The Earth Hums in B Flat

Up here, far away from everybody, the night is peaceful; there’s no sound except the hum of the Earth. At school, when I sang the note to Mr Hughes he said it was B flat.

Gwenni Morgan can fly in her sleep—that’s how she sees what’s going on in the village, and how she tries to make some sense of her family and her world. But Gwenni’s mother isn’t too keen on her daughter’s imaginative ways; she doesn’t want anyone thinking her odd.

When Ifan Evans goes missing, Gwenni tries to help find him, much to her mother’s distress. And as she begins to put the pieces together, a terrible truth is revealed.

Set in a small Welsh village in the 1950s, The Earth Hums in B Flat is a story of dark family secrets. It’s filled with wonderful characters and written with insight and sparkling tenderness.

Praise for The Earth Hums in B Flat:

‘A richly evocative, warm but unsentimental tale…I loved this novel.’

Catherine O’Flynn

‘A compelling narrative and lovingly drawn characters.’

Joan London

‘Strachan’s prose is pitch perfect. A gorgeous debut.’

Marie-Claire

‘I loved this debut, which manages to give a young girl’s narrative an authentically quirky aspect, without ever resorting to cutesiness or cosiness…Strachan eschews whimsy for reality in a beautifully written story about growing up’

Independent on Sunday