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{"id":6582770008123,"title":"Unsettled Ground","handle":"unsettled-ground","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFrom bestselling author Claire Fuller comes a portrait of life on the fringes of society, a heart-stopping novel of betrayal and resilience, love and survival.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eWhat if the life you have always known is taken from you in an instant?\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eWhat would you do to get it back?\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTwins Jeanie and Julius have always been different from other people. At fifty-one years old, they still live with their mother, Dot, in rural isolation and poverty.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut when Dot dies suddenly, threats 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.\u003c\/p\u003e","published_at":"2021-05-13T13:17:03-04:00","created_at":"2021-05-13T13:17:03-04:00","vendor":"House of Anansi Press Inc","type":"","tags":["Adult Starred Reviews","Anansi International","Book Club Pick","By (author) Fuller Claire","Literary Fiction","pub date: 2021-05-18"],"price":1895,"price_min":1895,"price_max":2295,"available":true,"price_varies":true,"compare_at_price":null,"compare_at_price_min":0,"compare_at_price_max":0,"compare_at_price_varies":false,"variants":[{"id":39403479400507,"title":"epub","option1":"epub","option2":null,"option3":null,"sku":"9781487009410","requires_shipping":false,"taxable":true,"featured_image":null,"available":true,"name":"Unsettled Ground - epub","public_title":"epub","options":["epub"],"price":1895,"weight":0,"compare_at_price":null,"inventory_management":null,"barcode":"9781487009410","requires_selling_plan":false,"selling_plan_allocations":[]},{"id":39414048555067,"title":"trade paperback","option1":"trade paperback","option2":null,"option3":null,"sku":"9781487009403","requires_shipping":true,"taxable":true,"featured_image":null,"available":true,"name":"Unsettled Ground - trade paperback","public_title":"trade paperback","options":["trade paperback"],"price":2295,"weight":330,"compare_at_price":null,"inventory_management":"shopify","barcode":"9781487009403","requires_selling_plan":false,"selling_plan_allocations":[]},{"id":39414048686139,"title":"mobi","option1":"mobi","option2":null,"option3":null,"sku":"9781487009427","requires_shipping":false,"taxable":true,"featured_image":null,"available":true,"name":"Unsettled Ground - mobi","public_title":"mobi","options":["mobi"],"price":1895,"weight":0,"compare_at_price":null,"inventory_management":null,"barcode":"9781487009427","requires_selling_plan":false,"selling_plan_allocations":[]}],"images":["\/\/houseofanansi.com\/cdn\/shop\/files\/BNCImageAPI_dc221ef9-d567-42c9-a958-d11defa036e7.jpg?v=1723952153"],"featured_image":"\/\/houseofanansi.com\/cdn\/shop\/files\/BNCImageAPI_dc221ef9-d567-42c9-a958-d11defa036e7.jpg?v=1723952153","options":["Title"],"media":[{"alt":null,"id":24743115292731,"position":1,"preview_image":{"aspect_ratio":0.647,"height":2550,"width":1650,"src":"\/\/houseofanansi.com\/cdn\/shop\/files\/BNCImageAPI_dc221ef9-d567-42c9-a958-d11defa036e7.jpg?v=1723952153"},"aspect_ratio":0.647,"height":2550,"media_type":"image","src":"\/\/houseofanansi.com\/cdn\/shop\/files\/BNCImageAPI_dc221ef9-d567-42c9-a958-d11defa036e7.jpg?v=1723952153","width":1650}],"requires_selling_plan":false,"selling_plan_groups":[],"content":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFrom bestselling author Claire Fuller comes a portrait of life on the fringes of society, a heart-stopping novel of betrayal and resilience, love and survival.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eWhat if the life you have always known is taken from you in an instant?\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eWhat would you do to get it back?\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTwins Jeanie and Julius have always been different from other people. At fifty-one years old, they still live with their mother, Dot, in rural isolation and poverty.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut when Dot dies suddenly, threats 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.\u003c\/p\u003e"}
