series at the Black Hill itself is shown, towards Craswall. The name refers to a well known ridge descending very steeply from the very long Hatterall Ridge (which forms the England / Wales border) and carries Offas Dyke footpath on it, down into the fields of Herefordshire, and on the English side. The Black Hill is known locally as 'The Cat's Back' as viewed from Herefordshire it looks like a crouching cat about to pounce. On the same map at , just a little to the south, is the real farm called The Vision, situated in the Llanthony valley, also known as the Vale of Ewyas, on the Welsh side of the border, just below Capel-y-ffin. Alternatively, the location that inspired the novel could be the Black Hill between Knighton and Clun and a few miles from Lurkenhope. Chatwin stayed nearby in Cwm Hall, Purslow with friends during the 1970s and was confidently cited as such in a BBC programme by his biographer. Chatwin amalgamated reality with his research amongst the local indigenous populace in the time he researched the book, interweaving fact and fiction, gossip, locations, stories and social history. Prizes The book was awarded the 1982 James Tait Black Memorial Prize and Whitbread First Novel of the Year Award (which raises a question over the status of the earlier book The Viceroy of Ouidah). Adaptation On The Black Hill was adapted for the stage in 1986 and into a film in 1987. References 1982 British novels Novels by Bruce Chatwin Costa Book Award-winning works Novels set in Herefordshire British novels adapted into films Jonathan Cape books Twins in fiction Murder–suicide in fiction Novels set in Wales Works about sexual repression