{"product_id":"heap-earth-upon-it-isbn-9781685892531","title":"Heap Earth Upon It","description":"\u003cb\u003eChloe Michelle Howarth, author of the bestselling novel \u003ci\u003eSunburn, \u003c\/i\u003eoffers a new take on sapphic obsession, for fans of \u003ci\u003eAll Our Wives Under the Sea, Mrs. S, Biography of X, \u003c\/i\u003eand\u003ci\u003e Organ Meats.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eWith additional, exclusive content inside.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn this follow up to the award winning \u003ci\u003eSunburn\u003c\/i\u003e, a claustrophobic tale of obsession, family, and identity…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn January, 1965, the growing town of Ballycrea has four new residents.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe O’Leary siblings arrive in their new village under suspicious circumstances. Desperate to make a new start and leave their troubled life behind, the O'Learys offer few, contradicting details about their past.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAs they slowly settle in to town, the siblings are taken under the wing of Betty and Bill Nevan, a wealthy couple in their forties who have always wanted children. However, as one O’Leary sister grows close to Betty, lines are crossed and their intense relationship becomes difficult to define. All the while, the O’Leary’s buried secrets keep bubbling up, threatening to ruin their new future. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eGothic, lush, and suspenseful, Chloe Michelle Howarth spins a tangled web that leaves you wondering who to trust until the very last page.\u003cb\u003eA FEBRUARY 2026 INDIE NEXT LIST PICK\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eVulture's\u003c\/i\u003e \"23 books from 2026 that we can't wait to read\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eLithub's\u003c\/i\u003e \"Most Anticipated Book of 2026\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eBookRiot's \u003c\/i\u003e\"Most Anticipated Queer Books of 2026\"\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Alluring ... an engrossing chronicle of restlessness and desire.\" \u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cu\u003ePRAISE FOR \u003ci\u003eSunburn\u003c\/i\u003e (2025)\u003c\/u\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA New Atlantic Indie Bookseller Association Bestseller\u003cbr\u003eA Pacific Northwest Indie Bookseller Association Bestseller\u003cbr\u003eA\u003ci\u003e Vancouver Sun's \u003c\/i\u003eInternational Indie Bestseller\u003cbr\u003eA JULY 2025 INDIE NEXT PICK\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Tackling topics of queer identity, teenage angst, and religious guilt, this romantic novel burns with the intensity and yearning of first love.\"\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e — Harper's Bazaar\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\"Beautifully written … it’s enchanting.\"\u003cb\u003e —\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\"Absolutely gripping . . . A romantic, funny, and painful exploration of the cost of being true to yourself.\"\u003cb\u003e —\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\"A poetic victory, fueled by intense, penetrating prose.\" \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e—Foreword Reviews,\u003c\/i\u003e STARRED REVIEW\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\"Alluring ... an engrossing chronicle of restlessness and desire.\" \u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cu\u003ePRAISE FOR \u003ci\u003eHEAP EARTH UPON IT,\u003c\/i\u003e UK EDITION:\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/u\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\"A slow-burn rural Gothic perfect for chilly autumn nights.\" \u003cb\u003e—\u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eDaily Mail\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Outstanding. . . There’s nothing to criticise in this young Irish writer’s depiction of repression, obsession, loss, and grief.\" \u003cb\u003e—\u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eIrish Times\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\"Masterful... \u003ci\u003eHeap Earth Upon It \u003c\/i\u003econfirms Howarth as essential reading-a writer excavating how we bury feelings at our peril, and how queer desire persists, insists, even in the most inhospitable soil.\" \u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Scene Magazine \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Airless and gripping, \u003ci\u003eHeap Earth Upon It \u003c\/i\u003eperfectly captures what it's like to live under the weight of secrets. The family's yearning for a simpler future is expertly balanced with the darkness of their past. A devastating mix of hope and heartbreak, from one of Ireland's most exciting queer voices.\" —\u003cb\u003eNiamh Ní Mhaoileoin, author of \u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eOrdinary Saints\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Assured, poignant and beautiful. Howarth writes poetically about loss and love - Anna's thunderbolt moment when she first sees Betty singing at a party is particularly affecting - within an overhanging, unsettling\u003ci\u003e Rebecca\u003c\/i\u003e-esque tension. There is a cracking pace, too, helped by concise chapters, each of which is in first person from the perspective of one of the three elder O'Learys or Betty - a quartet of very unreliable narrators.\"\u003cb\u003e —Tom Tivnan, \u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe Bookseller\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"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!\"\u003cb\u003e —Rachel Dawson, author of \u003ci\u003eNeon Roses\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003eChloe Michelle Howarth \u003c\/b\u003eis best known for \u003ci\u003eSunburn \u003c\/i\u003e(2025, Melville House) and is an Irish writer who grew up in the West Cork countryside. The landscapes, culture, and people of rural Ireland have served as an inspiration for her writing. She first became interested in literature as a teenager, and in 2015, she moved to Dublin to study English, Media, and Cultural Studies in IADT Dun Laoghaire. Chloe currently lives in Brighton.\u003cb\u003eJACK\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDidn’t they all tell me that this would come with time? Healing. Things getting lighter. Things meaning less. I thought it was just something people were saying to fill silences. But it appears that they were right. The trouble is running off me. I am moving on. Such quare liberation.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhile the others sleep, I step out of the house to take in the last of Kilmarra. Knowing without really understanding that in the morning we will leave the place we come from and\u003cbr\u003enever come back again. Big bloodied sky, yellow clouds hanging in the thick air. The bare winter trees reach up to be touched by lightning. I do the same. I wait for the weather to break over me. For the rumble of thunder. For God to make Himself known to me. But when the sky opens, no god or heaven is there. Only miles of navy dark.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnd I realise that over the last year, I’ve been so focused on the darkness of my skies that I’ve let the rest of the world pass me by. I wonder have the others noticed this? I wonder have they seen the gloomy fire that cuts up my horizon, and know how gladly I have let it blaze?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI go back inside to start loading up the cart. To wake the rest of them. Leaving the house for the last time, my mind turns away from you, and to the whole year that has passed. A year of things left unsaid, unacknowledged. As though their happening didn’t ruin me.","brand":"Melville House","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48233219424485,"sku":"NP9781685892531","price":20.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9781685892531.jpg?v=1767728833","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/heap-earth-upon-it-isbn-9781685892531","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}