Virginia Woolf's life and work continue to fascinate. Following on the heels of the discovery of new unpublished work by Woolf, as well as Stephen Daldry's acclaimed film 'The Hours', this book takes an illuminating look at a previously unexplored dimension of her life.
For almost a decade Rachel Caine has turned her back on home, kept distant by family disputes and her work monitoring wolves on an Idaho reservation. But now, summoned by the eccentric Earl of Annerdale and his controversial scheme to reintroduce the Grey Wolf to the English countryside, she is back in the peat and wet light of the Lake District. The earl's project harks back to an ancient idyll of untamed British wilderness - though Rachel must contend with modern-day concessions to health and safety, public outrage and political gain - and the return of the Grey after hundreds of years coincides with her own regeneration: impending motherhood, and reconciliation with her estranged family. The Wolf Border investigates the fundamental nature of wilderness and wildness, both animal and human. It seeks to understand the most obsessive aspects of humanity: sex, love, and conflict; the desire to find answers to the question of our existence; those complex systems that govern the most superior creature on earth.
This collection showcases the five short-listed stories for the BBC National Short Story Award, highlighting both emerging and established British authors. The narratives delve into the complexities of human relationships, focusing on themes such as splintered families, enduring love, the contrast between public and private lives, and the experiences of outsiders. Each story offers a unique perspective on the dysfunctionality and resilience inherent in human connections, making for a thought-provoking read.
From the heathered fells and lowlands of Cumbria with their history of smouldering violence, to the speed and heat of summer London, to an eerily still lake in the Finnish wilderness, Sarah Hall evokes landscapes with extraordinary precision and grace.
Longlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2009, a luminous and searching novel from the author of the Booker-shortlisted The Electric Michelangelo.
LONGLISTED FOR THE GORDON BURN PRIZE 2018Madame Zero is a remarkable collection of dark, sensuous stories set in sometimes conflicting landscapes - rural, industrial, psychological - all of which are hauntingly resonant with dread.
An electrifying story of passion, connection and transformation from 'a writer of show-stopping genius' (Guardian). 'Dark and brilliant.' SARAH MOSS 'A masterpience.' DAISY JOHNSON 'Extraordinary.' SARAH PERRY 'Hall has set a bar . . . Finely wrought, intellecutally brave and emotionally honest.' THE SCOTSMAN In the bedroom above her immense studio at Burntcoat, the celebrated sculptor Edith Harkness is making her final preparations. The symptoms are well known: her life will draw to an end in the coming days. Downstairs, the studio is a crucible glowing with memories and desire. It was here, when the first lockdown came, that she brought Halit. The lover she barely knew. A presence from another culture. A doorway into a new and feverish world. 'Sarah Hall makes language shimmer and burn . . . One of the finest writers at work today.' DAMON GALGUT 'Wonderful . . . The writing goes down smoking hot onto the page.' ANDREW MILLER 'I can think of no other British writer whose talent so consistently thrills, surprises and staggers . . . With Burntcoat she has solidified her status as the literary shining light we lesser souls aspire to.' BENJAMIN MYERS
Set in England's Lake District in 1936, the winner of the UK's Commonwealth prize, "Haweswater" is from "a writer of show-stopping genius: everyone should read this novel" ("The Guardian").
Sudden Traveller is Sarah Hall's third story collection. From Turkish forest and coastline to the gorges of the Pacific Northwest and the rain-drenched villages of Cumbria, Hall's characters walk, drive, dream, and fly, trying to reconcile themselves with their journeys through life, death, and love.
Walking ahead of him on the heath, his wife turns to look at him over her shoulder, 'Topaz eyes glinting. Scorched face. Vixen.'In language harvested from nature, Sarah Hall tells a story of metamorphosis, of wildness and fecundity, and of a man reaching for reason, who cannot let go of the creature he loves.