{"AlsoRecommendedISBN_0":"9781487002152","AlsoRecommendedISBN_3":"9781770890091","AlsoRecommendedISBN_4":"9781770894341","BASICMainSubject":"FIC066000","BASICMainSubjectLiteral":"FICTION \/ Small Town \u0026 Rural","BiographicalNote":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCLAIRE FULLER\u003c\/strong\u003e is the bestselling and award-winning author of three previous novels: \u003cem\u003eOur Endless Numbered Days\u003c\/em\u003e, which won the Desmond Elliot Prize and was a finalist for the ABA Adult Debut Book of the Year Award and the Edinburgh International Book Festival First Book Award; \u003cem\u003eSwimming Lessons\u003c\/em\u003e, which was a national bestseller; and \u003cem\u003eBitter Orange\u003c\/em\u003e, which was longlisted for the Dublin International Literary Award\u003cem\u003e.\u003c\/em\u003e She has an M.A. in Creative and Critical Writing from the University of Winchester and lives in Hampshire with her husband.\u003c\/p\u003e","BISACSubjectLiteral_0":"FICTION \/ Small Town \u0026amp; Rural","BISACSubjectLiteral_1":"FICTION \/ Literary","BISACSubjectLiteral_2":"FICTION \/ Family Life \/ Siblings","BISACSubject_0":"FIC066000","BISACSubject_1":"FIC019000","BISACSubject_2":"FIC045020","ContributorBio_0":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCLAIRE FULLER\u003c\/strong\u003e is the bestselling and award-winning author of three previous novels: \u003cem\u003eOur Endless Numbered Days\u003c\/em\u003e, which won the Desmond Elliot Prize and was a finalist for the ABA Adult Debut Book of the Year Award and the Edinburgh International Book Festival First Book Award; \u003cem\u003eSwimming Lessons\u003c\/em\u003e, which was a national bestseller; and \u003cem\u003eBitter Orange\u003c\/em\u003e, which was longlisted for the Dublin International Literary Award\u003cem\u003e.\u003c\/em\u003e She has an M.A. in Creative and Critical Writing from the University of Winchester and lives in Hampshire with her husband.\u003c\/p\u003e\n","ContributorRole_0":"By (author)","Contributor_0":"Fuller, Claire","Description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFrom bestselling author Claire Fuller comes a portrait of life on the fringes of society, a heart-stopping novel of betrayal and resilience, love and survival.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eWhat if the life you have always known is taken from you in an instant?\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eWhat would you do to get it back?\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTwins Jeanie and Julius have always been different from other people. At fifty-one years old, they still live with their mother, Dot, in rural isolation and poverty.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut when Dot dies suddenly, threats 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.\u003c\/p\u003e","EAN":"9781487009410","Imprint":"Anansi International","OtherText_Accolades_0":"\u003cp\u003eClaire Fuller’s \u003cem\u003eUnsettled Ground\u003c\/em\u003e is so sharply, so utterly brilliant that I found myself holding my breath while reading it, dazzled by Fuller’s mastery and precision. Not since Flaubert’s \u003cem\u003eA Simple Heart\u003c\/em\u003e have I encountered a narrative that shows, with such clear and patient fury, how breathtaking vulnerability can come from poverty, pride, and helpless family love.\u003c\/p\u003e","OtherText_Accolades_0_Auth":"Lauren Groff, New York Times–bestselling author","OtherText_Accolades_1":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem \u003eUnsettled Ground\u003c\/em\u003e is a gorgeously written celebration of the natural world as well as a moving portrait of a family struggling against time. Through buried secrets and private longings, the Seeders emerge as multi-layered characters living at the fringes of society. This book is ultimately about redemption — about the unexpected importance of neighbours, lovers, and friends, and the ways in which we can re-envision our lives for the better, even after the unimaginable has occurred.\u003c\/p\u003e","OtherText_Accolades_1_Auth":"Lucy Tan, author of What We Were Promised","OtherText_Accolades_2":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem \u003eUnsettled Ground\u003c\/em\u003e is another sly psychological treat from Claire Fuller, who just keeps on getting better with each book.\u003c\/p\u003e","OtherText_Accolades_2_Auth":"Laline Paull, bestselling author of The Bees and The Ice","OtherText_Accolades_3":"\u003cp\u003eFuller’s prose is darkly elegant, her eye for character astute and humane, and her sense of place vividly atmospheric — here is a writer of great skill, sensitivity, and subtlety.\u003c\/p\u003e","OtherText_Accolades_3_Auth":"Lucy Atkins, author of Magpie Lane","OtherText_Accolades_4":"\u003cp\u003eClaire Fuller strikes the perfect balance between beauty and melancholy in this relevant and powerful exploration of isolation and life on the fringes of society.