a gorgeous sapphic gothic novel set in 1965 rural Ireland, which follows four siblings who are haunted by their past. I really enjoyed reading their stories unfold, with multiple POVs where you never really knew who to trust. chloe michelle howarth is an incredible writer - if you haven't read sunburn yet definitely do! - and it shines through in this slow & creeping story.

thanks to netgalley & verve books for an arc - out october 2025!<3

The novel opens with the O’Leary siblings – Tom, Jack, Anna, and Peggy – arriving in the village of Ballycrea on a pony cart. In 1965, rural Ireland is hardly a haven of wealth. However, even by these modest standards, the O’Learys are poor and desperately in need of settling down and earning a living—especially since Peggy is still a little girl. Thankfully, the Nevans – Bill and Betty – prosperous owners of a nearby farmstead, take the O’Learys under their wing. Bill offers Tom, the eldest, a job on the farm. Betty, who, now in her forties, has given up on having children, takes a liking to Peggy and assumes the role of surrogate mother to her, and a knowing companion to Anna. But Anna wants more than friendship from Betty and, as her obsession with the older woman deepens, dark secrets the O’Learys had hoped to bury begin to emerge.

Heap Earth Upon It is, in certain respects, a realist novel depicting the challenges of life in small-town Ireland in the 1960s through the psychology of its characters. However, Howarth harnesses Gothic tropes to great effect. The narrative is split between four characters – Tom, who casts himself as the responsible breadwinner, Jack, Anna, and Betty. All of the narrators, however, are unreliable. At best, they misunderstand themselves and others; at worst, they hide from or misrepresent the truth. The dark and claustrophobic atmosphere is charged with themes of Sapphic obsession and bursts of violence—real, remembered, or imagined. The ending, deliberately oblique, leaves it to the reader to decide what has truly happened.

This is an often painful novel. Painful, I hasten to clarify, not because it is poorly written, but, on the contrary, because it so powerfully evokes its characters’ yearning for love and acceptance—a thirst so intense it ultimately leads to tragedy.

https://endsoftheword.blogspot.com/2025/06/heap-earth-upon-it-chloe-michelle-howarth.html

I enjoyed sunburn, but her second novel is even better.

This follows four siblings who move to a rural Irish town after some mysterious event and the story is told by them (well three of them) as well as Betty from the town. The changing perspectives worked better than most books as they all felt real and distinctive, but seeing how they each perceive the others motivations really rounded them out. For small moments you saw how different characters had completely different perspectives which made them few like real people and not just a literary device.

The rural setting was well invoked. At the start when they roll into town on the back of cart with a pony and a chicken I wasn’t sure when we were but it was a nice way to introduce the unbalanced atmosphere that lies underneath everything.

I really felt for Jack and Peggy and while I didn’t like Tom or Anna, they were captivating.

Heap Earth Upon It 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. 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. 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 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.
We're kept guessing, as Howarth slowly reveals the events that overshadow the O’Learys through hints and implications in the siblings’ narratives as the lies Tom has spread around the village begin to unravel. The true denouement is left for readers to deduce, given that it’s delivered by the unreliable Tom. An atmospheric novel whose distinctly gothic overtones suits its publication date well.

Thank you Netgalley and Verve Books for this E-Arc!

Heap Earth Upon It is a dark and twisting tale of desire, loss and power. Howarth's writing is beautiful and the alternative perspectives throughout the novel really let her style shine. The narrative peaks and twists, leading up to a grand reveal. Which when when it eventually happened, I did find was rather anticlimactic. The narrative is driven by the unknown and Howarth does succesfully keep the interest alive after the reveal and this did make up for the anti-climax of it all. Ultimately, I found that Heap Earth Upon It was written incredibly well and had a level of intrigue that kept me reading, but I found that the story was lacking and could have been darker.

This book was absolutely incredible. Set in 1965 Ireland, Heap Earth Upon follows 4 siblings trying to escape a mysterious past that haunts each of them in different ways. It is character driven, intense in a slow, claustrophobic kind of way, and you don't know who or what to trust. I absolutely agree with the comparison to Rebecca - the mystery element almost works as a dual timeline story as we slowly learn about the past while we follow our characters struggle with their identities.

I have been looking for a book with genuinely messy lesbian obsession that does not shy away from the physicality of desire and acknowledgment of the body. No cutesy sapphic love here. This is all about raw, claustrophobic repression.

The chapters are short and even though I wanted to race to the end to find out what happened, I wanted to savour it. The prose was sharp and beautiful and had me hooked on every single word.

And then the ending! Fantastic. Immediately pre-ordering.

Very grateful for the opportunity to receive this arc and have the opportunity to provide honest feedback in exchange.

This was an absolute masterclass in obsession and family dynamics. It explores grief, obsession, and identity and how each character deals with it.

The story follows four siblings arriving to a new town for a fresh start following some sort of trauma that is alluded to through out the book. Through the use of multiple povs we see up close the impact of rivalries and secrets can have on a family.

The writing is rich and atmospheric and the setting has almost been used as a secondary character and is a crucial influence to the story. From the constant sky motif to religious reverence surrounding small gestures, this is Howarth at their best. Tension is tightly wound from the first line and slowly unravels throughout the story. Each word is deliberate. The ending is quite ambiguous and felt somewhat abrupt given that it felt we spent of all of time leading up to it, but that might appeal to others.

However, my favourite part of the story was the theme of obsession and how it related to each character. I don't want to go into to much detail and spoil things but for one character it was very obvious what their obsession was but with the others it is slightly more subtle but I really enjoyed how we saw this appear and how the other characters interacted with it.

Often with multiple povs the characters aren't fleshed out enough and I find myself only wanting to read one of them but with this all the voices were distinct and they felt different. I was however, lacking an emotional connection to them, they were interesting to read about but that was it for me.

I will say don't go into this expecting another book like Sunburn, this was more taut and showed a darker side to love and I really appreciate that author stepped away from that and chose to do something different.

Everyone should read this when it comes out October. I'm still thinking about it and I think upon a re-read I will pick up on even more of the subtleties.

eeeeesh. this novel has done it again. Chloe has done it again. this is a stunning portrayal of human. of relationship. of the humans she focus on we feel like we can hear their heart beating and what their thoughts are thinking.
i was immersed in this book, i was immersed in these characters and i need to read and continue to do so until i new what was going to happen to them all. i need to know that they were OK or at least if they werent i needed to know just this.
i havent read many authors, not any i can bring to mind right now at all infact, that can write her stories quite like Chloe has. i havent felt the depth for the story of characters within quite like it before. im not sure what it is. might it be magic? but its something i cant even describe in a way that would do it justice. because im not an author(my review clearly show this and why!) and so i dont have the prose to do so. but you know someone who would...Chloe thats who. she could write my review fantastically.
anyway. this book was brilliant but did we ever need to doubt that. i cannot wait to know what she has next. and i hope she goes to be smiling at her beautiful talented self.