The Beacon

Taut novella

James Urquhart, Financial Times

Misery memoirs may no longer be the flavour of the month, but according to Susan Hill's new novel, their consequences can be far reaching. In search of a quick buck, middle-aged journalist Frank Prime pens a bestseller detailing his childhood on a remote North Country farm.

Emma Hagestadt, The Independent

Not a word is wasted in this chilling novella

Natalie Sanderson, The Times

A thought-provoking story

Katie Owen, Sunday Telegraph

This novel is short, beautifully crafted and gripping

The Sunday Times Magazine

A work of great creepiness and subtle power. It will linger 'orribly in the mind.

Nicholas Lezard, The Guardian

Expertly structured, her beautifully written prose as haunting as the best ghost story

Sophie Missing, Observer

A moving, evocative and rewarding novel

The Times

Beautiful, clean prose...[an] absorbing story

Literary Review

The Beacon uses a small canvas, but it examines larger issues of truth, mental health and memory... Ideas about wasted lives, about grinding exhaustion at the expense of self-expression and about rank injustice are all here in a novel of great structural and stylistic control

Guardian

Magnificent...It is all done so well, so wisely, that this short book is richly satisfying...it is a little masterpiece

Daily Telegraph

This enigmatic novella tracks the full impact of Frank's book, probing notions of guilt and truth, and deftly capturing those family bonds that warp even as they appear to nurture

Hephzibah Anderson, Daily Mail

Captivating... There is, from the start, a highly charged atmosphere of anxiety and ambiguity...the suspense and mystery work perfectly, and for this Hill's economy is exactly what is needed

Financial Times

Compelling, cut through with sloe-sharp details as Hill exhibits complete mastery of the tools at her disposal... It is a moving, evocative and rewarding novel

The Times

Short, beautifully crafted and gripping... Hill's astute and skilful probing of motives and the ambiguities of appearances extends the reach of the novel much wider

Sunday Times

A clever novel that's timeless in its tension-building storytelling

Good Housekeeping

A brilliantly eerie little tale...with a very adroitly handled contemporary theme: the misery memoir

Scotland on Sunday

A chilling tale of a farming family

Fanny Blake, Woman and Home

From ghost stories to crime thrillers to children's novels, Susan Hill is a writer of striking versatility. 'The Beacon' is a literary novel - done to spectacular effect

Catherine Humble, The Telegraph Review