Original Sins

February 1, 2022

South Wales-born Hill grew up the son of a conservative minister, began losing faith as a teenager, and turned to heroin and crack to fill the hole forming in his life. The addiction he developed drove him nearly to suicide, and though he proclaimed he had two great loves--Jesus and heroin--he realized that he had to walk away from both to survive. Originally bought in the UK in an eight-way auction; with a 50,000-copy first printing.

Copyright 2022 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 1, 2022

Hill's heart-wrenching, emotional tale begins with a sordid account of his drug use at the funeral of a close friend before he takes readers back in time to his childhood as the son of an evangelical Baptist preacher and his devout wife. The piety of the Hill household hid the dysfunction and unhappiness of both parents from outsiders, but Hill and his three siblings were immersed in the deeply unhappy life of their parents. As they grew up, each in turn rejected their parents' faith, and Hill's rejection took the form of atheism and drugs. His experimentation with alcohol quickly turned to other drugs, including cocaine and his preferred drug, heroin. Hill's struggles with heroin in particular led to many overdoses and at least one attempt at self-harm, leading to six weeks of treatment. Hill chronicles his attempts to get and stay clean along with his efforts to rebuild relationships with estranged family members. This compulsively readable book shines a light on the devastating results of the opioid pandemic that exists not just in Hill's native Wales, but also in the U.S. VERDICT This is an exceptionally well-written and heartfelt memoir.--Rebecca Mugridge

Copyright 2022 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from June 1, 2022
Hill's arresting, confessional memoir limns a life of near-fatal drug addiction. The book opens with the author ironically shooting up heroin at the funeral of a friend who has died of a drug overdose, before flashing back to Hill's childhood in Wales and England. The son of an evangelical minister, he becomes increasingly consumed by doubt and, at 18, loses his faith--as, in due course, do his younger brother Jonathan and two sisters. As a university student, he discovers smack (heroin), and, well, "Smack, it was just heartbreakingly lovely." So lovely that he soon becomes addicted, and using heroin and crack five or six times a day becomes a medical necessity. The story of his life as addict is so harrowing that it is often painfully hard to read. Hard to live, too, since at 27 he attempts suicide. Miraculously he survives but is remanded to an inpatient psychiatric ward, and his life becomes an exercise in repeatedly trying to become clean and failing. The book is anything but a failure, though. It's remarkable--beautifully written and wonderfully insightful. Doubt and faith are twin themes that inform the captivating story and, without doubt, will also captivate readers of this extraordinary memoir.

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