Book Review: Pine by Francine Toon

By Sam Stoker

Set in the Scottish Highlands and thus immediately piquing my interest, Pine tells the story of a ten-year-old Lauren whose mother has mysteriously vanished. Living alone with her father, the story follows Lauren, her friends, and the other locals as a woman keeps appearing in their lives and another teenager goes missing.

Pine had me hooked from the start. I began listening to the audiobook, narrated by Cathleen McCarron - thankfully with a Scottish accent! - as I don’t tend to get time to sit and read a book, and I could not put it down. I was through it in under 48 hours. In fact, I ran out of my Spotify audiobook hours and had to grab the physical copy to devour the last fifty pages.

An excellent slice of folk horror, this novel involves witchcraft without being too ‘woo’ about the subject, and leaves the reader to come up with some of their own ideas about how magic works its way into the story. Lauren’s father is heavily sceptical, and our community’s history of being shunned comes to the forefront.

For those of us who are different, who inhabit these Isles, who love folklore, the woods, horror, mystery, and our craft, I would thoroughly recommend this book.