Black Sheep cover art

Black Sheep

 Preview

Audible Standard 30-day free trial

Try Standard free
Select 1 audiobook a month from our entire collection.
Listen to your selected audiobooks as long as you're a member.
Get unlimited access to bingeable podcasts.
Standard auto renews for £5.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Black Sheep

By: Susan Hill
Narrated by: Cameron Stewart
Try Standard free

£5.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for £10.33

Buy Now for £10.33

About this listen

The village is called Mount of Zeal. It's built in a bowl like an amphitheatre, with the winding gear where the stage would be. The pit lies below. Ted Howker's school is on the edge of Lower Terrace next to the chapel. Upper Terrace - in a thunderous echo of the Bible so loved by Ted's grandfather - is Paradise. Ted and his father and his brothers live in Middle. In the beginning: a household of men, all of whom work in the pit....

Susan Hill is an exceptional writer at the height of her powers. Every word is precisely right: the descriptions of the village and the pit, the people and the farm are exact and true; the heartbreak is inevitable yet new; and the imagery and imagination take your breath away.

©2013 Susan Hill (P)2014 Audible, Inc. Contemporary Fiction Fiction Genre Fiction Heartfelt
All stars
Most relevant
Such a sad story. I couldn't stop listening until the last word. The beautifully drawn characters were so real and I was in that pit village watching the harsh life and death and family love. I too wanted to fly to the hills, the clean skies, the sweet smelling life of the sheep, to escape the darkness of the pit.
Read calmly and simply, and so strongly.

A finely drawn picture of a pit family that dragged the listener in from the start.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Any additional comments?

Susan Hill has grabbed my attention to the extent that I so want her to write a sequel to Black Sheep.

An absorbing and emotional story

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This story is beautifully written with details that bring the characters to life. This is why the story is so very sad - you really empathise with them and so their fate becomes really quite distressing. You need to feel strong to listen to this story.

A very well told, but immensely sad story

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Susan Hill is such a talented writer, and this story shows how versatile she is. The story is profoundly moving and I would love to read a sequel.

Completely absorbing

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.