The Hill in the Dark Grove

“Steeped in history, anger and spirits . . . Higginson’s foreshadowing is subtle, his prose well constructed and his specificity exacting. . . . [An] impressive debut.”—The Times

“The Hill in the Dark Grove is a sumptuously written, dark meditation on aging, obsolescence, and the brutalizing march of time and progress, as well as a chilling folk horror novel. There’s something long buried in the mountains of North Wales and within Carwyn and Rhian, sheep herders who are economically pushed beyond their limits; Liam Higginson expertly brings it all to the surface.”—Paul Tremblay, New York Times bestselling author of Horror Movie and A Head Full of Ghosts

“An intensely imagined and beautifully crafted novel about myth, memory, landscape, and the extraordinary, unworldly power of the deep past . . . Powerful, inventive, and gripping to the very end.”—Ian McGuire, Booker Prize–longlisted author of The North Water

“A slow-burning reeking creep of a novel about eerie ancient places and dangerous interlopers . . . I loved it.”—Claire Fuller, author of The Memory of Animals, Unsettled Ground, and Bitter Orange

“Liam Higginson skillfully creates a troubling and loaded atmosphere in The Hill in the Dark Grove: a sense of a landscape as ancient but nonetheless unsettled. The novel is eerie in a way that is rich and abides in the mind.”—Garrett Carr, author of The Boy from the Sea

“The Hill in the Dark Grove adopts familiar Welsh myths and tales -retold to build the scaffolding for Higginson’s unnerving saga. His compelling writing vibrates with unease through the intimacy of Carwyn and Rhian.”—Anthony Shapland, author of A Room Above a Shop

“Gracefully and lovingly rendered with the heft of folklore, land, and history, The Hill in the Dark Grove evokes in dazzling detail the tribulations of everyday life and the grandeur of ancestry. Higginson takes us on a soul-stirring quest to unearth the past in order to anchor the present before it flitters away. It’s a truly bewitching experience!”—Gerardo Sámano Córdova, author of Monstrilio

“Witty, tender, ultimately terrifying . . . Evocative and deftly done, The Hill in the Dark Grove is a book of echoes, haunted by the sheer vastness of time and landscape, how they enact upon us, and the stories we tell. . . . A celebration of love’s persistence, a summoning of ancient lore, a superb debut.”—Kiran Millwood Hargrave, author of The Mercies and The Dance Tree

“Liam Higginson is a new talent in Welsh storytelling. Atmospheric, chilling, and incredibly touching, The Hill in the Dark Grove holds the reader in its arms and shows us how our stories, our objects and memories, are shaped and held by the land.”—Joshua Jones, Dylan Thomas Prize–shortlisted author of Local Fires