Doing for coronavirus what Summerwater did for Brexit, Moss’ blazing novel of the state of the nation during the pandemic is characteristically wise, witty and emotionally engaging.
At dusk on a November evening in 2020 a woman slips out of her garden gate and turns up the hill. Kate is in the middle of a two week quarantine period, but she just can't take it anymore - the closeness of the air in her small house, the confinement. And anyway, the moor will be deserted at this time. Nobody need ever know.
But Kate's neighbour Alice sees her leaving and Matt, Kate's son, soon realizes she's missing. And Kate, who planned only a quick solitary walk - a breath of open air - falls and badly injures herself. What began as a furtive walk has turned into a mountain rescue operation...
Unbearably suspenseful, witty and wise, The Fell asks probing questions about the place the world has become since March 2020, and the place it was before. Sarah Moss's novel is a story about compassion and kindness and what we must do to survive, and it will move you to tears.
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
ISBN: 9781529083248
Number of pages: 192
Weight: 144 g
Dimensions: 197 x 130 x 11 mm
MEDIA REVIEWS
A slim, tense page turner that captures the precious warmth of human connection. I gulped The Fell down in one sitting - Emma Donoghue
Moss writes so compassionately about human frailty while her own work is as close to perfect as a novelist’s can be - The Times
Gripping, thoughtful and revelatory - Paula Hawkins, author of The Girl on the Train
A funny, savage novel - Guardian
Absorbing . . . ingeniously done . . . a humane, thoughtful reflection on the lockdown experience - Scotsman
There is wit, there is compassion . . . This slim, intense masterpiece is one of my best books of the year - Rachel Joyce
A one-sitting read . . . ambitious and immersive - Red
Moss is strong on pastoral lyricism, and her characteristic humour is as piercing here as in her previous novels - The Times
A masterfully tense, deeply empathetic novel . . . [a] tender, insightful exploration of the times we are living through - Megan Hunter, author of The End We Start From
Always with steely precision, Moss has mined both the circumstances and the consequences of isolation . . . one of the very best British novelists writing today about contemporary life - Daily Telegraph
She conjures the fretful confinement of the pandemic with colossal skill . . . deft and evocative . . . shrewd and moving - i
The pandemic is spawning some fine writing, and this helter-skelter novel by Moss is one of the best yet - Mail on Sunday
Moss perfectly simulates the stifling psychological confinement and ennui of locked-down life . . . a neat, atmospheric novel - Literary Review
[The Fell] leaves the reader on tenterhooks as the story builds to its conclusion . . . Moss makes a strong case for social connection being as important as our physical health for survival - Daily Mirror
Moss steps into other people’s shoes with impressive ease. Her prose is clear, low-key and compelling . . . Feelingly, but without sentimentality, Moss explores what happens when you find yourself teetering on the precipice - Herald
A novel of our time . . . there may be a time when what is described here is, indeed, in the past, and a novel like The Fell will help us to remember - Church Times
It seems ever more important that fiction acknowledge the truths the pandemic has revealed to us: how connected we all are, and how much we fear one another - Guardian
[The Fell] confirms that Sarah Moss is a writer of remarkable power, control and deftness. She's funny, observant and very much of the moment - Oldie
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Thank you to the publishers for this early review copy.
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