The Bog Wife by Kay Chronister
Wenna Haddesley hasn’t seen her family, their crumbling manor, or their ancestra cranberry bog since she ran away as a teenager. But when she receives a letter calling her home for her family’s mystical, once-in-a-generation ritual, she returns to Appalachia to confront her past.
Upon arrival, she finds the situation more dire than she imagined. Her insular, cultish family is barely scraping by, and her father is dying—just like the bog’s delicate ecosystem. Everyone is pinning their hopes on the Haddesleys’ ancient pact with the bog, which they plan to honor by sacrificing their dying patriarch in exchange for a “bog wife.”
But when the ritual doesn’t go as planned, Wenna and her four siblings must forge a new path for their family’s future. Old rivalries resurface as each surviving Haddesley faces a desperate choice: adapt or perish. Kay Chronister’s atmospheric debut is an original American Gothic tale of self-sufficiency, the power of nature, and the danger of family mythos.
Reviewed by Emma Radosevich, collection development librarian, Whatcom County Library System
(Originally published in Bellingham Alive April 2025 issue.)