Barrowbeck
On sale
24th October 2024
Price: £24.99
‘Barrowbeck casts a real spell – or is it a curse?’ Mail on Sunday
‘Thrilling, unsettling, ominous . . . like a knock at the door on a dark evening’ Irish Times
For centuries, the inhabitants of Barrowbeck, a remote valley on the Yorkshire-Lancashire border, have lived uneasily with forces beyond their reckoning. They raise their families, work the land, and do their best to welcome those who come seeking respite. But there is a darkness that runs through the village as persistently as the river.
A father fears that his daughter has become possessed by something unholy.
A childless couple must make an agonising decision.
A widower awaits the return of his wife.
A troubled man is haunted by visions of end times.
As one generation gives way to the next and ancient land is carved up in the name of progress, darkness gathers. The people of Barrowbeck have forgotten that they are but guests in the valley. Now there is a price to pay. Two thousand years of history is coming to an end.
‘Impeccably written . . . tightens like a clammy hand around your throat‘ Daily Mail on The Loney
‘A work of goose-flesh eeriness’ The Spectator on Devil’s Day
‘A tale of suspense that sucks you in and pulls you under‘ New Statesman on Starve Acre
‘Thrilling, unsettling, ominous . . . like a knock at the door on a dark evening’ Irish Times
For centuries, the inhabitants of Barrowbeck, a remote valley on the Yorkshire-Lancashire border, have lived uneasily with forces beyond their reckoning. They raise their families, work the land, and do their best to welcome those who come seeking respite. But there is a darkness that runs through the village as persistently as the river.
A father fears that his daughter has become possessed by something unholy.
A childless couple must make an agonising decision.
A widower awaits the return of his wife.
A troubled man is haunted by visions of end times.
As one generation gives way to the next and ancient land is carved up in the name of progress, darkness gathers. The people of Barrowbeck have forgotten that they are but guests in the valley. Now there is a price to pay. Two thousand years of history is coming to an end.
‘Impeccably written . . . tightens like a clammy hand around your throat‘ Daily Mail on The Loney
‘A work of goose-flesh eeriness’ The Spectator on Devil’s Day
‘A tale of suspense that sucks you in and pulls you under‘ New Statesman on Starve Acre
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Reviews
Barrowbeck casts a real spell - or is it a curse?
Hurley's well-crafted tales have an unsettling, ominous quality, like a knock at the door on a dark evening - a stranger arriving at the hearth, thrilling the listener with stories from another world . . . made even more chilling by the parallels drawn to our own troubling times . . . Hurley's growing body of work consistently immerses readers in a strong sense of place, and Barrowbeck is no exception. The land utself becomes a persistent character, defined by the cold, the darkness, the remote setting and an ever-present sense of doom.
While each chapter in the novel can be regarded as a tale of the unexpected or the uncanny, the unnatural or the supernatural, ultimately the arc they describe, like some dark rainbow, is the history of a valley, possessed and possessing . . . The prevailing darkness is leavened, too, by the striking beauty of his imagery . . . Hurley demonstrates the undoubted breadth of his craft