The Bog Wife

A Novel

By: Kay Chronister

Narrated by: Shannon McManus

A “haunting, brilliant” Appalachian folktale evoking the Southern gothic suspense of Sharp Objects and the eco spine-tinglers of Jeff Vandermeer (Paul Tremblay, author of A Head Full of Ghosts)

Five siblings in West Virginia unearth long-buried secrets 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.

At once a gothic eco-horror, a psychological drama, and a family saga, The Bog Wife is a propulsive read for fans of Shirley Jackson, Karen Russell, and Matt Bell that speaks to what is knowable and unknowable within a family history and how to know when it is time to move forward.

©2024 by Kay Chronister. (P)2024 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Critic reviews

“This Gothic family tale will give you the spooky story you've been waiting for all year. Set in the Appalachian mountains of West Virginia, the novel centers around the Haddesley family and their cranberry bog. Weaving in elements of the paranormal, Chronister gives us the long history of the family and their dark relationship with the land, complete with family secrets laid bare, and complicated sibling dynamics. It's full of tales of family sacrifices, a missing mother, and deadly rituals.”—Bernadette Roe, Women.com

"An immersive, haunting, and compelling tale of a family being crushed by the weight of their secrets and held hostage by their traditions. It's a lush and uneasy tale that leaves both characters and readers at the mercy of the land itself."—Booklist

"The Bog Wife is a creeping, Appalachian folktale, an astute allegory for a decaying America, and a haunting, brilliant novel. This one is going to stay with me for a while."—Paul Tremblay, author of The Cabin at the End of the World and A Head Full of Ghosts

Creepy

So I give this book a three star only because I did not like the story. It was very well written and had the American gothic vibe. It hit all the right parts in the storyline and drama and feelings! I just don’t like the story. I don’t like that these poor siblings suffered, that they are expected to perform these rituals. That they don’t know life outside the Bog, that they lost their mother, that the creepiness the father brings to the story, the story as a whole. It’s is so well established that I don’t think I would not have liked it if it wasn’t. I know some of you will disagree and I will accept that.

Enjoyable and interesting

Each part of the story kept interest and flowed well. Liked the characters and their development, and the ending in a way wasn't expected or unexpected. Will likely listen again, great story with a good message at the ending.

So Immersive

The descriptions in this book put you right in the bog watching the story unfold. The sibling dynamics are realistic and somewhat relatable for most people, and the story is eerie and captivating enough to keep me hooked without being startling or absolutely terrifying.

incredible book.

the reader was so captivating and the story so vivid emotional and just vague enough in its mystery that you never feel it's juvenile. it's like a black diamond

Interesting read

This book was intriguing and I couldn’t tell if I loved it or I didn’t believe it. The characters are great and the story is definitely unique. It’s a good listen. Give it a try.

Gothic Appalachia

Story about family dysfunction and the scars our past can leave. The poor narration of this book is a shame because it’s distracting - it takes away from the story and characters. Almost gave up on listening several times.

Excellent writing that backs out of its own ending

Excellent prose that transports you immediately to the place. All the characters are really solid and believable, and I was there right up until the last few chapters, where it seems like the writer kind of abandons most of what was set up in the first 2/3rds of the book in favor of a twist ending that doesn't quite feel earned. It's definitely polarizing, but overall not a bad listen.

3.75 stars

This was the story of the ultimate dysfunctional family. It was good but sad, and beyond odd but cool.

Folklore and mountain magic

This was a cozy story to fall into. I liked placing myself amongst the spaghum and hemlock trees and the concept that there are wild magic things out there.

A West Virginian Cranberry Bog provides an ideal setting for this book’s modern day Appalachian Gothic family reunion.

It was all too easy for me to immerse the superb Actors who some may have seen featured from those Mike Flanagan limited series, such as “Hill House”, or “Midnight Mass”, into the roles that this Author’s imagination created for this book’s story.
As I felt as though the Flanagan cast could easily accept this author’s narrative world and its constructs as true to the natural order of the world, and in my head, it was easy to see them build it around the narrator.
Because in these shared universal narratives, it’s just a matter of fact that some families happen to inherit haunted houses, others inherit an enchanted pool of very thick water that you have to offer tribute to “or else”.
Some families have huge mansions, that contain a hidden trap door, that leads to a place in the floor, called the “forbidden root cellar”, that long ago, swallowed up the old caretaker, but in fact, it was actually the original owner of the house.

But then there are other more normal families, that just have your run of the mill- typical Bog on their inherited wild antebellum property, that your family has apparently had had a compact with. But, ya know , that’s just, ….well…
heck,
that’s so commonplace & pedestrian, right?
I don’t even think I even need to explain it.….right?