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.

This was very different from Sunburn, but I think Howarth's sophomore novel is my favourite of hers.

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