Join ebb & flo bookshop in The Studio at Chorley Theatre for an evening of conversation with two outstanding storytellers of dark folklore and modern gothic.

Liam Higginson ‘The Hill in the Dark Grove’  

Welsh author Liam’s debut novel set deep in the mountains of North Wales, is a story about a lost way of life and the terrifying lengths we go to in order to protect what we know.    

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.

Andrew Michael Hurley ‘Saltwash’  

Lancashire-based author Andrew’s latest novel is a sinister seaside tale of regret, remorse and grief. Set in a decaying hotel and with a cast of uncanny characters, this is Hurley at his dark, folkloric best.  His previous books include The Loney, Starve Acre and Barrowbeck.

The dilapidated seaside town of Saltwash isn’t a place that Tom Shift would have chosen to come to at all, let alone on such a bleak November afternoon. But his new friend, Oliver Keele, has insisted on meeting for dinner at the Castle Hotel, where the owners, the Paleys, try their best to cling on to the glory days.  Both terminally ill, Tom and Oliver have been bound by the saddest of circumstances, though they have found some solace in writing to one another via a pen-pal scheme set up by their respective cancer clinics. So far, their friendship has been conducted solely through letters, with Oliver proving himself to be a treasury of literary quips and quotes. Yet, for all his flamboyance and verbosity, he is guarded, and Tom suspects that he is lonely and nomadic.  And Oliver sees Tom for what he is too: a man haunted by guilt and desperate to try and atone in some way before it’s too late. Regret is what brings others to the Castle. Much to Tom’s surprise, dozens more guests appear, dressed in their finest to take part in a prize draw that offers one person the chance of deliverance from their remorse.  But does everyone deserve the opportunity?