The Needfire by MK Hardy: Ancient Magic Mysteries & Female Resistance

The Needfire by MK Hardy: Ancient Magic Mysteries & Female Resistance

The Needfire (Solaris, 2025), the debut novel by Scottish writing duo MK Hardy, is a sapphic gothic horror that melds the oppressive atmosphere of Rebecca with the untamed fury of the Scottish Highlands. Set in 1890, it follows Norah Mackenzie, fleeing scandal, who marries the enigmatic Alexander Barland, only to find herself isolated in Corrain House, a decaying estate clinging to Caithness cliffs “like a squat brown limpet”. What unfolds is a tale where the land itself becomes a character, whispering secrets through creaking floorboards and haunted rowan trees.

Corrain House is the novel’s crowning achievement: a sentient prison where portraits watch, roots strangle foundations, and ghost ships materialise in the mist. Hardy’s prose drips with visceral dread. Even breakfast does not escape – “the sausages were cold, sitting in a disc of their own congealed fat, and the eggs filmed over with a rheumy membrane. The sheen on the ham reminded her of the beetles she had seen at the Kelvingrove, pinned and spread under many gawking eyes.” The house embodies Scotland’s traumatic history, particularly the Highland Clearances, where Barland ancestors evicted crofters, seeding the land with generational curses. This isn’t just setting; it’s a vengeful force demanding restitution.

Norah, often perceived as “plain” yet undeniably resilient, serves as a deeply relatable and grounding anchor within the story. Her intense desperation for freedom sharply contrasts with the traditional Gothic trope of the helpless, passive bride, making her transformation from a meek, isolated outsider into a fiercely defiant survivor all the more captivating and profound. Agnes Gunn, the enigmatic housekeeper, cleverly subverts the classic “Mrs. Danvers” archetype: she is both aloof and oddly alluring, holding close to her chest explosive and dark secrets intricately tied to the estate’s shadowy past.

Their sapphic romance unfolds slowly, a complex blend of mutual distrust, shared trauma, and an unmistakable electric tension that simmers beneath the surface. Capturing the raw intensity of their connection. Alexander, Norah’s nearly catatonic husband, personifies the decay of aristocratic privilege, a hollow man haunted and broken by the weight of ancestral sins and dark family legacies.

The novel’s greatest strength lies in its atmosphere, which is crafted to near perfection. The first 50% of the story luxuriates in a careful, deliberate dread-building process, with Norah noticing locked doors, eerie carvings, and Agnes’s suspicious “tonics,” all contributing to a thick sense of unease. This slow-burn approach deeply immerses readers in a rich Gothic atmosphere, creating tension and anticipation, although it does run the risk of testing the patience of some readers who prefer a faster pace.

In contrast, the final third of the novel accelerates into a powerful maelstrom of revelations and dramatic turns: uncovering Agnes’s mysterious lineage, revealing Alexander’s true, unsettling nature, and culminating in a climactic confrontation that expertly blends elements of folk horror with intense female rage. The ending provides an outstanding catharsis, where the fate of the house becomes deeply symbolic, mirroring the wild reclamation of the land itself, leaving readers with a resonant and haunting conclusion.

The Needfire transcends the boundaries of a typical ghost story by expertly weaving in profound political themes that resonate deeply with historical and social injustices. It vividly brings to life the haunting legacy of the Clearances, a brutal period when landlords forcibly evicted tenants from their homes purely for financial profit and personal gain.

This dark chapter is not merely recounted but is transformed into a powerful form of supernatural justice: the restless spirits of displaced crofters linger, embodying the pain and injustice they suffered. Alongside these tormented souls are plants imbued with a sense of awareness, almost as if nature itself remembers the cruelty inflicted. The narrative intensifies with the depiction of a rowan tree, described in striking detail as “crying out in pain,” symbolising the deep wounds inflicted upon the land and its people, making the story a compelling fusion of haunting folklore and political commentary.

The close relationship between Norah and Agnes serves as a powerful symbol of defiance against both patriarchal oppression and colonial violence. The true horror in the novel is found not only in the ghosts themselves but in the chilling realisation of “the futility of trying to control the elements”, and the formidable women who command their power.

Verdict: A Gothic Spark That Lingers

The Needfire is an impressive and captivating debut novel. Hardy’s poetic and vividly detailed descriptions of the rugged landscape, their fresh and innovative approach to traditional gothic elements, and their deeply passionate portrayal of sapphic anger combine to create a truly powerful and memorable reading experience. The end result is a striking fusion of ancient folk magic and compelling feminist themes that will linger like the mist on a windswept highland moor, while a lonesome bagpipe plays a haunting lament in the background.

The Needfire by MK Hardy

You are afraid of the border places. You are afraid of the fork in the road.

Fleeing her mistakes in Glasgow for a marriage of convenience, Norah Mackenzie’s new home on an estate far in the north of Scotland is a chance for freedom, a fresh start. But in the dim, draughty corridors of Corrain House, something is very wrong. Despite their warm correspondence, her distant, melancholic husband does not seem to know her. She is plagued by ghost ships on the sea, spectres at the corner of her eye, by winding, grasping roots. Her only possible companion, the housekeeper Agnes Gunn, is by turns unnerving and alluring, and harbours uncanny secrets of her own.

As the foundations crumble beneath her feet, Norah must uncover the truth about Corrain House, her husband, Agnes, and herself, if she is to find the freedom she has been chasing.

Further Reading

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