The Borrowed Hills : 'A sucker-punch of a novel' Guardian

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Charlotte says about The Borrowed Hills: Once in a blue moon you pick up a book that absolutely blows your socks off, and The Borrowed Hills was definitely that for me. I wasn’t su re if a story following two shepherds managing the fallout of foot and mouth disease in the Cumbrian Fells would be something I would enjoy so much, but I think this is potentially one of my best books of 2025. Although it’s a brutal and unflinching story, it’s impossible to deny the poetry in Preston’s writing; page after page I was there in the fells, alongside the men, feeling the wind against my face and the gritty sheep’s wool within my grip. Somehow both metaphorical and to the point, he writes with an incredibly unique voice and colours his characters in all shades of grey. With foot and mouth disease spreading across the hills of Cumbria, emptying the valleys of sheep and filling the skies with smoke, two neighbouring shepherds lose everything and put aside their rivalry to join forces. They set their sights on a wealthy farm in the south with its flock of prize-winning animals. So begins the dark tale of Steve Elliman and William Herne. Their sheep rustling leads to more and more difficult decisions, and Steve's only distraction is his growing fascination with William's enigmatic and independent wife, Helen. As their home comes under the sway of a lawless outsider, it is left to Steve to save himself and Helen in a savage conflict that threatens an ancient way of life. Lyrical, cinematic and steeping in folklore, Scott Preston creates an uncompromising vision of farmers lost in brutal devotion to their flocks, the aching love affairs that men and women use to sustain themselves and the painful consequences of a breathtaking heist gone bad. The Borrowed Hills is a thrilling adventure that reimagines the American Western for the fells of northern England. Author: Preston, Scott Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945) Published on 10 April 2025 by John Murray Press (John Murray Publishers Ltd) in the United Kingdom.Paperback / softback | 272 pages129 x 197 x 19 | 190g Show more