It’s Friday, so it’s time for the Book Blogger Hop again, hosted by Billy @ Coffee Addicted Writer. I’ve made my own image from a stock photo (credit: Anna Shvets) to avoid adding images created via generative AI to my blog. Feel free to use it too if you would like!

This week’s prompt is about creepy books:

What’s the creepiest book you’ve read that isn’t officially horror, but gave you chills?

Alan Garner’s The Owl Service immediately comes to mind. It’s a children’s book (allegedly) and marketed generally as fantasy, but it’s full of real menace. It plays with the Welsh story of Blodeuwedd, with the story replaying itself with an unwilling cast, playing with tensions between English and Welsh, between classes, etc.

The cover on the edition I had (included in this post) was kinda creepy too…

I think it was actually Garner’s Elidor that really freaked me out, but I’ve never reread that one. I reread The Owl Service as an adult and… yep, still powerful and creepy. And recommended!