Starve Acre by Andrew Michael Hurley

An atmospheric and unsettling story of the depths of grief found in an ancient farm in northern England, soon to be a major motion picture starring Matt Smith and Morfydd Clark.

The worst thing possible has happened. Richard and Juliette Willoughby’s son, Ewan, has died suddenly at the age of five. Starve Acre, their house by the moors, was to be full of life, but is now a haunted place. Convinced Ewan still lives there in some form, Juliette seeks the help of the Beacons, a seemingly benevolent group of occultists. Richard, to try and keep the boy out of his mind, has turned his attention to the field opposite the house, where he patiently digs the barren dirt in search of a legendary oak tree. But as they delve further into their grief, both uncover more than they set out to.

Starve Acre is a devastating new novel by the author of the prize-winning bestseller The Loney. It is a novel about the way in which grief splits the world in two and how, in searching for hope, we can so easily unearth horror.

Andrew Michael Hurley is based in Lancashire. His first novel, The Loney, was published in twenty languages, and won the Costa Best First Novel Award and the Book of the Year at the British Book Industry Awards. Devil’s Day, his second novel, was picked as a Book of the Year in five newspapers, and won the Encore Award.

Author Residence: Lancashire, England

Author Hometown: Lancashire, England