The Bog Wife

by Kay Chronister

In this atmospheric Appalachian gothic, the Haddesley siblings of West Virginia must unearth long-buried secrets to carve out a future when the supernatural bargain entwining their fate with their ancestral land is suddenly ruptured

Since time immemorial, the Haddesley family has tended the cranberry bog. In exchange, the bog sustains them. The staunch seasons of their lives are governed by a strict covenant that is renewed each generation with the ritual sacrifice of their patriarch, and in return, the bog produces a “bog-wife.” Brought to life from vegetation, this woman is meant to carry on the family line. But when the bog fails—or refuses—to honor the bargain, the Haddesleys, a group of discordant siblings still grieving the mother who mysteriously disappeared years earlier, face an unknown future.

Middle child Wenna, summoned back to the dilapidated family manor just as her marriage is collapsing, believes the Haddesleys must abandon their patrimony. Her siblings are not so easily persuaded. Eldest daughter Eda, de facto head of the household, seeks to salvage the compact by desecrating it. Younger son Percy retreats into the wilderness in a dangerous bid to summon his own bog-wife. And as youngest daughter Nora takes desperate measures to keep her warring siblings together, fledgling patriarch Charlie uncovers a disturbing secret that casts doubt over everything the family has ever believed about itself.

Brimming with aching loss and the universal struggle between honoring family commitments and the drive to strike out on one’s own, The Bog Wife is a haunting invocation of the arcane power of the habits and habitats that bound us.

Genres: Horror, Gothic, Fiction, Fantasy, Magical Realism, Mystery, Adult

336 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2024

Reviews

[sophie · Rating 4 out of 5]

compelling as all hell, great locale (bog), sticks the landing. what more can you ask for (i wish it was gay)

[Vicki Herbert - Vacation until Jan 2 · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Bog Was An
Endlessly Needy Creature...

THE BOG WIFE: A Novel
by Kay Chronister

No spoilers. 4 1/2 stars. The Haddesleys were the Terror of Marlington, WV, and the subject of local Appalachian folklore...

Father recited the history of the Haddesley compact before the hearth to his children Charles, Percy, Eda, Nora, and Wenna...

Our ways are noble and ancient...

The Bog had always belonged to the family, and they to it. Their first ancestor was thrown into the bog as punishment...

He was innocent of the crime...

Rocks were put into his pockets before sinking him, but he didn't die. No one knew what pact he made while he was under...

But, going forward...

The bog was in him. When he resurfaced, he had a woman with him. She was to be his wife...

Now...

He was bound to the land as were all of his generations to come. They were not to commingle the family line...

The eldest male was to take a bog wife, but the other siblings were not to marry...

Eventually...

The family was led to West Virginia by a dowsing stick, where the family home was built...

But they were still the bog's custodians...

The children could not remember where their mother was nor what happened to her as father told his story...

Years later...

As father was dying, he fretted that his eldest son Charles wasn't physically able to keep the contract with the bog...

So...

He left instructions in his ancient book, The Borradh, on how to raise a bog wife in case the exchange with eldest son Charles failed...

But...

The bog was an endlessly needy creature. Always in peril, vulnerable to trespassing, and weather changes...

It had a need for its own particular balance of earth and water. Except for the intervention of the family, it would have succumbed long ago...

I would classify this story as literary Appalachian folklore. In some ways, it had the feel of THE GRAPES OF WRATH by John Steinbeck.

It was an excellent, well-written story that had an ending that wasn't quite an end to me, so I deducted half a star for that. I found it well worth a read.

If you are into bog stories and folklore about them, you might also like THE MAN IN THE MOSS by Phil Rickman.

[Farda Hus · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars.

"Anything that lives and does not live alone makes compacts"

W-E-I-R-D.

Like, weird weird. Wife resurrected from the bog weird. Girl with no eyebrows weird. Family’s twisted pact with the bog weird.

This book was eerie in a way I’ve never encountered before—like a strange, unsettling fog creeping in from the first page. The atmosphere was heavy, dark, and absolutely suffocating. The way it was written had this dream-like, hazy quality that made everything feel just a little off in the best way. I could vividly picture every detail: the cold, decaying manor, the ever-present bog swallowing everything in its path. The gloomy setting felt alive, like a character of its own.

The Haddesley siblings, each their own brand of odd, were a bizarre but strangely captivating bunch. Flawed, damaged, and eerie as they were, they stuck together. They had each other's backs no matter how messed up things got, and i couldn’t help but like them for it.

