Lie of the Land

Kerry Hadley-Pryce lives and writes in the Black Country, UK. She has a PhD in creative writing and teaches creative and professional writing at the University of Wolverhampton. She co-edited Writing Under Fire: Poetry and Prose from Ukraine & the Black Country, and has short stories published in Best British Short Stories 2023, Takahe Magazine, Fictive Dream and The Incubator. She has had three novels published by Salt Publishing: The Black Country, Gamble, and God’s Country. Lie of the Land is her fourth novel.

This decidedly bleak 4th novel by a British writer occupies the liminal space between the currently fashionable domestic thriller genre and a sharp sense of gothic horror at times reminiscent of Shirley Jackson … Intense, carried by an oblique and literary narrative voice, this is the stuff of nightmares and a striking portrait of a couple whose sins just won’t let go of them, unable to detach themselves from a living nightmare with inexorable consequences. Oppressive, at times awkward to follow but nonetheless compelling, this is a hybrid thriller cum ghost story that packs a dark punch and will divide readers while deserving attention for its ambition and powerful voice.