In a dilapidated gothic pile on the edge of an English moor, a ragtag commune styling itself “the Family” searches for a better kind of existence in bohemian squalour. Freya is their high priestess – a Medea-like figure whose homespun rituals are intended to protect her flock from the Outside and the Bad. Their young chronicler, and Foxlowe’s narrator, is Green, who together with the other “ungrown” leads a semi-feral existence measured only by the cycle of the solstices and Freya’s rough justice, until a sacrifice is demanded which brings their cloistered existence to an abrupt end.

Foxlowe is a meticulously conceived and darkly compelling debut in the footsteps of other “coming of age in a cult” narratives. Underpinning the claustrophobic horror of its main theme, however, is a parable of unchecked sibling rivalry, a girl’s desperate need for motherly love and the knotted consequences of childhood trauma.

Foxlowe is published by 4th Estate (£12.99). Click here to order a copy for £10.39