The whole thing was unsettling but also strangely captivating. It’s a story like no other. Creepy, atmospheric, and hauntingly unforgettable.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of those lovely books that blurs contemporary realism with fantasy and horror in a way that's so ingrained that you feel like it actually happened and you're just remembering it.

[Amy · Rating 1 out of 5]

My theories were more entertaining than whatever this was.

[Maren Johnson · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm okay with weird. Seriously. I am a MASSIVE fan of Shark Heart aka a book where people can get diseases that randomly turn them into animals, and it had the POV of a shark swimming around. That's weird yet beautifully done. I'm fine with weird. What I'm not fine with is STUPID and UNBELIEVABLY UNLIKABLE CHARACTERS. And that's what this book was :)

So here's your weird premise: a cult-like family in the Appalachian Mountains (aka the reason I read this book because I was in Appalachia lol) sacrifices their patriarchs into their backyard bog, so the bog spits out a tree nymph like woman to carry on their family line. But oopsies, the magical bog wife didn't appear this time, for the first time in like a "thousand" years. If that premise sounds dumb to you, that's good because you'll save yourself the hassle of reading the book.

But that premise wasn't the worst for me. No, it was the fact that most of the characters deserve a tenth level of Dante's inferno that doesn't exist yet but should specifically for these people. Charlie wasn't the worst, just boring, and Wenna could've been cool if she actually ever developed or had screen time. But the dad, Eda, Percy, and Nora deserve all the worst things ever. Literally Nora almost made me scream on a plane or chuck the book out a window at 30,000 feet (sorry, real Norah. You have nothing in common). Eda might exist as a metaphor for being the eldest child, but I sure hope not because she's insane. Thankfully the dad died, so I didn't have to read too much about him :)

So reading about a group of people I hate so much was rough, but then I got to the ending. Quit now if you don't want to know how this ends. So Charlie discovers they had been lied to: their family has only been on the land for 100 years cuz some bored rich guy wanted to build a creepy house. There is no magical pact, and the bog is just magical and produces magical women. Now I was thinking this could've been a cool story about the children leaving and adapting to the real world. That's what Charlie did.

But Eda just went and got busy behind a bar a million times to have a baby to continue on the family legacy (what the h*ck), and Nora and Percy decided to spend out the rest of their days lying in the bog connecting with nature. Wenna basically disappears from the book, and you never learn if she leaves, gets back with her husbands, or goes back to her normal life. Nope. Cliffhanger for the rest of my life on that plot point. But I can't believe I had to read about people lying on some wet dirt, and that was supposed to be beautiful. It wasn't. It was stupid.

I hated everything about this book in the end. I'm so angry about this, thank you.

[Emily · Rating 2 out of 5]

A meandering, slow, character study that barely lets you in on the characters' inner minds. Each chapter is told from the pov of one of the five adult children. There's a mild magical realism element here, but don't expect to be immersed in the inner working of a rich magic system. There is none to be had. Chronister would lead you up to the precipice of excitement, then turn around and flee in the opposite direction. We're there more bog wives? Where did the name haddesley come from? Was the boddah book made up or real? Was there more magic to be had? So many questions that could have made this so much more interesting. We could have cut 100 pages in the middle and spent the rest of the novel building into what their new contract looked like, but alas, it was very disappointing.

[Sadie Hartmann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Full review on Monday for Patreon
*link in my bio
-Rich family history
-Multiple POVs
-Vivid setting
-Strong character development
-Folk horror/rituals
Recommended for readers who love stories of families with a legacy of strange religion (Revelator by Daryl Gregory) isolation/family farm (Small Favors by Erin A. Craig) the patriarchal order dying and the new generation making their way. Strong Ethel Cain vibes (music/Family Tree)

[Stitching Ghost · Rating 3 out of 5]

If I had read the blurb or even just the first line of it I would have known that I wasn't the audience for it, 2 of the words in it are major red flag for me; atmospheric and gothic. It's not a bad story and it's not as slow as I would have expected for a gothic horror but I was mildly indifferent and waiting for any feeling of horror to occur. It remained apathy and resigned sadness pretty much all the way through. These characters are just moved by the events like branches by the wind and only rarely seem to have a will of their own, it's the whole point for some of them but it wasn't particularly engaging.

There were insightful moments and the imagery was pretty good so if you like a more contemplative number this one might be for you,

[Zoë · Rating 4 out of 5]

a little bit of what did i just read mixed in with but where do i now find more because yes

[Chanel Chapters · Rating 3 out of 5]

Old man and his 5 brainwashed kids have a codependent relationship with a bog.
The 5 POVs was too much, there didn’t need to be that many siblings.
The writing was good but the story wasn’t super satisfying.

