The Hill in the Dark Grove cover art

The Hill in the Dark Grove

the atmospheric folk horror novel that will have you gripped

Preview
LIMITED TIME OFFER

3 Months Free

£5.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly.
Get this deal
Offer ends on 15 July 2026 at 11:59 BST.
More purchase options

The Hill in the Dark Grove

By: Liam Higginson
Narrated by: Richard Elfyn
Get this deal

£5.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly.

Buy Now for £10.76

Buy Now for £10.76

This audiobook includes exclusive vocal performances of the Mari Llwyd, an old midwinter tradition in Wales.

Moving and chilling, The Hill in the Dark Grove is a story about a lost way of life and the terrifying lengths we go to to protect what we know.


'Richard Elfyn reads exceptionally well . . . he blends the novel’s deep commitment to its setting - both material reality and the rhythms and changes experienced throughout the calendar year that forms its timeframe - with a lively, intriguing interest in the folklore and fantasy underpinning the characters’ lives' - Financial Times

Carwyn and Rhian – the last in a long line of sheep farmers – are living out a brutal year on their hillside farm, deep in the mountains of North Wales.

When Carwyn discovers a buried prehistoric ruin in one of the fields on their land, his curiosity quickly descends into obsession. His wife, Rhian, meanwhile, is confronted with the growing realization that the man with whom she shares her life and home is becoming a frightening stranger.

As the harsh winter closes in, Rhian finds herself alone with her increasingly unrecognizable husband, and the mountains, and the looming megalithic stones.

'Eerie. Dangerous. I loved it' - Claire Fuller, author of Unsettled Ground
'Evocative, tender, terrifying . . . Superb' - Kiran Millwood Hargrave, author of The Mercies
'A not-to-be-missed novel' - Sunday Times
'Do not read this creepy tale in an isolated cottage' - The Times
'Powerful, inventive and gripping to the very end' - Ian McGuire, author of The North Water
'A hypnotic tale of twisted folklore that won’t let go' - Scott Preston, author of The Borrowed Hills
'Vibrates with unease' - Anthony Shapland, author of A Room Above a Shop

Fantasy Genre Fiction Gothic Horror Literary Fiction Marriage
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_t1

Critic reviews

Witty, tender, ultimately terrifying. Evocative and deftly done; The Hill in the Dark Grove is a book of echoes, haunted by the sheer vastness of time and landscape, and how they enact upon us and the stories we tell. A celebration of love’s persistence, a summoning of ancient lore, a superb debut (Kiran Millwood Hargrave, author of The Mercies)
Gracefully and lovingly rendered with the heft of folklore, land and history, The Hill in the Dark Grove evokes, in dazzling detail, the tribulations of everyday life and the grandeur of ancestry. Higginson takes us on a soul-stirring quest to unearth the past in order to anchor the present before it flitters away. A truly bewitching experience! (Gerardo Sámano Córdova, author of Monstrilio)
Richard Elfyn reads exceptionally well . . . he blends the novel’s deep commitment to its setting - both material reality and the rhythms and changes experienced throughout the calendar year that forms its timeframe - with a lively, intriguing interest in the folklore and fantasy underpinning the characters’ lives
'Liam Higginson is a new talent in Welsh storytelling; atmospheric, chilling and incredibly touching, The Hill in the Dark Grove holds the reader in its arms, and shows us how our stories, our objects and memories, are shaped and held by the land' (Joshua Jones, author of Local Fires)
The Hill in the Dark Grove is a sumptuously written, dark meditation on aging, obsolescence, and the brutalizing march of time and progress, as well as a chilling folk horror novel. There’s something long buried in the mountains of North Wales and within the sheep herders, Carwyn and Rhian, who are economically pushed beyond their limits; Liam Higginson expertly brings it all to the surface (Paul Tremblay, New York Times bestselling author of Horror Movie and A Head Full of Ghosts)
A slow-burning reeking creep of a novel about eerie ancient places and dangerous interlopers. I loved it (Claire Fuller, author of Unsettled Ground)
The Hill in the Dark Grove adopts familiar Welsh myths and tales - retold to build the scaffolding for Higginson's unnerving saga, his compelling writing vibrates with unease through the intimacy of Carwyn and Rhian (Anthony Shapland, author of A Room Above a Shop)
Liam Higginson skilfully creates a troubling and loaded atmosphere in The Hill in the Dark Grove: a sense of a landscape as ancient but nonetheless unsettled. The novel is eerie in a way that is rich and abides in the mind (Garrett Carr, author of The Boy from the Sea)
All stars
Most relevant
Excellently claustrophobic.
Suitably menacing.
Very Welsh! Never underestimate the darkness in those valleys, or how ancient sheep are.

Excellent

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

Stunning book. Beautifully written and really beautifully narrated. Slow burn in the beginning but stick with it and you become utterly absorbed into the lead characters lives and turmoil against the backdrop of Welsh history and the landscape.

Haunting and absorbing

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

Beautifully written and wonderfully narrated, I enjoyed it that much that I'm going to give it a few days and start it again.
I seldom leave reviews, but this really deserves it. I hope that Liam Higginson puts pen to paper again and soon, and when he does, that Richard Elfyn will narrate it.

Wonderful, just wonderful

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

But unfortunately it did not forefill. Kept on thinking any min now it will get going and nope! Ah well. Thanks anyhow!

I really wanted to love this

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

This tale started out as almost elegaic. A delicate depiction of a seemingly timeless and gentle way of life. The story moves so slowly towards the visceral slimy shuddering of folk horror as we learn the past of both protagonists and the creeping obsession of the man. I loved this so much! Beautifully written and well narrated.

Slow creeping horror

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

See more reviews