the Hill in Dark Grove

The Hill in the Dark Grove is a haunting tale of love and survival set against the stark mountains of North Wales. Carwyn and Rhian, the final generation of a long line of sheep farmers, endure a brutal year on their hillside farm in Eryri. When Carwyn discovers a stone circle in one of their fields, his curiosity deepens into an unsettling obsession. Meanwhile, Rhian faces the widening gap between the man she knows and the stranger he is becoming. As winter tightens its grip, she finds herself alone with a mounting sense of danger — the mountains, the stones, and a looming sense of ancient lore closing in around them.

This exquisitely written novel blends Welsh folklore with a tense, atmospheric mood, delivering both tenderness and terror. It is a story about the persistence of love and the lengths people go to protect what they hold dear, even when the world around them seems to unravel.

Carwyn and Rhian are depicted as the last in a long farming lineage, living a brutal year on their hillside farm beneath the mountains of Eryri. The discovery of the stone circle becomes a catalyst for obsession, threatening the fabric of their marriage and the life they know.

• The setting: North Wales, high mountains, winter atmosphere
• Protagonists: Carwyn and Rhian, sheep farmers
• Central conflict: obsession with a stone circle
• Tone: haunting, sinister, evocative
• Themes: love, protection, ancient lore
• Folklore influence: Welsh heritage and mythic elements