Heap Earth Upon It by Chloe Michelle Haworth: Truth will out

Chloe Michelle Howarth’s Heap Earth Upon It is very different from Sunburn, her debut, a story of sexual awakening set across glorious hot summer days. This new one is a dark, brooding novel which follows the O’Learys who have left their home village hoping to put a distance between themselves and the most recent of the tragedies that have struck their family.

‘Tis mad; whatever we tell the locals, they believe. How easily it’s all washed away. My whole life and everyone I ever loved, all gone.  

The siblings arrive on a horse drawn cart which feels anachronistic in 1965, even for rural Ireland, but the O’Learys have no money, reduced to sleeping on the floor of the rundown cottage they’ve rented in Ballycrea. There’s a good deal of curtain twitching but Tom, the eldest, sets about ingratiating himself, desperate for work and eager for acceptance, dragging Jack, Anna and even nine-year-old Peggy to a gathering they’ve been invited to. Jack lost his beloved Lillian a year ago, turning to religion for consolation while Anna resentfully tends house leaving Peggy neglected. Tom gladhands his way around the party, introducing himself to Bill Nevan whose wife has already caught Anna’s eye. A prosperous, childless couple, Betty and Bill take the O’Learys into their lives, Betty longing to mother Peggy while Tom finds a father in Bill. Things look set fair for a new start, but the uneasiness provoked by Anna’s intense need for Betty’s attention is worsened by her increasingly sinister behaviour. Eventually, the secrets the family hoped were buried begin to surface.

On a heavy breath, I fall asleep and dream that the devil comes and washes his hands in my sink, and lies down on my spare bed. And I watch from the doorway, and let him at it.  

Howarth shifts perspectives between Tom, Jack, Anna, and occasionally Betty as she unfolds her atmospheric tale. The Beatles may be playing on the radio but this is an Ireland that seems more early- then mid-twentieth century. The events that overshadow the O’Learys are slowly revealed through hints and implications in the siblings’ narratives keeping us guessing as the lies Tom has spread around the village begin to unravel. Anna’s intensity is well done – the friendships from which she wants more than is on offer, her desperate longing for Betty who has its nature spelled out by her more worldly friend, and her increasingly unhinged behaviour – ratcheting up the suspense. The true denouement is left for the reader to deduce, given that it’s delivered by the unreliable Tom. In my Sunburn review I mentioned Haworth’s writing was a little overwrought but her style sits well with this second novel whose distinctly gothic overtones soon the season.

Verve Books: Harpenden 9780857309051 288 pages Hardback (read via NetGalley)