\u003c\/p\u003e","OtherText_Accolades_4_Auth":"Clare Mackintosh, author of After the End","OtherText_Description_for_R_0":"\u003cp\u003e1\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe morning sky lightens, and snow falls on the cottage. It falls on the thatch, concealing the moss and the mouse damage, smoothing out the undulations, filling in the hollows and slips, melting where it touches the bricks of the chimney. It settles on the plants and bare soil in the front garden and forms a perfect mound on top of the rotten gatepost, as though shaped from the inside of a teacup. It hides the roof of the chicken coop, and those of the privy and the old dairy, leaving a dusting across the workbench and floor where the window was broken long ago. In the vegetable garden at the back, the snow slides through the rips in the plastic of the polytunnel, chills the onion sets four inches underground and shrivels the new shoots of the swiss chard. Only the head of the last winter cabbage refuses to succumb, the interior leaves curled green and strong, waiting. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn the high double bed up the left staircase, Dot lies beside her adult daughter, Jeanie, who is gently snoring. Something different about the light in the room has woken Dot and she can’t get back to sleep. She gets out of the bed — floorboards cold, air colder — and puts on her dressing gown and slippers. The dog — Jeanie’s dog — a biscuit-coloured lurcher who sleeps on the landing with her back to the chimney breast, raises her head, enquiring about the early hour as Dot passes, lowering it when she gets no answer. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDownstairs in the kitchen, Dot jabs at the embers in the range with the poker and shoves in a ball of paper, some kindling and a log. There is a pain. Behind her left eye. Between her left eye and her temple. Does the place have a name? She needs to go to the optician, get her eyes checked, but then what? How will she pay for new glasses? She needs to take her prescription to the chemist, but she is worried about the cost. The light is wrong down here, too. Lowing? Owing? Glowing? She touches her temple as though to locate the pain and sees through the curtains, in the gap where they don’t quite meet, that it is snowing. It is the twenty-eighth of April.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHer movements must have roused the dog again because now there is a scratching at the door at the bottom of the left staircase and Dot reaches out to unlatch it. She watches her hand grasping the wrought-iron, the liver spots and crosshatching seeming peculiar, unlike anything she’s seen before: the mechanics of her fingers, the way the skin on her knuckles stretches over bone, bending around the handle. The articulation is alien — the hand of an imposter. The effort of pushing on the tiny plate with her thumb seems impossible, a bodily weariness worse even than when her twins were three months old and didn’t sleep at the same time, or the terrible year after they turned twelve. But with great concentration she presses and the latch lifts. The dog pokes her snout through, the rest of her body following. She whimpers and licks Dot’s left hand where it hangs against her thigh, pushes nose into palm, making the hand swing of its own accord, a pendulum. The pain increases and Dot worries that the dog might wake Jeanie with her whining, Jeanie asleep in the right-hand dip in the double mattress, first made by her husband, Frank, long dead, and on the rare occasions when her children were out of the house, by that other unmentionable-at-home man, who is too long for that old short bed so he cannot stretch out, and then hollowed further by Jeanie even though she is a wisp of a thing and only ate a tiny slice of the Victoria sponge they made for when Dot herself turned seventy last month and had at the little celebration here in the kitchen with Bridget taking telephone pictures of Julius on his fiddle and she on her banjo and Jeanie on the guitar all singing after a drop of port to lubricate the vocal chords Julius always says and how the sensation Dot has now is similar to the way she felt after her third glass clumsy and blurred with her thoughts diffuse dizzily leaving the remains of the cake on the table so that dog naughty stood on her hind legs and yumphed it down and them scolding and laughing until her sides … yurt? Kurt? all her loves but one, there with her, and the dog barking and jumping and barking too excited and noisy like she’d be in the snow waking Julius who sleeps so lightly and stirs at any noise.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAll these thoughts and more, which Dot is barely aware of, pass through her mind while her body slows. It is a wet coat she wants to shed like the chickens with their autumn moult. An unresponsive weight. Leaden. