Blackwood - by Hannah Eaton (Paperback)

About the Book

A pair of murders has occurred 65 years apart, uncanny echoes of each other, in the ancient woods beside Blackwood. Evidence and local lore suggest overtones of ritual or of the occult, but despite thorough police investigations, no charges are made. Peg, in her nineties, and her great-grandson, 11-year-old Mason, hold clues to the town's secrets, but Peg's dementia dismisses her as unreliable, and no-one wants to listen to a child. Hannah Eaton deftly handles her cast of townspeople with warmth, humour, and humanity, reserving special sympathy for the outsiders both victims and investigators who dare to penetrate the community's closed doors.

Book Synopsis

Hannah Eaton's second graphic novel follows her much-acclaimed debut, Naming Monsters, shortlisted for the 2012 Myriad First Graphic Novel Competition and for the Graphic Scotland 9th Art Award. 'And that will be England gone,
 The shadows, the meadows, the lanes, 
The guildhalls, the carved choirs...'
 Philip Larkin A pair of murders has occurred 65 years apart, uncanny echoes of each other, in the ancient woodland beside Blackwood, a small town in middle England. Both evidence and local lore suggest overtones of ritual or of the occult. Past and present collide in the mind of 93-year-old Peg, while through her great-grandson 11-year-old Mason, and other members of her family, we soon discover that the town and Peg's own life are full of secrets. Blackwood gradually reveals the dark soul of the town, where local politics and the human heart conspire to preserve England - its meadows, lanes and shadows - at any cost.