Unsettled Ground by Claire Fuller

£9.99

Winner of the 2021 Costa Book Award for Fiction

Bookseller Review by Elle:

A dark and atmospheric, almost fairytale-esque, story. Julius and Jeanie are 51 year old twins living with their mother in a rural cottage. However, when their mother dies suddenly, the twins must learn to adapt and fend for themselves.

Claire Fuller’s writing is faultless and absolutely beautiful. ‘Unsettled Ground’ boasts an incredibly effective character study, alongside a rich and immersive setting. I almost feel as if the twins are real people I may meet one day, or perhaps people I have already met…

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Description

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.