Gruelling family drama of life in the underworld
Black Sheep, the latest of Susan Hill’s novels to hit the bookshelves, recounts the hardships and tragedies of the Howker clan, a typical coal-mining family eking out an existence in a village called Mount of Zeal.
Life follows a gruelling routine. The men, John and his three eldest sons, Clive, Jimmy and the slightly odd Arthur, work long shifts in the pits; the women, John’s wife, Evie, and their teenage daughter, Rose, toil with household duties and with caring for John’s parents, cancer-stricken Alice and Reuben, a one-time pitman who’d become obsessed with the Bible after claiming to have seen the devil down the mines. Into this hectic mix runs Ted, the youngest, a wild, thoughtful boy who quickly decides that his future lies above ground rather than below.