[Jan Agaton · Rating 3 out of 5]

oedipus reimagining but make it..botanical magical realism? lmao not my type of weird but I did like the atmospheric writing & that the siblings had distinct personalities. I also enjoyed the ending. but this could've been a novella

[Tracey Thompson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Meet the Haddesley family of West Virginia. Three girls, two boys, an ailing father, and a mother who has been absent for a decade. Oh, and a bog, to which they sacrifice the patriarch of the family, in exchange for a bride, for the eldest son.

As the time for the sacrifice draws near, daughter Wenna, who fled the family years ago in an attempt at a normal life, returns to the family home. However, when the ritual fails, and no muddy mate materializes, Wenna sees this as an opportunity to free her siblings from their bizarre life.

Kay Chronister is such an exciting writer. Her previous novel, Desert Creatures, was so original, and beautifully written. The Bog Wife cements her status as a must-read author for me. Her dreamy, hypnotic style kept me turning the pages well past my bedtime.

Each Haddesley family member is so well-developed, and I absolutely adored them all. The tragic, reluctant young patriarch Charlie, who literally has a tree fall on his crotch, holds a special place in my heart.

But on top of all this great character development, and beautiful writing, there is a genuinely rich plot. The reader, much like the Haddesley children, are kept at arm’s length from the “truth”, leaving it up to us to decide what is real and what is fantasy. I could spend hours speculating on what I think happens in this book, which I find incredibly rewarding.

The Bog Wife is a deeply weird, but very accessible novel about family, loyalty, and tradition. Another impressive, original novel from Chronister.

[Adrienne L · Rating 2 out of 5]

That was painfully boring. I really enjoyed the previous short story collection I read by the author, and I think this would have worked better with about a hundred pages cut out.

[Fern · Rating 5 out of 5]

the type of slow horror-ish story with beautiful prose that I eat up 🤌

[Morgan Lentz · Rating 1 out of 5]

**** mild spoilers ahead **** Please don't read if you don't want any info.

This book felt unfinished at best. I was bored and slogged through and then it finally got a little interesting because you find out the father had been lying about the family's history, including their surname. So I get to where I'm thinking this bog wife/compact stuff is all made up by their deranged dad, and then, no, all of THAT is real, but he lied about everything else? So what was real and what was not? It's never fully laid out. There's just no resolution to any of their real, current problems. There are too many things that happen that are never discussed. I had so many questions arise along the way that were never answered. I think this book tried to be too many things and it couldn't wrap up everything that was going on. And I HATED Wenna's ending.

[Barbara K · Rating 4 out of 5]

Southern Gothic is not a genre I read often. I don’t have a Southern Gothic bookshelf. But lately I’ve been challenging myself with a couple of IRL book clubs, reading some things I would not otherwise have selected, hence this book.

“The Bog Wife” actually turned into a winner for me, though I wouldn’t have guessed it from the plot summary. In remote West Virginia, five children gather for the ending of their father’s life. Four (Eda, Charlie, Nora and Percy) still live in the family’s large but decaying home; Wenna, the middle girl, left for the outside world 10 years ago but comes back to help with rituals related to the father’s death. Their mother also left 10 years ago, although none of the children know what happened to her.

They live in a bog land and their lives have been controlled by an ancient compact between their family and the bog. Upon the death of the patriarch, his body must be surrendered to the bog, after which a “bog wife” will emerge from the muck and moss and peat to become the spouse of the eldest son. Except that doesn’t happen this time.

The dynamics among the family members are the heart of the book. They have lived in claustrophobic isolation their entire lives (they range in age from mid-20’s to mid-30’s) and have ritualized their interactions. When Wenna returns, she quickly slips back into the familiar patterns.

There is also an environmental theme at work here. Wenna sees immediately upon arriving what the others have failed to note - the bog is dying. Under the compact, the bog will nourish the family with cranberries and peat as long as the family upholds their end. But something has clearly gone wrong.

The writing flows. Each of the children has a distinctive voice that matches their personality and relationship to the bog. The relationship between the natural life of the bog and the surrounding woods is carefully described, and these two threads pare elegantly intertwined.

The one wrong note for me was a near the end, when the explanation for the problems with the compact is made clear. It felt as if Chronister couldn’t figure out how else to do this, so she resorted to a lecture by one of the characters. Clunk.

