Black Sheep (Hill novel)

It follows their growth from childhood into adulthood and their attempts to break free from the drudgery of their existence, Ted through heading out of the valley to work on a sheep-farm, and Rose through marriage to the pit-manager's son.

In an interview with The Guardian, Hill revealed that the book was inspired by "a black and white photograph of a 19th-century engraving she found online".

"Every scene turns on the stories of the stricken lives of the Howker family, their neighbours and friends, all of whom endure unending 'punishments': cancer, domestic abuse, a missing child, an explosion in the coalmine and murder.

In spite of the darkness of the subject matter, the storytelling voice is coy and restrained, and the language is simple, almost childlike, as though Hill means to soften the ceaseless blows...

A lot is crammed into these short, generously spaced pages, and only occasionally does Hill’s economy create a slub in the texture — when, for example, the conciseness reduces to summary, or when a physical feature (ugliness or muscularity, say) serves as a surrogate for fuller characterisation.