'Barrowbeck casts a real spell - or is it a curse?' Mail on Sunday 'Thrilling unsettling
ominous . . . like a knock at the door on a dark evening' Irish Times 'Impeccable and
beautifully drawn . . . Hurley has been rightly lauded in British folk-horror circles' Big
Issue For centuries the inhabitants of Barrowbeck a remote valley on the
Yorkshire-Lancashire border have lived uneasily with forces beyond their reckoning. They raise
their families work the land and do their best to welcome those who come seeking respite. But
there is a darkness that runs through the village as persistently as the river. A father
fears that his daughter has become possessed by something unholy. A childless couple must make
an agonising decision. A widower awaits the return of his wife. A troubled man is haunted by
visions of end times. As one generation gives way to the next and ancient land is carved up
in the name of progress darkness gathers. The people of Barrowbeck have forgotten that they
are but guests in the valley. Now there is a price to pay. Two thousand years of history is
coming to an end. 'Hurley's achievement is like American craftsman of the weird H.P.
Lovecraft before him to put humanity in its place' Northern Soul 'Hurley is the master of
contemporary British folk horror' Dazed
