Ghost Wall by Sarah Moss

 

Sylvie's father is abusive, beating both Sylvie and her mother frequently.  They never know what will set him off but there seems to be a long, long list.  The only time Sylvie feels close to him is when he takes her on long hikes and shares his archeological knowledge of the ancient tribes of Britain with her.  This summer, the three of them are spending his bus driver's vacation with a local university group that wants to know what it is to live like those early inhabitants.

There are both boys and girls in the group, along with the professor.  Sylvie's mother does the cooking for them all.  Sylvie's family camps in hide tents with animal furs for covers while the university kids camp in modern tents.  They also sneak off occasionally to the nearest town to get snacks and smokes.

Surprisingly, Sylvie's dad and the professor become close.  The professor respects the dad's knowledge and that gives him a sense of power that he normally never feels.  He is in a good mood until he catches Sylvie taking a bath in a nearby stream whereupon the abuse continues and he beats her until she can barely move. 

As time goes by, the two men become more and more entranced with the rituals and sacrifices that the old tribes used to worship their gods.  The men decide they need to recreate some of the old rituals but who will be their sacrifice?

This is an interesting exploration of power dynamics between the sexes and how victims of domestic abuse must filter every action and word through the sieve of another person's anger.  Sylvie just wants to be like the other kids she is associating with and her father is determined to control her every action.  This novel was nominated for the Women's Prize for Fiction in 2019 and has won other awards.  The book is short but every sentence advances the story and is drenched in anticipated abuse.  This book is recommended for literary fiction readers.