The Witch of Willow Sound by Vanessa F. Penney
320 pages
Folk Horror / Cozy
2025
ECW Press
https://amzn.to/48IYwmf
The Witch of Willow Sound is an atmospheric, quietly weird debut from Nova Scotia–Newfoundland author Vanessa F. Penney, and I had a lot of fun with it. There’s something about a Canadian coastal setting that already feels half-enchanted, half-dangerous, and Penney leans into that beautifully. When Phaedra, known better as Fade, returns to Nova Scotia to find her missing aunt Madeline, she expects to step back into the cozy cabin she remembers from childhood—a kitchen-witch space full of warmth, tea, and that gentle clutter of someone who knows how to live close to the land. Instead, she’s confronted with a cottage swallowed by moss, rot, and neglect. The shift from memory to reality is stark, setting the tone for a story soaked in rottage-core textures: damp wood, overgrown paths, the unsettling beauty of decay creeping up the walls from the root cellar below. That is, if there was a root cellar…
The setting is easily one of the novel’s strongest elements. Willow Sound and the nearby town of Grand Tea feel remote and insular in a way that’s very specific to Atlantic Canada—communities where everyone knows everyone, and no one says everything. That tight-lipped atmosphere feeds perfectly into the cult-horror thread running under the narrative. As Phaedra digs into her aunt’s disappearance, she encounters a town full of people whose friendliness feels slightly rehearsed, slightly off. The book doesn’t go for flashy cult theatrics; it’s more of that creeping realization that a whole community shares a belief system you can’t quite get a handle on; aside from a communal fear of the glacial erratic boulder that threatens to topple over and crush the community. If you like navigating the outskirts of a cult rather than diving straight into a ceremony, this works perfectly.
While the book does carry a bit of YA tone, I found it more of a bridge novel—great for readers who want a thriller–horror blend without the spicy detours. The friendships are solid and believable, the stakes personal, and the tone autumnal in the best way. By the time the story edges toward Halloween, the atmosphere is settling in as thick as fog off the water. Speaking of the friendship between the town archivist Nish Chaudry and Fade, I enjoyed this immensely. They have a real Frog and Toad kind of tempo to their discourse and it was one of the fun and lighthearted angles in a book threaded with sorrow.
With its coastal setting, rottage-core mood, and subtle cult shadows, this is a strong and promising debut. And yes—the strange animal imagery on the cover absolutely fits. Nature gets weird, especially out here.
Thank you to ECW Press for the advanced reading copy!