Heap Earth Upon It

I lost myself in Chloe Michelle 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
A tense and claustrophobic novel with gothic atmosphere that seeps into your bones like fog. It's a fascinating look at mid-century rural Irish life, and a brutal exploration of the corrosive impact of shame and secrecy. Chloe Michelle Howarth knows her sapphic yearning! -- Rachel Dawson, author of Neon Roses
Heap Earth Upon It is the perfect slow burn, an absorbing, multifaceted and uneasy novel, with inscrutable characters who shed layers until their fierce, flawed centres are revealed. Set in a 1960s rural Ireland that feels almost timeless, Howarth takes the 'a stranger comes to town' trope and weaves a mesmerising, shimmering web with it, deftly building and breaking tensions with a glance across a room, or a knock on a door. I was drawn in by the characters' quiet watchfulness and insularity, and the strong sense of place, but I was held captive by their rich interiorities, in particular Anna's simmering, swooning obsession that I felt must surely, soon, boil over... 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
This is a masterclass in suspense ... I could not put this down. The characters are brilliantly realised and I really admire Howarth as a writer for doing something completely different to Sunburn! I think it totally paid off and although there are similar themes of queerness and yearning, she creates such an atmospheric, spooky book that it's hard to not love it! A compulsive mystery that's threaded together so expertly, with language that sings from the page -- @READSBYROSS