Review: The Narrow by Kate Alice Marshall

A deliciously terrifying novel about a ghost who uncovers a teen girl’s best kept secrets while haunting her boarding school, perfect for fans of Lost in the Never Woods and The Haunting of Bly Manor.

Everyone has heard the story of the Narrow. The river that runs behind the Atwood School is only a few feet across and seemingly placid, but beneath the surface, the waters are deep and vicious. It’s said that no one who has fallen in has ever survived.

Eden White knows that isn’t true. Six years ago, she saw Delphine Fournier fall into the Narrow—and live.

Delphine now lives in careful isolation, sealed off from the world. Even a single drop of unpurified water could be deadly to her, and no one but Eden has any idea why. Eden has never told anyone what she saw or spoken to Delphine since, but now, unable to cover her tuition, she has to make a her expenses will be paid in return for serving as a live-in companion to Delphine.

Eden finds herself drawn to the strange and mysterious girl, and the two of them begin to unravel each other’s secrets. Then Eden discovers what happened to the last girl who lived with she was found half-drowned on dry land. Suddenly Eden is waking up to wet footprints tracking to the end of her bed, the sound of rain on the windows when the skies are clear, and a ghostly silhouette in her doorway. Something is haunting Delphine—and now it’s coming for Eden, too.

Title: The Narrow
Author: Kate Alice Marshall
Publisher: Viking Books
Publication Date: August 1st, 2023
Genre: Horror
Targeted Age Range: YA
Content Warnings: mentions of past suicide (drowning), idiopathic aquagenic disorder (a fictionalized version of aquagenic pruritus), physical and mental abuse and assault, injury, drug and alcohol addiction (not main character), underage drinking, vomiting (chapter 12), trauma, PTSD, death, homophobia, depression, domestic abuse, grief
Rating: ★★★★.5

If I had to describe Kate Alice Marshall’s books in one word, it would be captivating. I’ve read four of her books now — What Lies in the Woods, Rules for Vanishing, These Fleeting Shadows, and The Narrow (her other YA novels are on my physical TBR) — and each one has done exactly that: captivated me. Her writing is so eerie and atmospheric; she has a way of drawing you in and making you feel as though you’re there with the characters.

The setting of The Narrow was fantastic — I loved the atmosphere and the gothic vibes. I am a sucker for horror/paranormal stories set at boarding schools, I just think it’s the perfect backdrop for this type of story. I will say that while I loved the setting of the woods and the isolated house (Abigail House) where our main characters lived, I do wish that we got to hear more about the school itself and its history.

That being said, I absolutely loved the lore around the Narrow. Honestly, fewer things sound scarier than a deep river in the woods with currents so strong that if someone falls in, they never come back out. The Narrow and water specifically were described in ways that were almost humanistic and I loved that. The Narrow felt so alive, and as I’ve mentioned before, I love books where the location is another character itself — like Saoirse Island in Spells for Forgetting, Hill House in The Haunting of Hill House, and the mansion in Delicious Monsters to name a few.

I definitely understand the comp to The Haunting of Bly Manor, and I would argue that it also has lots of the same vibes as The Haunting of Hill House. There was one scene in the book that reminded me so much of the bent neck lady scene in Hill House, and honestly, even thinking about it right now is giving me the chills. Something that I loved about Hill House and Bly Manor is that they’re horror/paranormal stories that center around loss and grief, and The Narrow is as well, which I didn’t expect. Without giving much away, I loved how Marshall wove together the mythos of the Narrow, past and present students of Atwood School, and the themes of grief, loss, and trauma. She wove a bit of a tangled web, and I think she did so very well.

The characters were so interesting as well. I really loved Eden as our main character — I really felt for her and the trauma that she was dealing with, and felt the need to hide. I was utterly fascinated by Delphine, I mean, this girl survived falling into the Narrow, so she was definitely an enigma. Delphine and Eden’s relationship was very interesting, especially as it got more tangled with the mystery behind the Narrow, and the ghosts of Abigail House. I liked Eden’s friend group, though I wish we had gotten to learn more about them, however, with the nature of the story and the way that Eden became more isolated in her pursuit of finding out the truth behind the ghosts of Abigail House, I understand why we didn’t learn more about her friends. Marshall once again showed that character writing is something that she excels at.

Based on the previous books by Marshall I’ve read — specifically Rules for Vanishing and These Fleeting Shadows — her stories typically end with some ambiguity. You don’t necessarily know how or why certain things happen and they leave you with a lot of questions (in a good way). Because of that, I expected The Narrow to end the same way, but Marshall subverted my expectations and wrapped this story up very clearly.

Overall, I had such a great time reading this book, and it just further solidified Kate Alice Marshall as an autobuy author for me. If you’re a fan of horror/paranormal novels, I’d definitely recommend picking up The Narrow!