This book blew
me away. It’s an extraordinary work of fiction, epic in scale and feel,
centering around a house in the wilds of New England through hundreds of years
and all its various inhabitants.
The story is told through different kinds of
writing – letters, poems, songs, prose, medical notes, diary entries – creating
a rich tapestry of distinct voices.
As a writer, I was in awe at Mason’s
technical brilliance, and as a reader, I was completely captured and moved by
the emotions, intelligence, and humanity within the pages. I’ve been
recommending it to everyone. It’s a modern classic.
A sweeping novel about a single house in the woods of New England, told through the lives of those who inhabit it across the centuries—“a time-spanning, genre-blurring work of storytelling magic” (The Washington Post) from the Pulitzer Prize finalist and author of The Piano Tuner and The Winter Soldier.
“With the expansiveness and immersive feeling of two-time Booker Prize nominee David Mitchell’s fiction (Cloud Atlas), the wicked creepiness of Edgar Allan Poe, and Mason’s bone-deep knowledge of and appreciation for the natural world that’s on par with that of Thoreau, North Woods fires on all cylinders.”—San Francisco Chronicle
I’m a huge fan of Sebastian Barry, so I couldn’t wait to read this. It’s
about Tom Kettle, an Irish policeman, now retired and living by the sea. Barry
has an extraordinary ability to write poetic prose and make it feel
authentically colloquial.
I was swept up in the rich language, which, although
telling a dark story, is threaded through with glimmers of humor that made me
laugh aloud.
We are right inside the interior world of the protagonist, so his
confusion and haunted memories feel like our own. I couldn’t put this down.
THE SUNDAY TIMES TOP TEN BESTSELLER TWICE WINNER OF THE COSTA BOOK OF THE YEAR
'A masterpiece' Sunday Times 'Stunning' LIZ NUGENT 'Extraordinary' Irish Times
Tom Kettle, a retired policeman, and widower, is settling into the quiet of his new home in Dalkey, overlooking the sea.
His solitude is interrupted when two former colleagues turn up at his door to ask about a traumatic, decades-old case. A case that Tom never quite came to terms with. And his peace is further disturbed when his new neighbour, a mysterious young mother, asks for his help.
I’d already read her first novel, The Outlander, and was excited to
discover this sequel. It could easily be enjoyed as a stand-alone read, but I
recommend the first novel as equally wonderful.
I am an outside person (when
I’m not writing) and love books that describe nature and the elements. This book, set in 1917, is told against the backdrop of the Rocky Mountains and
Montana, but the scenery is much more than a backdrop. We’re immersed in the
sounds, smells, and feel of the deepest, wildest parts of this landscape
(including encounters with bears.)
It’s an adventure tale drawing on the
traditions of literary Westerns, filled with vivid characters and written in
poetic, yet page-turning, prose. I hope she writes a third novel following on
from this one. I’ll be first in line if she does.
Part literary Western and part historical mystery, Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize winner Ridgerunner is now available as a paperback.
November 1917. William Moreland is in mid-flight. After nearly twenty years, the notorious thief, known as the Ridgerunner, has returned. Moving through the Rocky Mountains and across the border to Montana, the solitary drifter, impoverished in means and aged beyond his years, is also a widower and a father. And he is determined to steal enough money to secure his son’s future.
Twelve-year-old Jack Boulton has been left in the care of…
1957: Within a year of arriving at an American
airbase in Suffolk, the close-knit and loving Delaney family is destroyed. Hedy
is the only one left standing, a rebellious girl cast adrift in a world of
post-war anxiety – a girl who has the courage to question what really went on
behind closed military doors.
Hedy’s journey to the truth leads her to read a
manuscript that her talented twin brother started months before he died, a
story inspired by a terrifying and mysterious experience in the forest surrounding
the airbase perimeter.
Only through deciding to finish what her brother
started does Hedy finally begin to piece together what happened to her family.
