Nowhere Burning by Catriona Ward

 

A chance meeting spurs teenager Riley and her young brother, Oliver, to escape the abusive home they are living in. High in the mountains lies Nowhere, the remains of a ranch once owned by a film star and now the refuge of the Nowhere Children. Is the haven as idyllic as it sounds?

While Nowhere Burning by Catriona Ward isn't my usual genre of choice, I did enjoy The Last House On Needless Street (you can read my review here), so I was keen to read the author's latest offering. I'm a bit of a wimp; I really do scare easily, so I always approach anything classed as horror with trepidation. If you're anything like me, I'd say not to worry; this is more mystery/suspense than out-and-out horror, the horror element is implied.

The majority of the story is told from Riley's perspective. At fourteen, she's living with a distant relative after the death of her mother. Riley is a resourceful and determined character; she's extremely protective of her seven-year-old brother. The pair face daily abuse from their relative, so you can fully understand her desire to leave. The trip to Nowhere isn't an easy one, with Riley having to make some difficult decisions on the way. Once the pair finally arrive, they find it difficult to believe that a group of children is living in the grounds of a burnt-out mansion, away from the authority of adults. I was pleased that Riley remained a little skeptical about the setup.

Throughout the narrative, we hear from other characters: a documentary filmmaker who is interested in the Nowhere Children, a fireman who helped try to put out the blaze that destroyed the mansion, and the architect who lived in the mansion for a while with its owner, Leaf Winham. 

Winham is a mysterious character. Made famous through the films he made, he sought privacy and isolation on his ranch. There were times when I thought he sounded like a Peter Pan character, someone who didn't age and surrounded himself with lost and unloved children. Following the fire at the mansion, there were doubts about his death. I then began to wonder if there was more of a supernatural element to Winham. 

What isn't obvious is how all of the various characters are linked, and what the underlying mystery of Nowhere is. As more and more is revealed, my disquiet began to grow, but there was still a level of uncertainty surrounding what was happening at Nowhere, all down to the skillful storytelling of the author. When the different narratives finally converged, I was left shocked, particularly when we learnt more about the filmmaker. As for the conclusion, I loved the ambiguous, thought-provoking ending, leaving the reader still wondering about the future of the Nowhere Children.

Nowhere Burning by Catriona Ward will be published on 19th February 2026 in hardback, ebook and audio format. My thanks to NetGalley and Viper Books for a review copy.

Author Details

Catriona Ward was born in Washington, DC, and grew up in the US, Kenya, Madagascar, Yemen and Morocco. She read English at the University of Oxford and spent several years working as an actor in New York. When she returned to the UK she worked on her first novel while writing for a human rights foundation, then took an MA in Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia. Her first novel, Rawblood, was published in 2015 and won the August Derleth Award for Best Horror Novel in 2016. She won again in 2018 for Little Eve, which also won the prestigious Shirley Jackson Award. In 2021 she published her bestselling novel The Last House on Needless Street, which was both a Richard and Judy Book Club and BBC Two Between the Covers Book Club pick. It was awarded the August Derleth Award in 2022, making Ward the only woman to prize three times. She was shortlisted again for her fourth novel, Sundial, in 2023. Her fifth novel, Looking Glass Sound, was shortlisted the Fingerprint Genre-Busting Book of the Year in 2024.