Unsettled Ground cover art

Unsettled Ground

Winner of the Costa Novel Award 2021

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Unsettled Ground

By: Claire Fuller
Narrated by: Rachel Bavidge
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About this listen

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.
____________________________________________________________________

'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

Domestic Thrillers Family Life Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Small Town & Rural Suspense Thriller & Suspense Fiction Heartfelt Emotionally Gripping Village

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Critic reviews

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
Dark, brilliantly observed and ultimately a tale of love winning the day.
An intriguing, moving novel that will make you question assumptions you have about modern life
Superb...deservedly longlisted for this year's Women's Prize for Fiction
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
So sharply, so utterly brilliant that I found myself holding my breath while reading it, dazzled by Fuller's mastery and precision.
With sensitivity and intelligence, Fuller unpicks the relentless complexity of the modern world
'The way she writes (with empathy but never sentimentality) moves my heart'
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
It's merciless in its observation of casual cruelty and merciful in its observation of casual kindness and family love
All stars
Most relevant
a slow burn of a story. the story of 51 year old twins who at the start of the book live at home with their mother who dies in the first few pages and then their story unfolds. such a beautiful story that had me hooked from the start.

unsettled ground

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loved the storyline, the characters and the twists and turns. kept me engrossed the whole way through. Must read mote by this author.

A must read!

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This is my first Claire Fuller book and I intend to read all her others. Her writing is beautiful and sensitive and incredibly skillful. She created the scenes from this novel so vividly in my mind and enabled me to feel such empathy and emotion throughout. I became very attached to the main character and felt like I almost immersed myself into her and was seeing and feeling everything through her eyes. The other aspect of this story and its style that I'm so in awe of, is that in many ways its a 'quiet' tale. A lot happens and it is rich with insights and a constant movement that kept me gripped, but it didn't use some of the usual writing devices. Fuller is, in my humble view, is naturally fluent and evocative in her skill. Reading books like this makes me shy away from writing because I could never achieve such fine work.

Utterly wonderful

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Some absorbing well written parts but you can guess what the secrets are almost immediately (one is revealed early on) and the characters were rather cliched.

The bits I thought were best were the descriptions of what living in poverty is like. I could smell the nasty caravan from here!

Mixed Bag

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Excellent narration of the characters. Really got to know Jeanie and Julius and the others through the narrator’s voice. Started off a bit slow but after a few chapters I became riveted.
Some parts were sad and j found i had no idea how the story would end. Would it be a happy ending? You will have to read it to find out!

The characters grew on me and I found them totally believable although they were not like any people I know.
Overall I loved it and now I’m going to read another of her books.

Couldn’t stop listening- brilliantly written

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