My Throat an Open Grave by Tori Bovalino

Book Review

Elloise Hopkins

It is the end of the school day. Leah Scarlett Jones has chores to take care of and a baby brother to look after while her mother goes out to work. Everything has changed since she returned to school, and despite her friend Jess’ enthusiasm, Leah just cannot get excited about homecoming.

It is said the Lord of the Wood has been seen – bloody, with glowing eyes – but it has been years since the last girl disappeared. Leah knew her name but little more. First the baby, then its mother.

Often, Leah feels as though eyes are watching her. Sometimes, it is her mother’s disappointment. Sometimes, it is her peers, wondering at her absence. Sometimes, it is the pastor’s condemning looks. And perhaps, sometimes, it is the Lord of the Wood. When her baby brother disappears, Leah has until the new moon to rescue him. She knows the Lord of the Wood will demand a trade to give her brother back. A bargain bound in blood. But what could Leah possibly have to offer such a creature?

My Throat an Open Grave is billed as “Labyrinth meets folk horror”, and, of course, we have a baby’s kidnapping at the centre of the story. There is an element of Sarah’s naïvety in Leah, and as the story progresses, Jareths’s softer side is forced to make an appearance through one of the antagonists she encounters. However, the fun, fantastical elements of our favourite movie step aside for an exploration of religious dedication through folklore and a closed-minded society; Leah has been judged and struggles to see any way out of her pain.

The shortening of Lord of the Wood to LoW, and the use of mobile phones modernises what otherwise has a very classic feel – the young heroine, the god-fearing community, the lack of prospects, the patriarchy, and the judgment of a fickle society that is steeped in unquestioned traditions. The story moves at a good pace. Leah’s journey is captivating and thought-provoking, and one cannot help but hope for a happy ending for her after everything she has been put through.