Black Sheep

The village is called Mount of Zeal. It’s built in a bowl like an amphitheatre, with the winding gear where the stage would be. The pit lies below ...Brother and sister, Ted and Rose Howker, grew up in Mount of Zeal, a mining village blackened by coal. They know nothing of the outside world, though both of them yearn for escape. For Rose this comes in the form of love, while Ted seizes the chance of a job away from the pit. But neither can truly break free and their decisions bring with them brutal consequences …Susan Hill is an exceptional writer at the height of her powers. Every word is precisely right: the descriptions of the village and the pit, the people and the farm are exact and true; the heartbreak is inevitable yet new; and the imagery and imagination take your breath away.

'Powerful … Poignant, bleak and haunting, this is a small masterpiece.' -- The Sunday Mirror
'There is something Hardyesque in the tragic momentum of this story.' -- The Guardian
'Hill deploys her not inconsiderable power to weave a haunting story.' -- The Daily Mail

Susan Hill is a prize-winning novelist, having been awarded the Whitbread, Somerset Maugham and John Llewelyn Rhys awards, as well as having been shortlisted for the Booker Prize. She wrote Mrs de Winter, the bestselling sequel to Rebecca, and the ghost story The Woman in Black, which was adapted for the stage and became a great success in the West End. Her books include a collection of exquisite short stories, The Boy Who Taught the Beekeeper to Read, and the highly successful crime novel series about the detective Simon Serrailler. Susan Hill lives in Gloucestershire, where she runs her own small publishing firm, Long Barn Books. Cameron Stewart is an experienced audiobook narrator who has lent his voice to more than a hundred audiobooks. Among the titles he has narrated are The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer, D-Day: The Battle for Normandy by Anthony Beevor and The Undercover Economist Strikes Back by Tim Harford.

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