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I read The Haar right after my girlfriend left to go back to China after spending six amazing months together. I work remotely, so I'm basically a recluse. I've spent almost my entire 20s in solitude.Because of that, I really related to the main character, Muriel McAuley.The story follows Muriel, a lonely old woman who lives in the small, derelict fishing village of Witchaven in Scotland, surrounded by just a handful of other elderly folks. The village and the surrounding land are being bought up by a wealthy overseas businessman who wants to turn it all into a fancy golf course. He doesn't care what dirty tricks he and his people use to get what they want.Muriel spends her days looking after her chickens, chatting with her distant neighbor, and ruminating on happier times with her husband, who went missing at sea years ago.After being assaulted by the businessman's son—when she just wanted to relive a precious memory in the cave where her husband proposed to her—she discovers a strange creature. And that's where the story really kicks off.I can't tell you how much my heart bled for poor old Muriel. There was this perpetual sadness and heartache that followed me through every page of her story. She is old, but truly she has a fire in her that refuses to go out. Even in her grief and isolation, there's this stubborn, fierce love for her home, her memories, and whatever scraps of life she has left. Reading about her loneliness hit too close to home—especially right after saying goodbye to someone who made my world feel less empty for a while. The book mixes that deep ache with some wild, gory folk-horror twists (the haar fog rolling in, the creature, the revenge), but underneath it all, it's about holding on when everything's trying to tear you away.If you're in a quiet, solitary phase of life, or just feeling the weight of things slipping, give The Haar a read.
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