** A creeping story of sibling rivalry and dangerous obsession from the multi-award nominated author of Sunburn **

January 1965. The orphaned O'Leary siblings - Tom, Jack, Anna and Peggy - arrive in the village of Ballycrea, tight-lipped about their troubled past and desperate for a fresh start.

After being met with suspicion from most of the locals, the family are thrilled when they're taken under the wing of their well-respected neighbours, Bill and Betty Nevan, who offer them work, companionship and an opportunity to fit in.

But for one of the O'Learys, this new friendship sparks an intense attachment that makes the dynamic dangerous for all. It's difficult to bury secrets, but almost impossible to bury feelings...

Crackling with suspense, Heap Earth Upon It revisits the rural Ireland of Howarth's critically acclaimed debut and delves into claustrophobic relationships and tangled identities, leaving you wondering who to trust until the very last page. It combines the emotional intensity and slow-burn sapphic obsession of Julia Armfield's Our Wives Under the Sea and K. Patrick's Mrs S. with the unsettling gothic undertones of Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca and Shirley Jackson's fiction.

From Puritan tracts and chapbooks to fairy tales and Victorian poems, from zombies and werewolves to ghosts and vampires, the gothic has become an important part of children's literature. This book explores how Gothicism is crucial in helping children progress through different stages of growth and development. Michael Howarth examines five famous texts - namely Christina Rossetti's Goblin Market, Carlo Collodi's Pinocchio, Neil Gaiman's Coraline, three versions of Little Red Riding Hood, and J.M. Barrie's play and then novel Peter and Wendy - incorporating renowned psychologist Erik Erikson's landmark theories on psychosocial stages of development. By linking a particular stage to each of the aforementioned texts, it becomes clearer how anxiety and terror are just as important as happiness and wonder in fostering maturity, achieving a sense of independence and fulfilling one's self-identity. Gothic elements give shape to children's fears, which is precisely how children are able to defeat them, and through their interactions with the ghosts and goblins that inhabit fantasy worlds, children come to better understand their own world, as well as their own lives.

This book includes advanced techniques, a wide range of patterns, tips for working with different materials, and enough of a foundation in knotting to allow readers to create their own bracelet designs!

Most teens love to watch movies—whether a young adult fantasy or the latest comic-book-to screen adaptation. Alongside the usual summer blockbusters, though, are more down to earth fare, movies that best define what it means to be an adolescent. Such films provide insight and depth into the challenges and issues that many teens experience as they move from childhood into adulthood. In Movies to See before You Graduate from High School, Michael Howarth examines sixty coming-of-age films that are essential viewing for teenagers. Whether serious or silly, scary or profound, the films discussed here comment on the trials and tribulations of adolescence. Each entry provides a plot summary, identifies key themes, and includes other useful details such as running time and MPAA rating. Most important in each entry is the “gist” section—a relaxed and informal discussion of the film’s merits and why teens should add it to their viewing list. The films discussed here span five decades, but the many of titles are recent features that contemporary teens will appreciate—from Easy A and Edge of Seventeen to Lady Bird and Love, Simon. The films also represent a range of genres, including comedy, horror, animation, and drama. Additional elements include classic lines of dialogue, “double feature” suggestions, and more than 30 photos. And with five dozen titles to choose from, some teens will want to catch up as soon as possible! Movies to See before You Graduate from High School is their guide to some of the best films for young adult audiences.