Inspiration and Praise

The inspiration behind the Major Motion Picture starring Caleb Landry Jones

''Extraordinary'' - The Guardian

''Inimitably excellent'' - Boyd Tonkin, Independent

As late summer steals in and the final pearls of barley are gleaned, a village comes under threat. A trio of outsiders - two men and a dangerously magnetic woman - arrives on the woodland borders triggering a series of events that will see Walter Thirsk's village unmade in just seven days: the harvest blackened by smoke and fear, cruel punishment meted out to the innocent, and allegations of witchcraft.

But something even darker is at the heart of Walter's story, and he will be the only man left to tell it . . .

‘Terrible, lyrical, beauty that is nothing like any other novel I have ever read'' - Spectator

''He is, quite simply, one of the great writers of our time’ - Colum McCann

Winner of the James Tait Black Prize

Winner of the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award

Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize

Shortlisted for the Goldsmiths Prize

Shortlisted for the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction