Spending the summer in Upstate New York at a private cottage on the shores of Lake Ontario sounds like a dream. But for Sam Payne, whose idyllic childhood summers spent at the family cabin complex were marred by a disturbing murder, returning there is her worst nightmare. And that’s before she learns that the family legend of a headless horseman haunting those shores is true. Kelly Armstrong delivers thrilling folk horror that somehow manages to be a perfect read for both summer and Halloween season with The Haunting of Paynes Hollow, which came out last fall.
The Payne family has always spent their summers at the cabins in Paynes Hollow—the small lakeside town that their ancestors founded centuries ago. But the summer that Sam was twelve, she caught her father burying a body. After Sam reported what she saw and the body was discovered to be that of Austin, one of the neighboring boys, her father took his own life and confessed to being tormented by inner demons in his suicide letter. Now, fourteen years later, Sam is still struggling with being the daughter of a murderer. She had hoped to go to med school and do some good in the world, but when her mother was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s, Sam had to set aside her dreams to try to give her mom the best care possible while barely scraping by. Then her grandfather dies, and Sam is surprised to learn that she’s inheriting the whole lakeside property—but there are strings attached: Sam must stay on the property for one month without leaving for more than an hour at a time, or she forfeits the whole inheritance. Her Aunt Gail, the only member of Sam’s family she is still close with, volunteers to stay with her and try to make a fun summer vacation out of returning to the site of her childhood trauma. But almost as soon as they arrive it becomes clear that something is wrong. At night, Sam hears the hoofbeats of the legendary horseman that used to haunt her dreams as a child and sees strange lights coming from under the dark water. Someone has been leaving mutilated animal carcasses on the porch for Sam and Gail to find. And the only people she can ask for help are the old sheriff who dealt with the bizarre murder all those years ago and the surly groundskeeper, who happens to be the older brother of the murdered boy. Can Sam make it through the month without losing her inheritance—or her life?
The Haunting of Paynes Hollow blends the local New York literary legend of the headless horseman of Sleepy Hollow with Dutch folklore and a unique brand of sacrificial magic to create a compelling folk horror backdrop. In my blog post on Folk Horror in Literature I described the identifying characteristics of this subgenre as including “a rural setting, a supernatural entity associated with the natural environment, and worship of or sacrifice to this entity.” This novel takes place in a fictional upstate lake town—conveniently much more rural than modern Sleepy Hollow. Relocating the legend next to a large body of water also allows Armstrong to bring in nekkers, folkloric water spirits related to the Germanic nixie which are also sometimes understood to be spirits of the drowned dead. These water spirits, led by an undead horseman, lurk beneath the waters of Lake Ontario and those who know the secret rituals sacrifice others to them in the hopes of improving their own fortunes. In order to both stop the current string of unexplained disappearances and make sense of the tragedy that changed the course of her life, Sam will have to piece together these disparate bits of myths and magic and uncover who has been using them to their advantage.
But as dark as this novel gets at times, its overall message is surprisingly uplifting. At first I thought the story was setting itself up to be a horromance, with the brooding groundskeeper Ben primed to become a love interest. But what actually occurs is just as emotionally moving: Though they start out essentially as enemies, torn apart by guilt on Sam’s side and resentment on Ben’s, the two slowly build a deep friendship founded on their mutual healing. Together, they are forced to face the truths about that summer fourteen years ago that they’ve buried deep in their own minds and come to a place where they can forgive themselves and each other. And the imminent danger surrounding them provides plenty of opportunities for bonding in emotionally heightened moments and discovering what and who they truly care about when making snap decisions. I appreciated seeing a story that was structured like an enemies-to-lovers romance but chose to focus on the platonic elements and a shared healing journey instead.
If you like your folk horror tempered with touching depictions of friendship, definitely check out The Haunting of Paynes Hollow. You can find it on shelves now at your favorite local retailer or order it online and support The Gothic Library in the process using this Bookshop.org affiliate link. If you’ve already read it, let me know your thoughts in the comments!