A detective thriller set in DUNEDIN
Dark academia set in ST ANDREWS
10th February 2025
When We Were Killers by C F Barrington, dark academia set in ST ANDREWS.
Finn Nethercott is enrolled in an MA in Bible Studies and Early Christian Culture and commences his studies in 1992. He soon garners the nickname ‘Preacher” but as he freely admits, he doesn’t have a religious bone in his body, even though his father was a parish priest in Sussex. His attraction to the course stems from his interest in the more ancient worlds, the trees, the stone circles, the sense of delving into the past – wide open spaces are when he feels most religious. At age 14 he lost every member of his immediate family in the Lake District, removed from everything familiar, propelled into a new life up in Scotland.
As he settles into life at University, he is drawn into an established group of students who share a common love for the ancient cultures of Scotland – Celtic, Druidic, Animist and more… which, of course, seems like a perfect fit for Finn. The ethos of the group dovetails with his interests and he is a ripe candidate for a kind of familial connection, given his traumatic loss just four or five years ago.
Social encounters ensue around fires in remote rugged landscapes. Soon he becomes a member of the Clan, gatherings laced with concoctions made – amongst other things – from a variety of fungi, a vehicle, the members hope, of better engaging with the folkloric pasts, the myths, legends, and a great way to conjure up an animated history. If only they could determine, for example, what the Berserkers – Viking shock troops who worked themselves into a frenzy – took to foment their delirious state when they arrived in Scotland all those centuries ago. Perhaps it was ergot (a precursor to LSD, a fungus that infects barley and rye). Perhaps a quantity of mead and henbane? Perhaps it was something utterly different.They long to establish ways of engaging with the spiritual ethos of ancestors within an ancient environment.
The Clan is a secretive organisation, formed under the tight leadership of Magnus, who requires members to ink an emblem of allegiance. As the term moves from Martinmas to Candlemas, things start to spiral out of control (the clue is in the title).
The author has done a singularly good job of maintaining tension throughout, all the while dancing with the devil, darkness and the venality of human nature.
A great addition to the genre of dark academia, with an evocative backdrop of the University and the surrounding area.
I wonder if Prince William will read this novel given he studied at St Andrews?
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