Summerwater

The Sunday Times Top Ten Bestseller, longlisted for the Orwell Prize for Political Fiction 2021From the acclaimed author of Ghost Wall, Sarah Moss' Summerwater is a devastating story told over twenty-four hours in the Scottish highlands, and a searing exploration of our capacity for both kinship and cruelty in these divided times.'Superb' - The Times'Sharp, searching . . . utterly of the moment' - Hilary Mantel'So accomplished' - GuardianIt is the summer solstice, but in a faded Scottish cabin park the rain is unrelenting. Twelve people on holiday with their families look on as the skies remain resolutely grey. A woman goes running up the Ben as if fleeing; a teenage boy chances the dark waters of the loch in his kayak; a retired couple head out despite the downpour, driving too fast on the familiar bends.But there are newcomers too, and one particular family, a mother and daughter with the wrong clothes and the wrong manners, start to draw the attention of the others. Who are they? Where are they from? Should they be here at all? As darkness finally falls, something is unravelling . . .'A masterpiece' - Jessie Burton'One of her best' - Irish Times'Beautifully written, intense, powerful' - David Nicholls

“Sharp, searching, thoroughly imagined, it is utterly of the moment, placing its anxious human dots against a vast indifferent landscape; with its wit and verve and beautiful organisation it throws much contemporary writing into the shade!”

-- Hilary Mantel, Man Booker winning author of Wolf Hall
Nothing escapes her sly humour and brilliant touch. Deft and brimming with life, Summerwater is a novel of endless depth. A masterpiece. -- Jessie Burton, author of The Miniaturist
Moss’s ability to conjure up the fleeting and sometimes agonised tenderness of family life is unmatched . . . there is an artfulness to her writing so accomplished as to conceal itself. -- Melissa Harrison, Guardian
Summerwater is a triumph and confirms Sarah Moss as one of the best writers at work in Britain today. -- Fiona Mozley, author of Elmet
Moss is a writer who can say more than most others in half the space. Her latest, a haunting story of alienation set on a Scottish campsite, is the summer’s most interesting read Independent
Summerwater is a beautiful book, written with delicacy and grace, yet with an undertow as dark as the Scottish loch by which its characters are holidaying in ignorance of the tragedy to come. If you are a huge fan of Moss's work, as I am, you will find yourself parceling it out, to read a chapter a day, like a gift. -- Louise Doughty, author of Apple Tree Yard
Suffused with fascination . . . this latest display of Moss’s imaginative versatility shine[s] with intelligence The Times
This novel - about crisis and isolation in its own ways - moved and encouraged me in difficult times. Another deft, sensitive, crystalline book by Sarah Moss; I loved it. -- Megan Hunter, author of The End We Start From
A masterful and immerse exercise in tension; here are the many conflicting voices of modern Britain in microcosm. Sarah Moss reminds us that society is only ever two short steps away from collapse. -- Benjamin Myers, author of The Offing
For more than a decade, Sarah Moss has been crafting quiet, complex novels that make an indelible impression on the reader. This is one of her best, and most accessible, and should bring her work to a wider audience. Irish Times
I read this brilliant novel in one greedy gulp. Sarah Moss is an acute observer of modern life and puts humanity on the page with deep understanding and wit. -- Cathy Rentzenbrink, author of The Last Act of Love
With delicate precision, Summerwater takes the moral and emotional temperature of a whole society. It is matchless, too, in its blending of steely insight with humour and compassion. -- Pankaj Mishra, author of The Age of Anger
Moss is the most brilliant writer. She deserves to win all the prizes. -- Joanna Trollope, author of City of Friends
Moss has quietly, and it must be said remarkably quickly, been putting out some of the most interesting and carefully sculpted novels of recent years. Financial Times
One of our very best contemporary novelists. Independent
Moss’s star is firmly in the ascendant Guardian
One of the finest contemporary writers working in Britain today Stylist
A brilliant, confounding writer New Yorker
A brilliant story of dysfunctional families The Times

Sarah Moss is the author of seven novels and a memoir of her year living in Iceland, Names for the Sea. Her most recent novel Ghost Wall was longlisted for the Women's Prize in 2019. Sarah was born in Glasgow and grew up in the north of England. After moving between Oxford, Canterbury, Reykjavik, West Cornwall and the Midlands, she now lives in Dublin where she teaches English Literature and Creative Writing at UCD.

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