The Sending (1980) by Geoffrey Household
“What a pleasure was appetite.”
Readers unfamiliar with The Sending may prefer to read these notes only after reading the novel.
A Folk Horror Exploration of Supernaturalism and the Natural World
Geoffrey Household's The Sending (1980) is a captivating and enigmatic horror novel. It masterfully intertwines elements of the rural thriller with folklore-infused supernatural fiction. Household's writing style is spare yet evocative.
The novel centers on protagonist Alfgif Hollaston, a former colonel of sappers who has returned to his ancestral home in the Purbeck Hills after serving in India. But this is not a novel about old flames and familiar surroundings. Alfgif begins his first person narrative to acknowledge to himself a menacing presence that seems to be following him: a "sending" that threatens his sanity and well-being: the sensation that a predator is right behind him and ready to spring.
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