A Cuppa With Meredith meredithjaffe@substack.com
There’s an almost gothic element to the novel with Charli living in her grandmother’s forbidding and luxurious house, the deep forest of the title with its pack of wild dogs and the austere impenetrable walls of The Sanctuary itself. Reddan explores the nature of the human need to belong and to make sense of the world, the attraction of cults and the nigh on impossibility of ever leaving. This is about power on every level — be it physical, sexual or mind games. Using Charli as a pretty unreliable narrator only adds to the growing suspense and Reddan cleverly peels back the layers of Charli’s life the further she gets in understanding the true machinations of The Sanctuary. Interestingly, Reddan drew on her own experience growing up on a closed community to write Deep in the Forest. Perhaps that’s what gives it such chilling authenticity.
