Grieving the death of their young son, Ewan, Richard and Juliette Willoughby are falling apart. Juliette won’t leave Ewan’s room and Richard is throwing himself into a quest to find the roots of an ancient hanging tree said to have grown in a now barren field beside his house. But, in their grief they may welcome in something even more unwanted.

 

A short, atmospheric and compelling story. It follows much of the same structure as a short story, so if you’re not a fan of ambiguous endings then stay away as much of the underlying story here is implied rather than overtly stated.

 

That’s also how it manages to have the atmosphere of a ghost story without real ghosts. Those are largely left as memories rather than any jump scare/traditional horror spectres. And, then there’s the hare - although I can’t really say any more about that without basically describing the whole story, so I won’t.

 

The story strongly reminded me of The Monkey’s Paw in tone though not in plot. There are no magical wishes here, although regret, longing and grief are all threaded throughout the story in a similar way. It also strongly reminded me of Pet Semetary, again in tone/intent rather than specific plot points. But, I think if you enjoyed those stories or the way they made you think you’ll enjoy this one.