In Grey Dog, it’s late summer 1901. Ada Byrd is approaching her thirtieth birthday and embarking on a new teaching post in the tiny, remote village of Lowry Bridge. Moving to Lowry Bridge is not something Ada wanted to do. Though intelligent, sharply observant, and a book lover, teaching is not her profession of choice. Shy by nature and profoundly introverted, the prospect of facing a room full of indifferent, probably insolent, possibly even hostile children day-in and day-out fills her with dread. But as an unattached woman nearing life’s mid-point, her options are few. Ada’s true love is the natural world. She likes nothing better than to wander through the woods observing flora and fauna in their natural habitat, the unending cycle of life and death. This is how she and her younger sister Florrie used to spend their free hours, exploring the forest near their home and collecting mementos and curiosities, which they would hide in their room. As the story begins, Ada is reeling from a pair of traumatic personal setbacks: Florrie’s death at the hands of an abusive husband and the humiliation of being dismissed from her previous posting before the school year was even finished. These ordeals have left her wounded and unsure of her place in the world, but also determined to succeed in her new post. Elliott Gish’s gripping novel consists of Ada’s journal entries, which describe in minute detail her experiences, impressions and emotions from her arrival in Lowry Bridge to the novel’s unsettling denouement. Ada’s time in Lowry Bridge revolves around school and the relationships she forms with a few of the village’s residents. She is staying with the Griers, husband and wife: simple, generous, god-fearing people but not particularly communicative. More importantly, Ada befriends Agatha, the guileless, free-spirited wife of the local preacher, and believes she’s found someone with whom she can speak her mind and be herself. But there are sinister forces at work in Lowry Bridge, and in the novel’s second half these forces creep out from the shadows and slowly infiltrate Ada’s thoughts and influence her behaviour. Against Mrs. Grier’s wishes Ada befriends Mrs. Kinsley, a wealthy widow reputed by some to be a witch. Late one evening, walking home alone after dark, Ada is swarmed by crickets, the first in a series of unnerving phenomena involving forces of nature that Ada endures but can’t speak of because these events pass and leave no trace behind. Then Ada hears a voice calling her name from the forest. And a visit to the home of a student named Muriel, a peculiar child with no friends and a watchful, impudently knowing manner, leaves Ada wishing she’d left well enough alone. In the novel’s eerie latter sections Ada no longer knows whom to trust, begins doubting her sanity, and withdraws into herself, alienating students and friends alike until she is completely isolated. Ada Byrd’s story is one of a young woman driven to extremes by inscrutable forces beyond her understanding, forces she finds repellant but to which she is inexplicably drawn. Thrown into this heady mix is her tragic and troubling backstory, over which her straitlaced, cruelly disparaging father looms like a true monster.

Elliott Gish’s debut novel speaks eloquently of female desire and rage, barely contained. Written with poise and confidence, Grey Dog is a vividly imagined work that often leaves the reader breathless. ( )