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDot falls back onto the kitchen sofa as though someone has reached out a palm and pushed on her breastbone. The dog sits on her haunches and lowers her head onto Dot’s knee, nudging her hand until she places it between the animal’s ears. And then all thoughts of chickens and children, of birthdays and beds, all thoughts of everything, vanish and are silent. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe worries of seventy years — the money, the infidelity, the small deceits — are cut away, and when she looks at her hand she can no longer tell where she ends and dog begins. They are one substance, enormous and free, as is the sofa, the stone floor, the walls, the cottage thatch, the snow, the sky. Everything connected. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e‘Jeanie,’ she calls but hears some other word. She isn’t concerned, she has never felt such love for the world and everything in it. The dog makes a noise that isn’t like any noise a dog would make and backs off, so that Dot is forced to remove her hand from the bony head. She shuffles forward on the sofa, she wants to touch the animal again, put her arms around the dog and fall inside of her. But as Dot leans, she tips, her left foot turning on its side and sliding along the floor. Her balance is upset, and she pitches face-forward, her right hand going out to break the fall, while the other catches under her chest, the finger with her wedding ring pinned beneath her. Dot’s head goes down and her forehead hits the edge of the hearth where a flagstone has always been slightly raised, shifting it so that the companion set which hangs beside the range, falls. A last lucid fragment of Dot’s mind worries that the clatter of the metal pan and brush might shock her daughter’s heart from its regular rhythm, until she remembers that this is the biggest lie of all. The poker, which has fallen too, rolls away under the table, rocks once, twice, and then is still.\u003c\/p\u003e","OtherText_Quote_from_review_0":"\u003cp\u003e“Fuller is a master of building suspense … At once unsettling and hopeful, her book checks all the boxes of an engrossing mystery.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n","OtherText_Quote_from_review_0_":"Isabel Costello","OtherText_Quote_from_review_1":"\u003cp\u003e“\u003cem\u003eUnsettled Ground\u003c\/em\u003e shares with Fuller’s previous works themes of closely guarded family secrets and homes built upon shaky foundations … Fuller displays a tenderness for her characters — with all the mistakes they make or lies they tell — as well as highlighting the precariousness of even the most fervently believed truths.”\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n","OtherText_Quote_from_review_1_":"Christobel Kent","OtherText_Quote_from_review_2":"\u003cp\u003e“Claire Fuller’s \u003cem\u003eUnsettled Ground\u003c\/em\u003e is so sharply, so utterly brilliant that I found myself holding my breath while reading it, dazzled by Fuller’s mastery and precision. Not since Flaubert’s \u003cem\u003eA Simple Heart\u003c\/em\u003e have I encountered a narrative that shows, with such clear and patient fury, how breathtaking vulnerability can come from poverty, pride, and helpless family love.” \u003cstrong\u003e— \u003cem\u003eNew York Times–\u003c\/em\u003ebestselling author Lauren Groff\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n","OtherText_Quote_from_review_2_":"Christobel Kent","OtherText_Quote_from_review_3":"\u003cp\u003e“Another engrossing book.” \u003c\/p\u003e\r\n","OtherText_Quote_from_review_4":"\u003cp\u003e“Fuller’s prose is darkly elegant, her eye for character astute and humane, and her sense of place vividly atmospheric — here is a writer of great skill, sensitivity, and subtlety.” \u003cstrong \u003e— Lucy Atkins, author of \u003cem\u003eMagpie Lane\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n","OtherText_Quote_from_review_5":"\u003cp\u003e“\u003cem \u003eUnsettled Ground\u003c\/em\u003e is a gorgeously written celebration of the natural world as well as a moving portrait of a family struggling against time. Through buried secrets and private longings, the Seeders emerge as multi-layered characters living at the fringes of society. This book is ultimately about redemption — about the unexpected importance of neighbours, lovers, and friends, and the ways in which we can re-envision our lives for the better, even after the unimaginable has occurred.” \u003cstrong \u003e— Lucy Tan, author of \u003cem\u003eWhat We Were Promised\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n","OtherText_Quote_from_review_6":"\u003cp\u003e“Claire Fuller strikes the perfect balance between beauty and melancholy in this relevant and powerful exploration of isolation and life on the fringes of society.” \u003cstrong\u003e— Clare Mackintosh, author of\u003cem\u003e After the End\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n","OtherText_Quote_from_review_7":"\u003cp\u003e“A revelatory experience … [Claire Fuller is] a novelist doing her strongest work yet … This is a powerful, beautiful novel that shows us our land as it really is: a place of shelter and cruelty, innocence and experience.”