Aside from that, it really was much better than I had anticipated. For me it was more interesting than creepy, apparently a common reaction. But then, maybe I just don’t react as much as I used to. :-)

[Melki · Rating 4 out of 5]

A household that left a tree embedded in a roof was not a sane or healthy household.

Five not quite sane or healthy siblings gather to bury their domineering father, and to celebrate the marriage of the oldest son to the bog wife - a woman who is supposed to rise from the marshy land surrounding their crumbling estate.

This year, though, it seems she’s a no-show . . .

As time goes by, and the promised swamp tart fails to materialize, the family sinks deeper into despair, and things just get weirder. Though not a horror novel, per se, this was definitely one of the strangest books I read in Spooktober. What an eerie, languid, mesmerizing read it was! The author did a great job of making me care about these characters, and I was genuinely worried for their safety. (And, sanity.)

Though I doubt I’d ever want to read this book again, it’s certainly one I won’t forget any time soon.

Many thanks to Counterpoint and NetGalley for the read.

[bri]

I JUST remembered I never wrote a review of this. I was planning on fully mapping out my thoughts and I'm so sorry to say that it's been long enough that I don't think it's going to happen at this point. I will, briefly say:

This story is so bizarre and slow and atmospheric, and I really enjoyed it. I feel uncertain about its ending, but overall confident in its storytelling, and I think fans of Our Wives Under the Sea or literary horrors would really enjoy this Appalachian family gothic.

CW: death of father, cancer, suicide attempt (offpage), loss of mother (past), self harm (for magic), blood, alcohol, sexual content, pregnancy, childbirth (brief)

[kel ✦⏾ · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is god damn GOOOOD. I am a sucker for anything that claims to be "gothic and atmospheric" and this one delivered ten fold. This slow-burn Appalachian folk horror has a cast of complex characters, and a peat-rich plot with immersive, vivid depictions. I could smell the rot of a boggy fall morning and the moldy, misty spring melt. This felt more like remembering a lived experience rather than reading about a new one.

When the patriarch of the Haddlesley family is on his last breath, estranged Wenna returns home to her family for the first time in 10 years. With their father's body fed back to the bog and the ritual complete, the new patriarch waits for his wife to emerge. When no wife is born of the bog, the siblings face the harsh realization that their whole lives may be built on a lie. While they untangle the secrets of their past, we switch between each of the 5 siblings while they grieve their family, and the compact that had kept their ancestors alive for hundreds of years. The Haddlesleys live in a constant state of depravity and filth, creating a looming feeling that is claustrophobic that made my skin crawl.

Theories run wild while we're kept in the dark as characters find out in real time the secrets of their past in a blur of contemporary fic and niche, boggy horror. Even though we rotate between 5 POVs, the story flows seamlessly and is better because of it. I was not once pulled out of the story while I adjusted to the new POV. The well-rounded narrative highlights how differently the same traumas and abuse can manifest in different people.

I was hoping and praying that the ending would hold up to the perfection that is the rest of this book, and I was so glad it did. Its ambiguity keeps you thinking about the Haddlesleys long after you finish it, but it's not ambiguous enough that you're left with more questions than answers. This niche type of horror won't land for everyone, but includes some mild body horror, survival and eco horror, and Southern gothic. Ecological/bog horror wasn't something I realized I was into but god damn am I ever.

(I wish it was gay).

[Milica · Rating 5 out of 5]

So this is sort of a eco-horror, gothic mystery, kinda grim fantasy... It's kinda everything. Colorful, amazingly well developed characters, creepy plot full of well placed red herrings, atmospheric from start to finish. I'm not a huge fan of gothic atmosphere in general. I almost always find it suffocating, but this was so masterfully written I immediately fell in love with it. All in all, I recommend it to everyone, bcs it simply has everything in it. Lyrical prose, great characters, deep message... It's a unique read, through and through.

[see nic read · Rating 3 out of 5]

People are going wild for this book, and I fully expected to love it. HOWEVER, I found myself angry half the time. I’m sure it’s just my own personal taste, but I wanted a more solidified ending. It felt like Wenna and Eda’s end was glanced over and only the other three really found an end they were confident in. I also kind of expected more of the bog. It’s spoken of as an entity and it’s supposed to be sentient kind of, but it doesn’t really do anything. I just thought with this being labeled gothic horror, that it would do something or interact with people.

