The Grimmelings by Rachael King

Set in the New Zealand countryside, a self-reliant family of women deeply connected to the natural world, has drawn rumours of witchcraft for three generations. Ella‘s mother, Morag, runs a Horse Trekking experience business on their property, which borders a vast lake. The lake took both Morag’s father and her husband.

But the simmering fear in the town is brought to a head the day after the school bully is cursed by Ella for taunting the sisters on the way home from school. Josh doesn’t come home that day and the townsfolk search for him in vain for several days. Josh’s mother suspects his victims have harmed him, though Morag, Ella and Fiona all help search for him - if only because they identify with sudden loss.

Meanwhile the Horse Trekking is their livelihood and the whole family are involved. Mishaps and strange happenings increase.  Ella’s horse Magpie can only be ridden by her and she suspects was sired by a oft glimpsed Black Stallion. Magpie is particularly troubled by the appearance of a powerful Stallion and more than once defends her mistress.

A little too obvious is the coincidental appearance of a smarmy Scottish boy, Gus, who starts showing up at the stables every time there’s trouble. But readers must be first to connect the two strangers, because all the characters are glamoured or ‘brainwashed’ by the malevolent Kelpie who has slipped through time and space to seek out his love interest who fled Scotland as a girl. Morag is the last to work it out, not wanting to believe her own husband met with foul play. If Grizzly hadn’t been terminally ill and confined to the house, she might have been the first to sense the presence of the Kelpie, Aonghas Donn. Indeed, she alone can stop him from harming her family and her community.

Grizzly’s Gaelic glossary includes words like; Undersong (sounds of a landscape) or Grumma (a mist mirage) and make compelling chapter titles melding English, Moari and Gaelic cultures and myths into a suspenseful mystery. Indeed New Zealand has historically been home to many Scottish expatriots. The myth of the Kelpie may have been created to keep young children away from dangerous bodies of water in the old country, but this lyrical and masterfully gripping narrative is moreso a cautionary tale of a scorned and otherworldly suitor. Readers will find it not only an allegory for domestic violence but for bullying, environmental damage, sexism, and in  general our intolerance and fear of those of different heritage or appearance.  

The author Rachel King is also a human rights activist who championed the release of exiled Kurdish writer Behrouz Boochani from Manus Island. Her books have been translated into several different languages.

Themes: Supernatural, Mystery, Family, Myth, Gaelic.

Deborah Robins