A bold, utterly unforgettable novel about new beginnings and the survival of hope that’s already a huge hit with our booksellers, The Stranding tells the story of one woman’s extraordinary journey as the world reels from a seismic catastrophic event.
Shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award 2021
Her world fell to pieces. From the bones she built a new life.
Ruth lives in the heart of the city. Working, drinking, falling in love: the rhythm of her vivid and complicated life is set against a background hum of darkening news reports from which she deliberately turns away.
When a new romance becomes claustrophobic, Ruth chooses to leave behind the failing relationship, but also her beloved friends and family, and travels to the other side of the world in pursuit of her dream life working with whales in New Zealand.
But when Ruth arrives, the news cycle she has been ignoring for so long is now the new reality. Far from home and with no real hope of survival, she finds herself climbing into the mouth of a beached whale alongside a stranger. When she emerges, it is to a landscape that bears no relation to the world they knew before.
When all has been razed to the ground, what does it mean to build a life?
The Stranding is a story about the hope that can remain even when the world is changed beyond recognition.
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
ISBN: 9781529340662
Number of pages: 352
Weight: 460 g
Dimensions: 218 x 140 x 38 mm
MEDIA REVIEWS
'It's GORGEOUS and original and captivating ... Beautiful writing and characters I cared for as if they were my own family' Marian Keyes
'Powerful, atmospheric and utterly transfixing' - Jennifer Saint, author of Ariadne
'I didn't want this book to end. It blew me away, and moved me beyond belief. I want to read it again and again and again' -' Bryony Gordon
Original, visceral, rich with themes of refuge and redemption, it's a beautifully imagined story about the hiding places in our hearts and minds' - Emma Stonex, author of The Lamplighters
'The Stranding is a soaring, lyrical and contemplative vision of the end of humanity. A beautiful story about learning to love yourself and others, and of experiencing the end of the world at the ends of the earth' - Bethany Clift, author of Last One At The Party
'Beautiful and harrowing but also optimistic and extremely moving ... a truly arresting depiction of an unlikely relationship' - Clover Stroud
'A quiet, piercing contemplation on what really matters when it comes to the end of the world. Strange and beautiful' - Abigail Dean, author of Girl A
'Incredibly moving, totally gripping and (considering it's about the end of the world and living in a dead whale) strangely relatable' - Ellie Taylor, author of My Child and Other Mistakes
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