[b:The Golden Tup: A dreadful tale of paradise being cruelly taken by latent evil.|30119876|The Golden Tup A dreadful tale of paradise being cruelly taken by latent evil. (A Red Grouse Tale)|Leslie W.P. Garland|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1462499373s/30119876.jpg|50546037] by [a:Leslie W.P. Garland|14872399|Leslie W.P. Garland|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1465419388p2/14872399.jpg] is an enjoyable but strange and unusual novella, with a touch of supernatural elements, religious undertones and great plot twists.

This novella started off a little slow for me, and I honestly could not figure out where the story was headed until about chapter three or four - that's where it really grabbed my attention and sucked me in.

Verity, a farmer's wife, tells the disturbing tale about a young couple who murdered their child. She recounts her visits with Constance and Matthew, from when they first moved into the old Burnhope (cleverly named) farm up until the murder incident. Through Verity's eyes we watch as the young and happy couple go through so many strange and drastic changes, not only in their relationship but also on their farm that they decided to rebuild from the ground up.

Between meeting an old man named Gabriel who no one really seems to know anything about, a shocking pregnancy, random and unexplainable marital issues between the couple, and the 150 year old diary that Constance found written by a woman who seems to have gone through what she is now going through, things just keep getting darker and even more weird. But even so, what evil could have brought the couple to ruin their very own paradise? What madness brought them to murder their very own child? With the love they have for each other, the ability to rebuild their newly bought farm, and having a baby on they way, they should have been happy, so what went wrong?

Living in a small farming and god fearing town, people like to gossip. Verity, however, tells this unsettling tale not to spread rumors but the truth. I really enjoyed the narration of this story, the style made it feel as if it were a tale someone would tell you over a cup of coffee.

If you think you might enjoy a fast paced, creepy and dark short story about an evil that brought a loving couple to murder their child - then I recommend this.



**** I received an eBook copy of this title in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to Booktasters for introducing me to this author and thank you to Leslie W. P. Garland for giving me the chance to read and review his work. **** ( )