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ClareR (6256 KP) rated Sorrow Spring in Books

Jun 9, 2025

Sorrow Spring

Olivia Isaac-Henry | 2024 | Horror, Mystery, Thriller

8.0

(1 Ratings)

Book Rating

Sorrow Spring is a slow to start gothic thriller - but it’s worth persevering with!

There’s a lot of scene setting: it’s 1978, and Rina has been unceremoniously left at her Aunt Agatha’s house by her mother. She has no more contact with her mother after this.
2019, and Rina’s niece, Cate, is searching for her aunt as her father is seriously ill and wants to see his sister for the last time.
But as Cate finds out more about her aunt, the more sinister are her findings and the more unfriendly the people she encounters.
There’s some ancient folklore, sketchy traditions and a rather interesting ending.
I listened to this on audiobook (Xigxag), which probably helped along the bits that tended to drag (1978 was a very talkative time), but all in all, this was a good read/ listen!

Kudos

Ragwort

Sam K. Horton

10.0 (1 Ratings) Rate It

Book

The bewitching sequel to Gorse, the first book in the Eythin Legacy, Ragwort filled with magic,...

Science Fiction

Helm

Sarah Hall

10.0 (1 Ratings) Rate It

Book

Helm is a ferocious, mischievous wind – a subject of folklore and awe, who has blasted the sublime...

Historical fiction Magical Realism Nature Climate Change Fiction Literary Fiction

Morgan Sheppard (1036 KP) created a post

Sep 4, 2026 - 10:27 AM

It's #FolkloreFriday 🦢

This week's folklore focus explores the swan in Welsh tradition. The swan is a consistently liminal creature; it belongs to the water and the air, the mortal world and the Otherworld simultaneously. Welsh swans are rarely simply birds in the old stories; they are transformed beings wearing the shape of a swan, the boundary between the person and the bird growing genuinely uncertain over time.

The protective folk belief surrounding them reflects how seriously the tradition took that liminality. Harming a swan was considered deeply unlucky, as the bird was understood to be under divine protection; something that moves between worlds deserves more than ordinary treatment.

The last quarter moon arrives today alongside a turning season. Both are creatures of the between-space, asking for a different kind of attention. 🦢

#FolkloreFriday #WelshFolklore #TalesFromWales