I don’t know why reading something which is slightly spooky set in a cold location during the winter months is so satisfying, but it is. “Pine” takes place over the chilly months of Autumn and Winter in a remote town in the Highlands of Scotland where the community often helps each other through personal difficulties and hard times, but there are also long-held secrets, bullying villains and mysterious characters.

The story centres around the lives of an adolescent girl named Lauren and her hard-drinking father Niall. Lauren’s mother Christine disappeared while she was a baby, but there are moments where her ghostly spectre seems to haunt their lives. Christine practiced New Age techniques and magic which is a speciality her daughter Lauren also pursues. This a novel set in contemporary times but it harkens back to a gothic sensibility where the supernatural blurs into reality. It makes for an atmospheric and riveting reading experience. But there’s also a moving tenderness to the way the characters are portrayed with their long-held grief and solemn isolation.

This novel excels at building tension where it feels like a ghost might slide out from behind the trees at any moment. But the narrative maintains a psychological tension where the characters might be dreaming or experiencing these oddities in reality. This sense is enhanced by Niall’s frequent bouts of drinking and Lauren’s adolescent sensibility which strays into fantasy. Their relationship is touchingly portrayed as Niall struggles to be a good single father though he’s prone to occasional neglect as well as earnest bouts of caring. At the same time, Lauren is accustomed to his erratic behaviour brought on by alcoholism and heartbreakingly conceals much of the torment she receives at school.

I enjoyed how “Pine” transported me to this snow-swept rural landscape using concise descriptions which are so effective in conveying an atmosphere that’s at once beautiful and menacing.