Nowhere Burning by Catriona Ward
I would like to thank Viper Books for an advance copy of this novel in exchange for a fair and honest review
Publisher – Viper Books
Published – Out Now
Price – £16.99 hardback £7.99 ebook
The Nowhere Children are expecting you...
High in the mountains sits Nowhere, a verdant valley surrounded by walls of rock. People have lived at Nowhere for centuries, though never for long, and rarely happily. Its last owner was its most famous: movie star Leaf Winham, who built Nowhere House as a refuge to hide from his fame... and to hide his crimes. Only when Nowhere House went up in flames were the graves discovered, the last resting places of lost young men who would never go home.
Years later, Nowhere valley has become a sanctuary for runaway children, a place where adults cannot enter. Drawn by this promise, fourteen-year-old Riley pulls her brother Oliver from his bed in the middle of the night, hoping to find a new family. But the Nowhere Children are fierce in defending their valley and their secrets. For something dark lives in the ruins of Nowhere House, something that asks a terrible price for sanctuary...
Life is a cycle, we are looked after while we grow up and eventually, we become adults. Some of us then decide to be parents and then pass on our experience to create the next generation. Of course, cycles can mean what we experience as children can impact how we grow up. Not all childhoods are idyllic and how that impacts what those children do as adults is then not easy to determine. In Catriona Ward’s unsettling new novel Nowhere Burning we follow three journeys all connected to a mysterious place called Nowhere that for many years has had an unsettling reputation. Ward has created a brilliant dark tale that is as hard to let go of as Nowhere is of letting people leave it.
Teenager Riley and her 7 year old brother Oliver have been living with Cousin for a several months since the death of her mother. But he is fixated by demons, makes Oliver eat very little and exercise far too hard and Riley is constantly confined to her home. A mysterious stranger at her window named Noon offers her an escape to a place called Nowhere where she can join a group hiding from the wider world. Riley takes desperate measures and leaves Cousin’s home never to return.
The famous actor Leaf Winham once lived at Nowhere, It became infamous for his crimes once they were finally revealed to the public. But prior to that Leaf persuades a young architect named Adam to help redesign his home and stay with him.
Nowhere’s reputation has been building and building. These days its known for a mysterious gang of ‘children’ who live there and take locals away for unknown reasons. Marc and Kimble are two journalists who have heard of the rumours of Nowhere and have decided to make a film about it. Finding witnesses and victims they prepare a journey to the land to try to find out what is actually true.
Nowhere is a compelling dark tale of consequences, people haunted and trapped by their pasts and the consequences of their actions. We are initially plunged into two children in danger with the focus on Riley and Oliver. Ward captures the innocent but damaged Oliver who does not understand what is being done to him and Riley who is powerless to stop her Cousin controlling her life but finally sees a way out. We are won over wanting their freedom but Ward at the same time makes us accept some uncomfortable actions we witness, these demonstrate how far Riley goes to escape. Can we condone it and knowing Riley has that ability to do the things we think a child can’t do will shape the rest of her journey to Nowhere. Riley is a brilliantly complex character where we totally understand all her actions but at the same time can see what she does is changing her but all of it is done with the need to protect her brother and I find it very hard to judge her as being wrong. A vast array of people have let her down and forced her on this path. Despite all of this her relationship with Oliver is the light that pulls us in from the stories they love to share, the affectionate names they call each other and just a simple act of sibling love they’re the light in the story a lot of shadows are hovering around like dark fairies.
The setting of Nowhere that Riley is coming to and Marc and Kimble are traveling to is a modern-day haunted place. High in mountains, a place cars die as the roads are steep and unpassable, barbed wire covered in dead animals and a sense of something strange about the place. Inside Nowhere we meet Noon and her group of other lost children. They have strange rituals. They have fought and outlived other groups who tried to live her and there are even incredibly young children that the other teenagers treat with extreme care. This is very much a place where those adults let down have sought out a place of safety but it also allows them to be wild and follow their own mysterious new traditions. For Riley it’s the ultimate freedom and perhaps a chance finally for Oliver to be safe. But as the story progresses Riley increasingly feels that her own secrets will come back to haunt her and Noon is not someone she feels will be forgiving of any betrayals.
If I also say Nowhere has a giant alligator named Tinkerbell and its squeaks with a dog toy trapped in its stomach, then you may spot that yes the tale of Peter Pan is very much lurking inside Nowhere Burning. The tale of the ultimate child who refused growing up and yet relished in adventure with a bloodthirsty attitude almost matching that of Captain Hook. Neverland for me has always felt like it has a dark side and here the mysterious Noon becomes a Pan-like figure ruling her troops but not adverse to punishing them if loyalty is questioned. Riley and Oliver must decide did they really want to become effectively the new Lost Boys.
Outside of this place we have Marc and Kimble knitting the story those outside nowhere know. We get to see what these mysterious children do and that is indeed unsettling. It raises questions as to why these strange rituals are being followed. Marc and Kimble are fascinating a very tense double act who go to great lengths to seize a story and yet both partners seem extremely tetchy with one another with Marc driven to go the extra mile to get to the truth of Nowhere. Here we see the adult side of the nightmare this place can be, and it underlines how much danger Riley and Oliver could themselves be in.
Linking theories is that of Leaf Winham the famous actor who also perhaps refuses to grow up. Again, allusions to a different type of Neverland and Peter pan figure. Leaf whom we meet we know is dangerous and here he comes across as a fascinating chameleon. He can mimic anyone he meets, he can switch charm on and show intense love but there is a sense of something lurking underneath that the poor luckless Adam can’t quite spot himself. We watch Leaf’s final years almost in reverse. What feels initially just a modern urban horror tale in this strand though combines majestically with the other stories. Again, we have someone who doesn’t wish to grow up and follow their own society and Nowhere seems a place that encourages that kind of behaviour and this kind of violence.
For me what makes Nowhere Burning stands out is the way these stories come together. In some ways it is the slow creation of a jigsaw and Ward isn’t aiming for a grand reveal to shock you on the final page. The various clues linking the story are there to find as we go along and there is much satisfaction as the pieces come together as we suspect….initially. However, this is still a Catriona Ward novel and while yes, the links are there also with a flourish Ward shocks us with some further revelations hiding in plain sight. All ones I didn’t spot because I was still not looking hard enough. One appears very supernatural and one is powerfully heartbreaking. They power the story and give it a beautiful ending that links back to the theme of consequences for how we raise children. Acts of unkindness can create monsters and lead to cruel acts. Acts of love can save children from danger.
Nowhere Burning an entrancing read taking us to dark places geographically but also into the human mind and what it can be capable of. It examines the way children are treated and what that means for their own future choices and why growing up is never easy. I very strongly recommend it.
