Devil's Day

Andrew Michael Hurley

BOOK OF THE YEAR IN THE TIMES, SUNDAY TIMES, FT, METRO AND MAIL ON SUNDAY

'The new master of menace' Sunday Times

After the blizzard of a century ago, it was weeks before anyone got in or out. By that time, what had happened there, what the Devil had done, was already fable.

Devil's Day is a day for children now, of course. A tradition it's easy to mock, from the outside. But it's important to remember why we do what we do. It's important to know what our grandfathers have passed down to us.

Because it's hard to understand, if you're not from the valley, how this place is in your blood.

That's why I came back, with Kat; it wasn't just because the Gaffer was dead.

Though that year we may have let the Devil in after all . . .