Heap Earth Upon It by Chloe Michelle Howarth: Obsession, family loyalty, and the danger of loving too much

Heap Earth Upon It by Chloe Michelle Howarth is a gothic, psychologically rich literary novel that burrows under your skin and stays there. Set in 1965 in the quietly watchful town of Ballycrea, the story opens with the arrival of the O’Leary siblings, whose carefully guarded past and tightly bound loyalty to one another immediately raise questions no one is quite asking out loud.

Following her acclaimed novel Sunburn, Howarth once again writes with precision and restraint, layering unease rather than rushing toward easy answers. At its heart, this is a novel about grief and survival, and about what happens when sibling devotion turns inward and begins to do real harm. The O’Learys have lost their parents and, in the absence of any other safety net, have clung to one another so fiercely that none of them are truly allowed to grow.

Tom, nearly thirty, has appointed himself the architect of their “fresh start,” strictly controlling what the family can and cannot say about their past. His intentions may be protective, but they are also authoritarian, placing enormous pressure on his siblings to perform normalcy at all costs. Anna, in particular, bears the brunt of this unspoken arrangement. Expected to mother her siblings simply because she is female, she cooks, cleans, and cares for Peggy while her own needs are quietly erased. Howarth makes it impossible to miss how little Anna’s labor is acknowledged, even as her behavior grows increasingly troubling.

The arrival of Bill and Betty Nevan unsettles the fragile equilibrium the siblings have constructed. The Nevans are a rare portrait of a genuinely happy, mutually respectful couple. They have accepted that they will not have children, even if there is lingering regret for what might have been. Their calm, settled life is disrupted when they encounter the O’Learys and instinctively step into parental roles the siblings never truly outgrew. Bill offers Tom work on his farm, while Betty draws nine-year-old Peggy into her home, brushing her hair, giving her small responsibilities, and indulging a long-suppressed desire to nurture.

It is here that the novel’s tension sharpens. Anna’s growing fixation on Betty feels alarming, but it is not unprecedented. Howarth makes clear that Anna has a history of obsessing over women who do not return her intensity, and that these fixations have never ended well. This knowledge hangs over the narrative like a threat, turning even the smallest interaction into something fraught. The reader is left constantly wondering whether Anna is repeating a familiar pattern, or whether this time the consequences will be far worse.

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At the same time, Howarth refuses to flatten Anna into a simple antagonist. The novel makes space for the reader to understand how she became this way. Anna has been forced into adulthood too early, expected to sacrifice her autonomy for her siblings without question. When Tom decides to throw himself a birthday party without once asking whether Anna is willing to cook and clean for it, the imbalance of power within the family becomes painfully clear. Her obsession does not arise in a vacuum. It is fed by exhaustion, resentment, and a lifetime of being told her value lies solely in what she can provide for others.

Jack, still grieving the loss of his pregnant fiancée under questionable circumstances, emerges as the novel’s emotional counterweight. He is the only sibling who truly sees Peggy as a gift rather than a burden. While Tom and Anna view their youngest sister as an obligation they are stuck with, Jack treats her as a source of meaning and connection. His care underscores one of the book’s central insights: devotion is not inherently virtuous if it costs everyone involved their future. Protecting someone should not require the total sacrifice of your own life, or theirs.

Lush, claustrophobic, and deeply unsettling, Heap Earth Upon It is a novel that rewards patient readers. Chloe Michelle Howarth excels at moral ambiguity, crafting characters who are damaged but painfully human. By the final pages, the question is no longer who can be trusted, but whether trust was ever possible in a family built on silence, obligation, and unexamined loyalty.

Have you read Chloe Michelle Howarth’s work before, or will this be your first? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Heap Earth Upon It by Chloe Michelle Howarth is scheduled for release on February 3, 2026. An advance reader copy of this book (ARC) was provided to me by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Related Content

• Author Chloe Michelle Howarth on longing in queer stories (Missing Perspectives)
• My Reading Life: Sunburn author Chloe Michelle Howarth wants everyone to read queer stories of all types (Debutiful)
• Chloe Michelle Howarth on how to end a piece of writing (Literary Hub)
• Chloe Michelle Howarth on her latest novel, Heap Earth Upon It (Better Reading)

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