An Evening celebrating Northern Gothic with Andrew Michael Hurley and Michael Stewart

In Halloween week, two writers at the pinnacle of their craft explore myth, place and meaning and our darkest imaginings.

Two writers get together to discuss all things folk horror, macabre and menace! We can’t wait for this meeting of minds as these two authors chat and tell us more about their new books and the work that goes into researching and writing them.

This event sees the return of the multi-award winning ‘Master of Menace’ Andrew Michael Hurley to tell us about ‘Saltwash’, a sinister seaside tale of regret, remorse and grief. Set in a decaying hotel and with a cast of uncanny characters, this is Hurley at his dark, folkloric best.

Alongside Andrew, is Michael Stewart whose new novel Black Wood Women is set against the turbulent backdrop of 17th-century Yorkshire. This spellbinding story explores themes of persecution and survival, through the story of Caragh, a young Irishwoman fleeing persecution. Blending historical realism with an evocative feminist narrative, the story examines themes of belonging, identity, and resilience.

Andrew Michael Hurley – Saltwash

The dilapidated seaside town of Saltwash isn’t a place that Tom Shift would have chosen to come to at all, let alone on such a bleak November afternoon. But his new friend, Oliver Keele, has insisted on meeting for dinner at the Castle Hotel, where the owners, the Paleys, try their best to cling on to the glory days.

Both terminally ill, Tom and Oliver have been bound by the saddest of circumstances, though they have found some solace in writing to one another via a pen-pal scheme set up by their respective cancer clinics. So far, their friendship has been conducted solely through letters, with Oliver proving himself to be a treasury of literary quips and quotes. Yet, for all his flamboyance and verbosity, he is guarded, and Tom suspects that he is lonely and nomadic. And Oliver sees Tom for what he is too: a man haunted by guilt and desperate to try and atone in some way before it’s too late.

Regret is what brings others to the Castle. Much to Tom’s surprise, dozens more guests appear, dressed in their finest to take part in a prize draw that offers one person the chance of deliverance from their remorse. But does everyone deserve the opportunity?

Black Wood Women – Michael Stewart

Yorkshire, 1649. Since they fled Ireland, Caragh and her family have hidden their true identities to enable them to start a new life in England. But when Caragh finds her parents brutally murdered by a Protestant determined to rid the area of Catholics, she must flee again. Travelling east, she comes to a forest, where she meets a coven of women who wear their hair loose and refuse to follow men’s rules. Having found acceptance at last, Caragh is unaware that a different kind of persecution stalks the black wood women, and their days in the forest are numbered.

Set against the turbulent backdrop of 17th-century Yorkshire, this spellbinding novel explores themes of persecution and survival, through the story of Caragh, a young Irishwoman fleeing persecution. Blending historical realism with an evocative feminist narrative, the story examines themes of belonging, identity, and resilience.

Michael Stewart is an award-winning author whose diverse body of work spans novels, short stories, TV, radio, and stage.