The Horrors We Harbour by Emily Cooper: Tides, Terror and the Secrets We Fail To Keep

“DON’T LET THE LIGHT GO OUT.”

Most lighthouses are a sanctuary. Guinevere’s is a threat, one that warns the monsters of the ocean nightly to stay off the island of Ynys Halen. Raised by her grandmother, Guin has had one lesson drilled into her her whole life – don’t let the light go out.

But when tragedy strikes, and Guin does just that, the consequences of her mistake stagger even her. Baying for blood, the people of the island demand a maiden’s sacrifice, to keep the monsters at bay. And the maiden they want is Catrine Morgan, Guin’s best friend.

Season of Fear, Emily’s debut, was one of my favourite reads of last year, so I had such high expectations for this one and it did not disappoint. Emily’s writing style is so lyrical and beautiful – if the descriptions of the Germanic forest were to die for in SoF, then the descriptions of the Welsh-inspired beach and the sea were similarly sumptuous.

It was also deliciously, self-indulgently dark and gothic – far more so than perhaps the blurb lets on. Emily’s work as a marine biologist was so evident, in the detailed descriptions of corals and sea creatures (and the terrifying tide wraiths) and the way she was able to draw on this knowledge for metaphors was insane.

There are a central group of four characters – Guin and the three eerie Morgan sisters, Catrine, Ffion and Liliwen. The time we spent with the four girls felt so intimate in the oppressive environment of the lighthouse, it was almost as if I were reading a character study or a Lord-of-the-Flies reimagining, but what if it were teenage girls stranded on a beach? As in Season of Fear, themes of women’s fear, gendered power, and how men manipulate systems to prey upon it also came out a lot, just explored from a different angle. I would like Emily Cooper to write about girls being sacrificed to ancient, unknowable terrors for ever and ever, please.

Thank you to Solstice Books for the proof! The Horrors We Harbour is out September 10th ⚓️