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Barrowbeck

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Barrowbeck

By: Andrew Michael Hurley
Narrated by: Gabriella Pond, Matt Jamie
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About this listen

 'Barrowbeck casts a real spell - or is it a curse?' Mail on Sunday

'Thrilling, unsettling, ominous . . . like a knock at the door on a dark evening' Irish Times

'Impeccable and beautifully drawn . . . Hurley has been rightly lauded in British folk-horror circles' Big Issue

For centuries, the inhabitants of Barrowbeck, a remote valley on the Yorkshire-Lancashire border, have lived uneasily with forces beyond their reckoning. They raise their families, work the land, and do their best to welcome those who come seeking respite. But there is a darkness that runs through the village as persistently as the river.

A father fears that his daughter has become possessed by something unholy.
A childless couple must make an agonising decision.
A widower awaits the return of his wife.
A troubled man is haunted by visions of end times.

As one generation gives way to the next and ancient land is carved up in the name of progress, darkness gathers. The people of Barrowbeck have forgotten that they are but guests in the valley. Now there is a price to pay. Two thousand years of history is coming to an end.

'Hurley's achievement is, like American craftsman of the weird H.P. Lovecraft before him, to put humanity in its place' Northern Soul

'Hurley is the master of contemporary British folk horror' Dazed©2024 Andrew Michael Hurley (P)2024 Hodder & Stoughton Limited Fantasy Genre Fiction Gothic Horror Literary Fiction Scary

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An appreciation of the melancholic, grey, drizzle soaked forgotten towns and landscapes of England. Places where the dark uncanny aspects of British 'folk horror' best grow.

English Folk horror

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I e enjoyed (and reviewed on my Listener Page) Starveacre and The Loney, Hurley’s previous successful novels, but at first I was thrown by Barrowbeck. The first chapter traced the displacement of a small farming community by Anglo-Saxon invaders. The second was set in in Sicily where a strange traveller intrudes into another small community. I was confused . Are these not chapters, but (very) short stories? After I’d listened to a few more, my confusion wasn’t helped by the very sudden dangling endings to each one. The printed book no doubt explains on the back cover that these are inter-linked stories following fictional Barrowbeck on the Yorkshire-Lancashire border through the centuries. The audio information did not explain this. Having got about half way through, I went back to the beginning and started again. It was worth it.

Barrowbeck itself, originally established by those half-starved people who had fled from the Anglo-Saaxon invasion is the community mutating through the centuries and into the not far distant future when the country is partially annihilated by climate change induced floods.

The vividly observed lives in these linked stories are modified and changed incrementally. Folk lore, hauntings, goblins, witchcraft, and ancient belief systems co-exist uneasily with encroaching ‘advances’ in science, technology and thought.

Landscape, trees, hollows, becks, skies, plants, weather, crops… these make up the enduring fabric of Barrowbeck, whilst the stories themselves are uncomfortable and disturbing, some with a dash of menace. The kind-hearted vicar who opens his garden to poor children for a party with cake and lemonade once a year is nurturing his young son to follow him into the brotherhood. But the boy has other ideas when a child crippled with rickets is put into his care. We’re left dangling at the very end, but aware of what Hurley never actually describes.

Weird and haunting, these well-read A stories with-hold all the answers. What exactly is the terrible price which the childless parents of weirdly acquired babies later have to pay? And what on earth is going on with that two eldritch women running a grotesque b&b? The outstanding stories for me were the two on the effects of the world wars with its mystical music beautifully entwined. Deeply moving.

You need to listen to it twice!

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Brilliantly evocative tales, creepy and blackly comic at times, appropriately and expertly narrated. I've still to be let down by Mr Hurley or his novel's adaptation to audio.

Already looking forward to a re-listen

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Really good storytelling about a dark, damp, spooky valley over time. Great performances from the readers (except one pronounced ‘clough’ incorrectly). It has a background theme of climate change and what we can expect in the flood-prone valleys if we don’t change our ways. It’s set on the Lancashire/Yorkshire borders somewhere near Todmorden/Hepstonstall/Hebdon Bridge (Calderdale), but the fictional valley is way wetter, grimmer and more miserable than any of those lovely towns.

Satisfyingly spooky stories with a climate message set in a dank northern valley

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It’s a good sign when you spend hours after finishing this story googling reviews, reddits and social posts to hear more opinions on it.

That’s because this eerie, elemental tale set across 1000 years in multiple short stories, is so grounded in the location, that the place feels alive itself and with its own character and influence.

A creepy, deep and thought-provoking story that stays with you

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A real mixed bag of Barrowbeck tales here. There is a fair amount of dread and terror in these tales which I really enjoyed but unfortunately matched in some cases by a fair amount of tedium too. Some just meander along and were challenging to finish. I think that the lack of consistency is a shame as ordinarily, I really enjoy Mr Hurley's work. I would be interested to find out what he thought of the 'hare' in the film adaptation of Starve Acre. Jim Henson springs to mind!

Anyway, back to the book. I like the fact that, as short stories they often didn't end 'neatly' and left a lot of room for speculation and afterthought.

As for the narration, I own and have finished all of Mr Hurley's books in audioback format. Of the principal three narrators used to date, I would say that Matt Jamie's performance in this book is the best, followed by Richard Burnip and then Gabriella Pond. Unfortunately, I had real difficulty engaging with Ms Pond's narration. I found it to be very flat and lacking sufficient expression and unfortunately, during the stories she narrated, my interest and concentration wandered off somewhere and I repeatedly had to skip back.

The quality of the production isn't the best. Rather on the 'lo - fi' end of the scale which in 2024, is a shame.

Anyway, please make up your own mind and if you like Mr Hurley's previous work then I would definitely have a listen.

If you go down to Barrowbeck today....

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This book is a parable for our times. Living in a Yorkshire village prone to flooding, I felt a growing feeling of foreboding as I listened to the individual stories, which is, of course, the point. Every climate sceptic should read this book. Irrespective of its message, it is gripping, and beautifully read by the narrators.

Intriguing, unsettling, prescient

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The stories and characters really developed and stuck with me. I was so disappointed when the end credits came I had to listed to them all again if not to try and connect stories somehow. The whole production and narration were fantastic.

Had to listen to it again immediately after

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an interconnected series of stories set in Barrowbeck, spamming from its first settlement to its ecological destruction. Hurley expertly balances the question of whether these events are supernatural or psychological from start to finish, delivering several haunting ideas and images along the way.

a classic folk horror anthology reminiscent of Garner and M R James

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Very interesting, suspenseful stories. Excellent narration that captured the essence of the stories and their characters very well. I would highly recommend.

Great stories well told

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