Heap Earth Upon It

January 1965. The orphaned O'Leary siblings - Tom, Jack, Anna and Peggy - arrive in the village of Ballycrea, tight-lipped about their troubled past and desperate for a fresh start.

After being met with suspicion from most of the locals, the family are thrilled when they're taken under the wing of their well-respected neighbours, Bill and Betty Nevan, who offer them work, companionship and an opportunity to fit in.

But for one of the O'Learys, this new friendship sparks an intense attachment that makes the dynamic dangerous for all. It's difficult to bury secrets, but almost impossible to bury feelings...

Crackling with suspense, Heap Earth Upon It revisits the rural Ireland of Howarth's critically acclaimed debut and delves into claustrophobic relationships and tangled identities, leaving you wondering who to trust until the very last page. It combines the emotional intensity and slow-burn sapphic obsession of Julia Armfield's Our Wives Under the Sea and Yael van der Wouden's The Safekeep with the unsettling gothic undertones of Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca and Shirley Jackson's fiction.

'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

'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

'A tense and claustrophobic novel with gothic atmosphere which seeps into your bones like fog... A brutal exploration of the corrosive impact of shame and secrecy. Howarth knows her sapphic yearning!' RACHEL DAWSON, author of Neon Roses

'A slow-burn rural Gothic perfect for chilly autumn nights' DAILY MAIL

'Masterful... Heap Earth Upon It confirms Howarth as essential reading' SCENE MAGAZINE

'A clever and mysterious book that never collapses into ordinariness, and possesses an eerie, liminal, orphaned quality that lingers in the mind' SYDNEY MORNING HERALD

‘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

'Dark, passionate and poised. A remarkable story of the way rural Ireland haunts and is haunted. Intense and thrilling' SOULA EMMANUEL, author of Wild Geese

'If you love Claire Keegan's stories, this is definitely one to get the juices flowing' MUDDY STILETTOS

'Atmospheric and gothic... A pacy novel that showcases Howarth's growing talent' THE GLOSS

'Reminiscent of the misty scenes of older gothic classics like Wuthering Heights or Rebecca. Howarth has created a gorgeous yet tense tale of buried secrets' ABC AUSTRALIA

‘A beautifully-written, haunting story of longing and grief’ FIONA McPHILLIPS, author of When We Were Silent

'A tense, breathless novel with a twist that I haven't been able to stop thinking about' SETH INSUA, author of Human, Animal

‘Haunting, elegant and quietly explosive’ OVA CEREN (@excusemyreading)

‘I could not put this down… A compulsive mystery that’s threaded together so expertly, with language that sings from the page’ ROSS KELLY (@readsbyross)