Heap Earth Upon It — October Book of the Month

For our October Book of the Month, we have a highly anticipated title from the incredibly talented author of Sunburn (shortlisted for the Polari First Book Prize 2024, shortlisted for the 2024 Book of the Year: Discover Award by the British Book Awards, amongst others!). With an increasing sense of danger, creeping obsessions and desperate grief, Chloe Michelle Howarth’s Heap Earth Upon It is an outstanding modern Gothic suspense and the perfect autumn read.

Set in 1965, in the fictional town of Ballycrea, Ireland, the novel centres on four orphaned siblings and their move to the town as a result of their tragic, overbearing and secretive past. Told in alternating narratives from the three of the siblings and their neighbour, Betty, the reader pieces together each character’s emotions, relationships and secrets, all whilst a creeping sense of danger grows upon them. Tom O’Leary, the oldest, desperately desires to fit in with the townsfolk, wearing an cheerful, funny mask to blend in, attempt connections, keep his siblings together (yet feeling ashamed of them), and trying to get work where there is barely any around. Jack, overshadowed by his brother, when not in the cottage feeling alone and bored, can be found at the pub where Tersea Doyle, the pub landlord’s daughter, takes a shining to him – the only person he feels has done so for a long time. Jack is drawn to her, much to his own surprise, prompting deep feelings of guilt and longing from his past. Peggy, as the youngest, does not yet know the burden of her own short history, and as such is bright, chatty and naïve, asking questions that are more exposing than she knows, unaware of her siblings’ struggle not to resent her. She is the only sibling who never has a first-person narrative in the novel. Anna, the older sister, who feels the most misunderstood as the role of Peggy’s mother and the siblings’ housekeeper is forced upon her suddenly as the obligation of her gender and age. It is her growing fascination with their neighbour Betty, a middle-aged famer’s wife, that becomes one of the points of intense sibling rivalry and sapphic obsession throughout the novel. Their relationship manifests into an intense connection that is fated to implode violently, sending shockwaves into the quiet town of Ballycrea. Finally, Betty’s narrative provides an outsider perspective of the siblings, as their strange situation and behaviours cause stirrings in the town and as their secrets slowly become revealed to her and, like the reader, slowly becomes entangled in their twisted story.

The historic period and setting of the novel emphasises the societal pressures of tradition, conformity, religion, class, gender roles and sexuality, as well as the fundamental human need for connection, community and acceptance. With mentions of the emergence of new technology, with television shows becoming topics of local conversations, new foods such as bell peppers being imported and mentions of Irish immigration to America, the familiarity of tradition and religions is clung to as an anchor in a rapidly changing world. However, the O’Leary siblings, with the loss of their parents, have lost much of what anchors them to their identity and they feel wrapped in shame as a result of their dark past. Their warped navigation through their lives in Ballycrea create a stirring storm of danger, shame, terrible secrets and the impact of destructive grief that will haunt the residents and the reader forever.

A spectacular narrative of growing horror and passion, Heap Earth Upon It is Chloe Michelle Howarth’s stunning execution of her second novel.

‘Airless and gripping… A devastating mix of hope and heartbreak, from one of Ireland’s most exciting queer voices’ — NIAMH NÍ MHAOILEOIN, author of Ordinary Saints

‘I lost myself in Howarth’s strange and startling second novel. It’s a deeply affecting tapestry of gothic landscapes and virtuosic, character driven prose. As it haunted me, Heap Earth Upon It will haunt you too’ — LUCY ROSE, author of The Lamb

‘The perfect slow burn; an absorbing, multifaceted and uneasy novel, with inscrutable characters who shed layers until their fierce, flawed centres are revealed. A triumph of a second novel’ — EMMA VAN STRAATEN, author of This Immaculate Body

‘Assured, poignant and beautiful’ — TOM TIVNAN, The Bookseller