Magnetic Hill is a work of adult literary fiction, mingling social realism with dark humour and a kind of quasi-gothic. It tells a coming-of-age story about grief, loneliness and female friendship. The main character is a teenage girl, Ellie, whose father may have committed suicide on the Isle of Man when she was fourteen. Four years later, in September 1997, Ellie and her mother revisit the island for a week's holiday, and Ellie encounters another young woman, Lisa. They form an intense friendship, and plan what they ironically term a 'Rampage Spree,' wreaking (mock-)vengeance on the men of the island. The spree spirals out of their control, and, ultimately, Ellie has to confront her traumatic past, by revisiting the weird place on the island where her father died. The novel is an exploration of female relationships in an isolated world of patriarchal secrets and violence. If the two main characters were to describe their own story, they might flippantly call it 'A Manx Thelma and Louise on bikes'.
