Small Fires by Ronnie Turner

I know I'm a bit absent at the moment - I keep meaning to write a post about that - but I am still here! And today is my stop on the blog tour for Small Fires by Ronnie Turner. I was mesmerized reading this book, it drew me in. Big thanks to Danielle Price at Orenda Books for the invitation and my review copy. You can see what I thought of it below. 

The Blurb

Evil runs through this cursed island.

And these wicked sisters are about to make it burn…

When sisters Lily and Della Pedley are persecuted for the shocking murder of their parents, they flee from their home in Cornwall to a remote and unnamed island in Scotland – an island known for its strange happenings, but far away from the whispers and prying eyes of strangers.

Lily is terrified of what her sister might do next, and she soon realises that they have arrived at a place where nothing is as it seems. A bitterness runs through the land like poison, and the stories told by the islanders seem to be far more than folklore.

Della settles in too easily, the island folk drawn to her strangeness, but Lily is plagued by odd and unsettling dreams, and as an annual festival draws nigh, she discovers that she has far more to fear than she could ever have imagined. Or does she…?

Chilling, atmospheric and utterly hypnotic, Small Fires is a contemporary gothic novel that examines possession, generational trauma, female rage, and the perilous bonds of family – an unsettling reminder that the stories we tell can be deadly…

Midsommar meets Midnight Mass in a folk horror, modern gothic masterpiece.

Small Fires is published by Orenda Books and will be released on 27th February 2025. 

My Review

Ronnie Turner was a new author to me as I hadn't read So Pretty so I wasn't really sure what to expect. Despite its title, Small Fires is a chilling read, with an ever present sense of dread. 

Lily and Della have fled as far as they can from the rumours they murdered their parents. They've come to a small island off the coast of Scotland. It doesn't have a name but the people on the mainland refer to it as The God-Forgotten. They never go there and the islanders never come to the mainland, apart from two men, always the same two men, who come for supplies. The Folk, inhabitants of the island have strange habits and rituals, and strange, ingrained beliefs. Della settles straight away, Lily is always fearful, scared of the foreboding aura the island gives off and the stories of carries. She befriends Silas, who is the kindest, most welcoming of the Folk, and that makes things more bearable. Until people start dying...

Lily is easy to warm to, a gentle soul, terrified of her sister. She is a little strange, as is Della, and everyone else in the island. Silas is also easy to like, a kind and warm soul, trying to look out for Lily, but also decide what's best for the Folk - his family have been there for a very long time. Della is hard to warm to. Very different to her sister, the Folk accept her quickly, in a way they don't for Lily, but for the reader, she's hard for the reader to like. We hear the stories she used to tell Lily when they were young, and those that Silas's sister used to tell him, and we see these are damaged people. And the stories that the island holds, that the Folk believe, are powerful. 

There is a hypnotic, kind of ethereal, feel to this book - it's hard to put it down. I loved the writing, both in the narrative and dialogue - it's very evocative. I picked out a couple of examples: 

'Tears slip down my cheeks. I wipe them away, hide them in my pocket. My pocket will be wet through. It will drip with all my tears.'

'You are interesting, girl. You with your scars and your mouthful of words you do not say.'

'He tells me a story about a boy lost on the moors and the worry rises in my chest. I listen, and I am an ocean of it.'

Wonderful. 

This is a really interesting, well written read, full of tension and dread. The story builds and builds until everything gets turned on its head. So much goes on even when it seems nothing is happening. The denouement is unexpected and unsettling. Small Fires is a tale of many things but particularly the power of words and stories. Prepare to get lost in it.

The Author

Ronnie Turner grew up in Cornwall, the youngest in a large family. At an early age, she discovered a love of literature. She now works as a Senior Waterstones Bookseller and barista. Ronnie lives in the South West with her family and three dogs. In her spare time, she enjoys traveling and taking long walks on the coast.


Author Social Media Links

Twitter: @Ronnie_ _Turner
Facebook: @RonnieTurnerAuthor
Instagram: @RonnieTurner8702
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40169201-lies-between-us