Review: The Knowing, by Emma Hinds

Whilst working as a living canvas for an abusive tattoo artist, Flora meets Minnie, an enigmatic circus performer who offers her love and refuge in an opulent townhouse, home to the menacing Mr Chester Merton. Flora earns her keep reading tarot cards for his guests whilst struggling to harness her gift, the Knowing - an ability to summon the dead. Caught in a dark love triangle between Minnie and Chester, Flora begins to unravel the secrets inside their house. Then at her first public séance, Flora hears the spirit of a murdered boy prostitute and exposes his killer, setting off a train of events which put her life at risk.

"We are all ghosts".

Emma Hinds' The Knowing is a dark atmospheric piece about abuse and recovery, with a number of chilling scenes. The true horror, as in the best books, comes not from the supernatural elements (Flora has the ability to see and be possessed by ghosts) but from the abuse and harsh threatment of women during the Nineteenth Century.

This book doesn't hold its punches, tackling dark themes like incest, rape, forced abortion, and pedophilia. Flora was taken in by an abusive man when she was very young, and so was Minnie, a past circus performer with dwarfism. The two of them are quickly drawn to each other, but their own relationship isn't devoid of red flags. The so-called "love triangle" in the blurb is less that and more of an "abuse triangle", with Flora and Minnie seeking comfort in each other. The complex tangled web of their intersecting lives makes for a poignant reflection on abuse and the lies we tell ourselves in order to survive.

The supernatural part is handled well and it's appropriately harrowing, with ghosts that are victims of violent crimes and bent on revenge. I appreciated the focus on the card reading, another facet of Flora's Knowing, one she can teach others as well; her healing seems to settle in one such scene.

With this kind of setting I wasn't certainly expecting an HEA ending, but while a sudden tragedy strikes in the second half of the book, things end up looking up, in a way.

The Knowing is a gritty debut.

✨ 3.5 stars

📚📚📚 IF YOU LOVE THIS, YOU MIGHT LIKE:

* Wild and Wicked Things, by Francesca May

for: flawed characters, abuse