Unsettled Ground

Author Claire Fuller
Narrator Rachel Bavidge
Publisher Penguin Books Ltd
Publish Date 25 March 2021
Run Time 9 hours and 30 minutes
Format Audio
Genre Family life fiction, Modern and contemporary fiction, Thriller / suspense fiction.

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What to expect

Brought to you by Penguin.

WINNER OF THE COSTA NOVEL AWARD 2021
SHORTLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE 2021

When you live on the edge of society, it only takes one step to fall between the cracks

Twins Jeanie and Julius have always been different from other people. At 51 years old, they still live with their mother, Dot, in rural isolation and poverty. Inside the walls of their old cottage they make music, and in the garden they grow (and sometimes kill) everything they need for sustenance.

But when Dot dies suddenly, threats to their livelihood start raining down. Jeanie and Julius would do anything to preserve their small sanctuary against the perils of the outside world, even as their mother's secrets begin to unravel, putting everything they thought they knew about their lives at stake.

Unsettled Ground is a powerful novel of betrayal and resilience, love and survival. It is a portrait of life on the fringes of society that explores with dazzling emotional power how we can build our lives on broken foundations, and spin light from darkness.
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'Her strongest yet... a powerful, beautiful novel that shows us our land as it really is: a place of shelter and cruelty, innocence and experience' THE TIMES

'A relevant and powerful exploration of isolation and life on the fringes of society' CLARE MACKINTOSH, author of Hostage

'An atmospheric thriller that's both heartbreaking and heartwarming' RED

'The way she writes (with empathy but never sentimentality) moves my heart' ELIZABETH DAY, author of Magpie

© Claire Fuller 2021 (P) Penguin Audio 2021

Critics Review

Her strongest yet… a powerful, beautiful novel that shows us our land as it really is: a place of shelter and cruelty, innocence and experience

The Times

Dark, brilliantly observed and ultimately a tale of love winning the day.

The Sunday Telegraph

An intriguing, moving novel that will make you question assumptions you have about modern life

Tracy Chevalier, author of 'A Single Thread'

Superb…deservedly longlisted for this year’s Women’s Prize for Fiction

Daily Mail

A moving portrait of a family struggling against time. This book is ultimately about redemption-about the unexpected importance of neighbours, lovers, and friends, and the ways in which we can re-envision our lives for the better

Lucy Tan, author of What We Were Promised

So sharply, so utterly brilliant that I found myself holding my breath while reading it, dazzled by Fuller’s mastery and precision.

Lauren Groff, author of 'Fates and Furies'

With sensitivity and intelligence, Fuller unpicks the relentless complexity of the modern world

The Guardian

‘The way she writes (with empathy but never sentimentality) moves my heart’

Elizabeth Day, author of Magpie

Fuller is excellent at description, and capturing the twins’ awkward interactions with the world. The fate of the illiterate and weak-hearted Jeanie once she loses everything that is safe is particularly unsettling

The Sunday Times

It’s merciless in its observation of casual cruelty and merciful in its observation of casual kindness and family love

Richard Curtis

Unsettled Ground is another sly psychological treat from Claire Fuller, who just keeps on getting better with each book

Laline Paull

These memorable characters will worm their way into your head and heart and the descriptions of the landscape are beautiful.

Jo Finney, Good Housekeeping

An atmospheric thriller that’s both heartbreaking and heartwarming

Red

Tender, unusual… these memorable characters will work their way into your head and your heart

Good Housekeeping

Fuller’s prose is darkly elegant, her eye for character astute and humane, and her sense of place vividly atmospheric — here is a writer of great skill, sensitivity and subtlety

Lucy Atkins, author of Magpie Lane

Claire Fuller strikes the perfect balance between beauty and melancholy, in this relevant and powerful exploration of isolation and life on the fringes of society

Clare Mackintosh, author of Hostage

Unsettled Ground shares with Fuller’s previous works themes of closely guarded family secrets and homes built upon shaky foundations

Financial Times

This literary thriller is as moving and poignant as it is compelling

Express

These memorable characters will worm their way into your head and heart the descriptions of the landscape are beautiful

Good Housekeeping

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