“”
Evocative, haunting, and deeply compelling,
The Wild Hunt weaves together known and
unknown worlds.
// AMY BRILL //
an npr, shelf awareness, and crimereads best book of the year
a buzzfeed, LitHub, Tor, and Library Journal best book of summer
An Indie Next Pick for August
The islanders have only three rules: don’t stick your nose where it’s not wanted, don’t mention the war, and never let your guard down during October.
Leigh Welles has not set foot on the island in years, but when she finds herself called home from a disappointing life on the Scottish mainland by her father’s unexpected death, she is determined to forget the sorrows of the past—her mother’s abandonment, her brother’s icy distance, the unspeakable tragedy of World War II—and start fresh. Fellow islander Iain MacTavish, a RAF veteran with his eyes on the sky and his head in the past is also in desperate need of a new beginning. A young widower, Iain struggles to return to the normal life he knew before the war.
But this October is anything but normal. This October, the sluagh are restless. The ominous, bird-like creatures of Celtic legend—whispered to carry the souls of the dead—have haunted the islanders for decades, but in the war’s wake, there are more wandering souls and more sluagh. When a local boy disappears, Leigh and Iain are thrown together to investigate the truth at the island’s dark heart and reveal hidden secrets of their own.
Rich with historical detail and a skillful speculative edge, Emma Seckel’s propulsive and pulse-pounding debut The Wild Hunt unwinds long-held tales of love, loss, and redemption.
Praise for The Wild Hunt
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“Eerie and melodic.” — The New York Times Book Review
“Haunting ... asking questions about homecoming, perception, communal grief, memory—and hope.” — NPR Books
“Treading deftly into the worlds of folklore and magical realism, Seckel keenly captures a tone that echoes the eerie moor scenery of the island: hazy, haunting, and teeming with misgivings. A foreboding mystery with surprising glimmers of hope.” — Kirkus
“Stirring and atmospheric… Seckel draws a dense portrait of a community in turmoil and Leigh’s determination to find a way forward. The result is a moving story exploring home, loss, and grief, and it is an irresistible read.” — Necessary Fiction
“Intoxicating and atmospheric… This moody meditation delivers.” — Publishers Weekly
“A moving historical novel haunted by folklore and reality alike, best enjoyed during the slow slide from summer into fall.” — Lit Hub
“A story world drawn with exquisite care… thoroughly compelling.” — Ploughshares
“Somehow both dreamy and nightmarish, speculative and concretely real, The Wild Hunt is a richly emotional tale about home, community, love and self.” — BookReporter
“Seckel braids together ancient Celtic and Norse folklore to explore the mass trauma left in the war's wake. What results is a gorgeous chorus of character voices conducted by Seckel along with sensory-rich prose that captures the rich details of island life. And death.” — The Star Tribune
“I cannot wait to read Emma Seckel’s folk-horror-infused new island thriller, The Wild Hunt. The sluagh, or birds rumoured to carry the souls of the dead, fly thick above the Scottish islands in October, the skies thick with the souls of the dead, and in this immediate-post-war-set novel, the spookiest month of the year comes with unique dangers.” — Crime Reads
“Seckel weaves historical fiction with mystery and fantastic elements and threads of romance in this tale of love, grief, attachment to place and resistance to change. Her island setting is both otherworldly and firmly rooted, and her prose style is lushly evocative. This imaginative novel is memorable and wild indeed.” — Shelf Awareness
“Promising premise, beautiful writing.” — Library Journal
“A Gothic autumnal immersion.” ― The Daily Kos
“Seckel’s writing is vivid and transports the reader to the moors and rocky cliffs with crows swarming overhead … A haunting mythology and an exploration of human emotion.” — Southern Review of Books
“Moody, atmospheric … Seckel deftly weaves Celtic legend into the story so seamlessly it feels like real life.” — The Best of Times
“Perfect for a hint of Halloween.” — Likewise
“Unusual and imaginative. … a well-written romance intertwined with fantastical elements of a legend not widely known.” — PopMatters
“Lyrical and tender.” — Historical Novel Society
“Extraordinary. … Stunning. … Powerful and gorgeously executed, author Emma Seckel has crafted a compelling title that occurs in another time, but is more fitting than most for the troubled world we are living in today.” — Locus Magazine
“Emma Seckel’s debut crackles with dark energy, conjuring a world where the skies are full of crows, ghosts walk the moors, and the islanders are haunted by loss. Seckel knows how to write heartache but these pages are also bursting with a fierce love for the living and the dead. The Wild Hunt is a wonder of a novel.” — Brendan Mathews, author of The World of Tomorrow
“The Wild Hunt is a thriller, and a family drama; a mystery but also a romance; a war novel and a ghost story. It’s a social commentary. It’s a tear-jerker. I’m not sure how one novel can be all of these things, and also be gut-punchingly sad, beautifully written, and oddly hopeful, but it is. Evocative, haunting, and deeply compelling, The Wild Hunt weaves together the known and unknown worlds in pursuit of the answer to the most elusive of life’s questions: how can life go on after devastating loss?” — Amy Brill, author of The Movement of Stars
“The Wild Hunt is a gorgeously written, entirely captivating debut novel set on an island off the coast of Scotland in the wake of World War II. Rich in atmosphere and historical detail, this novel and its exquisitely drawn characters will transport even the most reticent reader to a different time and place, and captivate them until its satisfying conclusion. A deeply engrossing read.” — Cristina Alger Wang, author of Girls Like Us
“What a debut for Emma Seckel! The Wild Hunt is a gorgeous, haunting novel that will stay with you long after you finish reading.” — Ann Hood, author of The Knitting Circle and The Book That Matters Most
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