous mother, Nancy, as they confront the wickedness from the past, their legacy, and the coming to terms with those already taken by the eerie Hardacre Priory. The storyline progresses smoothly and keeps readers engaged from start to finish, with occasional bouts of terror mixed in with an overall atmosphere of foreboding menace and (apparently!) predetermined destinies. The writing style is vivid and captivating, making it easy to envision scenes and relate to the characters. It's one of those books that remains long after it finishes, however unsettling that might be.
No one wraps up a story like Becky Wright.
Henry Douthwaite's audio performance is captivating, eerie, and moving - something one would expect from a seasoned actor who you may know from the big or small screen. The narrator captures Lady Hardacre’s subtleties, the house’s disquieting intonation, and the protagonists' fragility — all of which, when combined with the quality writing, creates an immersive experience that will leave a lasting impression. I highly recommend the audio version and novel to anyone who enjoys character-driven dramas with a strong and resonant emotional impact.
Images in this review
- RachelReviewed in the United Kingdom on March 12, 2022
the overall concept is great, I was left a bit confused