My anger came from having to read brainwashing for so long. Only Wenna was deprogrammed a little, and somehow Charlie ends up being the one with the most sense. I did enjoy the writing and the overall story, but it was hard for me to finish satisfied when three of them had such finished stories that matched their characters, but the other two were just left in a goat shed with a baby and no plan. Is Wenna going back to Michael? Will Eda and the baby come with her? Or are they really going to make the baby go through everything they did by being raised in a dilapidated goat shed in Appalachia? The majority of people have more patience and grace to give than I do here, but I did really love the writing style and the characters themselves.

[Dutchie · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 Stars

This book just wasn’t for me. Every once in a while when I venture outside of my reading box, I’ll find a gem that I enjoy that I might not necessarily pick up otherwise. Unfortunately, that also means I will find some that just don’t work for me. This being one of them.

The idea behind it sounded intriguing . The Haddesley family has lived on the bog for years. Their lives are dedicated to protect the bog and in turn the bog will take care of them by producing a bog wife for the newest patriarch of the family. I think I got that right….

I was expecting something a bit different. The myth behind how this pact came about never really was explained unless of course I missed it. I would’ve enjoyed seeing how the pact evolved and how it impacted previous generations. I will say the writing is very beautiful and descriptive, but unfortunately, everything else failed for me.

[Bianca Rose (Belladonnabooks) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn’t know I needed this Appalachian folk horror gothic book in my life but here we are. The Bog Wife is a strange yet compelling tale of the Haddesley family who share an intimate relationship with the bog which sustains them in more ways than one. The bog provides and in exchange they must provide a worthy sacrifice.

The family carries out a tradition of bizarre rituals with the bog, designed to ensure the continuation of the family’s lineage. This is a haunting yet beautiful written story of family secrets, sacrifices and relationships. The character development is superb and the writing exquisite, treading the line between fantasy and horror. I will be thinking about this one for a long time to come.

Thank you to NetGalley and Titan Books for my eARC!

[Janette Walters · Rating 4 out of 5]

So many layers to this atmospheric, fairytale fantasy read. It is rich, it is dark, it is lovely.

Some of my takeaways: Every person’s journey in this life is different. We are all and can be closer to the natural world than we think. There is a higher power of some sort in this universe. Love means something different to each of us.

I’m still processing what I just read. But The Bog Wife will stay with me for a long time. It is beautiful. 4 ⭐️

[Syn · Rating 4 out of 5]

A strange and atmospheric slow burn folk horror. This gave off a bit of the vibes from We Have Always Lived in The Castle by Shirley Jackson and Little Eve by Catriona Ward. If you liked either of those books you may enjoy this one.

[Jessica]

If I had a nickel for every book that features bog women that I've read this year, I'd have three nickels, which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it's happened three times and it's only June.

This is exactly the kind of inbred, repressive "family tradition above all" weirdness that makes me such a sucker for any book categorized as Appalachian Gothic, but also makes me never want to go there.

What if I get kidnapped by someone who wants to make me his bog wife?! WHAT THEN? I would be a TERRIBLE bog wife! I don't like mud, and I hate cranberries! (Please note: no one is kidnapped to become a bog wife in this book, that is not how bog wives work.)

*I am not rating books read for the World Fantasy Award.*

[Tammy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the setting and the characters in this book....The ending is where it lost me. The ending left me going why?? and what?? way too much and just felt very unsatisfying. I am not saying everything has to be tied up with a bow but .....yeah I did not like the ending.

I also did not understand this book being Horror.....it felt very contemporary lit to me. I didn't read anything that I thought was horrific particularly. It just wasn't for me and that is fine.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

I will be up front about my feelings, The Bog Wife by Kay Chronister is a WEIRD book, but I oddly loved it! Weird doesn’t always work for me, and frankly it rarely does, but I was completely enamored by this gothic storyline all about a family in a cranberry bog. It is a pretty slow burn overall, but I found myself not wanting to put it down, and I spent much of the book wondering if the bog really was all that it seemed.

I went the audiobook route and even though there are multiple viewpoints, I thought Shannon McManus did an excellent job. Though nothing necessarily stood out to me about her narration, she was pleasant to listen to and I thought she was able to capture the ambiance of the story very well. Chronister’s writing was extremely vivid without being over the top, and she made it easy to feel like I was there myself. Read this if you enjoy settings as a character, stories rooted in folklore, and unusual narratives.

[Bradley · Rating 4 out of 5]

*twangs banjo*

Hello West Virginia. Hello claustrophobic Southern Family Horror.

I can't really say much here without giving away all the little discoverable treats in this book, but I can say that the atmosphere is both strange and neat. A family that stays together--ah, well, let's not QUITE go there, yet, unless you start reading.

*twangs banjo*