Welsh author Liam Higginson has cited Shirley Jackson and Stephen King as two of his main literary influences. While it's too early to place him in the same rank as these masters of horror, Higginson's debut novel, The Hill in the Dark Grove, is a thoroughly atmospheric and quietly unsettling story that's both original and faithful to the spirit of their works.
Set in the rugged mountains and valleys of Higginson's native North Wales, the novel tells the story of Carwyn and Rhian Gwynnant. The childless couple in their 60s operate a failing sheep farm that's been in Carwyn's family for generations. Now mired in debt, they fear an auction sale that will transfer their property to "some rich landowner from England." They're determined to forestall that event through their tireless labor and some clever evasive tactics.
But the mountains are "the abode of witches and giants and gods," and the supernatural has long played a prominent role in the lives of their inhabitants. When Carwyn stumbles upon a carved stone face in one of his fields, he embarks on a project to excavate a site. But his dedication to this solitary archeological dig gradually crosses the line into obsession. Rhian's dread that he has summoned something dark and terrible from the earth overtakes her life.
Higginson's lush descriptions gracefully evoke the beguiling but often treacherous beauty of the Welsh countryside. He traces the changing seasons, subtly underscoring how tightly his characters' lives are tied to forces--natural and supernatural--beyond their control. All of this enhances a sense of terror that's slow building, but no less powerful for that fact. --Harvey Freedenberg, freelance reviewer