Bitterthorn: A sapphic Gothic romance inspired by classic fairytales

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She’s written about mental health for Mind and the Guardian, and worked as a translator for Japanese television. If you’re looking for a captivating, fairytale story, Bitterthorn is an absolute must read and has such a stunning cover. She’s written about mental health for Mind and the Guardian , and worked as a translator for Japanese television. When Mina is herself taken as the new companion, she finds herself living in a remote castle, strangely drawn to the Witch.

A moody and stylish Gothic tale that feels both fresh and timeless – a masterful meditation on grief, loneliness, and terrible love. Kat Dunn examines the power of loneliness and isolation and cruelty in making monsters of us, using a backdrop of a sweeping dark fairytale, but also the power of insistent, honest love that recognises the truths of each other. Locked away in the castle with the Witch and surrounded by unspoken history, Mina soon begins to realise that there's a longer, darker story at play- and that she's falling in love with the Witch. But, I have to say I was completely taken by surprise by how emotionally invested I became in our protagonist’s life.I don’t know whether I want to cry, laugh, re-read the entire book, or simply bask in the emotions that the wonderful writing of Kat and the world she has created embodied me with. I was never a person that would pay much attention to the person and tense the story was told in, I usually won't even notice it, but here I noticed the first person immediately and it grated on me just a little bit. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others.

The first time not getting more than a couple of chapters in before I'd had enough, I think maybe because whilst it is beautiful to read it is also a little confusing and nothing really happens until towards the end, plus, the main character Mina really grated on me. Bitterthorn is a perfect fireside tale, thick with suspense, yearning, and wild beauty – I loved every moment of reading it. I like the genre, black-and-white villains don't appeal to anyone, but giving depth to these characters is much harder than it seems. From the very first page, Kate Dunn captivated me with a brilliantly dark, gothic and fairytale-like atmosphere as well as prose, that made it impossible to put this novel down.While the truths Mina discovers are terrifying, love, longing and the realisation that “other people can be salvation” leads her to take a courageous path.

Mina is an interesting protagonist and I really enjoyed seeing her relationship with the Witch develop. I loved the relationship between Mina and the Witch, it had such an awkward and tense beginning but slowly blossomed into something so beautiful and tender. I couldn't help but believe the kind of hopelessness, disillusion and desperation propelling our protagonist onto a journey she'd never have expected for herself (but which, I, for one, loved every minute of). So when the Witch demands her next companion, Mina offers herself up - though she has no idea what fate awaits her. This had all the similar vibes of a story by Naomi Novik or Ava Reid so if you like their work, I’d highly recommend this.Around the anniversary of her mother’s death, Mina volunteers herself when the Witch comes to stake her claim. I didn't root for the romance, the plot seemed to rely completely on miscommunications/lack of communication, and I felt more and more as if this would have worked better as a short story. I hear someone use a term "popcorn book" lately which I kind of like and think might fit this book as well. I say this because it is both very rare for me to read almost an entire book in a single day and to cry whilst reading, but this is what happened with Bitterthorn. When the news comes that the Witch living above the city will come to claim another soul as her companion after fifty years, everyone is terrified.

Bitterthorn is a book I so wanted to love, especially given its plot and that it is magical and witchy, the kind of reads I love. There is a almost poetic and immersive feel to the writing of the book, the descriptions that are provided and the amount of detail that some aspects of it. The build-up seemed a little bit slow, but then the main character joined the witch and I was ready for things to unfold. I read Bitterthorn for a book club and should add that if it wasn't for that outward motivation, I wouldn't have picked it up based on the short summary alone, so perhaps I'm simply not the right audience for this book.I finished Bitterthorn one winter night while the rain battered the windows, and by gods, what a book. Both classic and novel, melancholy and tenderly wrought, Bitterthorn crackles with passion and warmth like a fire on a long winter night.