\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n","OtherText_Quote_from_review_7_":"Isabel Costello","OtherText_Quote_from_review_8":"\u003cp\u003e“This fourth novel from the award-winning Fuller begins with a heartrending crisis for adult twins Julius and Jeanie Seeder … A gripping, unsettling narrative that ultimately offers a journey of resilience and hope, with unforgettable results.”\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n","OtherText_Quote_from_review_8_":"Isabel Costello","OtherText_Quote_from_review_9":"\u003cp\u003e“Fuller writers agonizingly well about the poverty, and the cruelty of predatory villagers who smell fresh blood. The scenario is thick with jeopardy — just when you think things can’t get worse, they do — yet, blessedly, the climax pulls back from the abyss without losing a jot of drama. Superb.”\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n","OtherText_Quot_10":"\u003cp\u003e“A kind of photonegative English pastoral … \u003cem\u003eUnsettled Ground\u003c\/em\u003e examines where the fault lines lie — how a parent’s errors can reverberate through a life.” \u003c\/p\u003e\r\n","OtherText_Quot_11":"\u003cp\u003e“[Fuller’s] absorbing novel unsettles us with its fine evocation of life’s fragility while grounding us in the healing powers of love, loyalty, and nature’s bounty.” \u003c\/p\u003e\r\n","OtherText_Quot_12":"\u003cp\u003e“[Fuller’s] memorable characters will work their way into your head and heart.”\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n","OtherText_Quot_13":"\u003cp\u003e“Sometimes it’s the slowest growers that have the strongest roots. A former sculptor who began writing at the age of forty, Fuller’s been quietly cultivating a devoted following throughout the publication of three psychologically sharp novels. Her fourth novel is … a dark tale, no doubt — but if you’re a reader who lives for contemplative storytelling and perfectly wrought characters, this author is for you.”\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n","OtherText_Quot_14":"\u003cp\u003e“Fuller has a keen eye for how things fall apart. Ruinous living is a theme in all her novels … But ruination is also the scene of patching up, as Fuller’s characters deploy their skills of brushing, mending, sewing, and painting. The same goes for parental manipulation. In \u003cem\u003eUnsettled Ground\u003c\/em\u003e, it is only when the big lie is revealed that renovation can commence.”\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n","OtherText_Quot_15":"\u003cp\u003e“Fuller paints a devastatingly haunting picture of abject poverty … This tale offers a remarkable peek into how the embrace of family can completely smother other aspects of life. Nevertheless, human ingenuity persists … It’s reassuring to think that reinvention is possible after all.”\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n","OtherText_Quot_16":"\u003cp\u003e“Claire Fuller has long been a writer expert on both character and relationships. The \u003cem\u003eUnsettled\u003c\/em\u003e in the title is well chosen — there’s an unsettling edge to the world Fuller creates, but it is one that slowly, skilfully draws the reader in, weaving a captivating tale of love, resilience, and survival.”\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n","OtherText_Quot_17":"\u003cp\u003e\"Fuller’s prose is often graceful, lyrical ... Fuller has a remarkable way of juxtaposing beauty with ugliness, resilience with despair, and her portrayal of these troubled but appealing siblings is as sensitive as it is powerful. \u003cem\u003eUnsettled Ground\u003c\/em\u003e shows us that at any age, the unexpected can trip us up and force us to rewrite not only our present but our past.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n","OtherText_Review_0":"\u003cp\u003eAnother engrossing book.\u003c\/p\u003e","OtherText_Review_0_Auth":"Lauren Groff, New York Times–bestselling author","OtherText_Review_0_Src":"Entertainment Weekly","OtherText_Review_1":"\u003cp\u003e[Fuller’s] memorable characters will work their way into your head and heart.\u003c\/p\u003e","OtherText_Review_10":"\u003cp\u003eSometimes it’s the slowest growers that have the strongest roots. A former sculptor who began writing at the age of forty, Fuller’s been quietly cultivating a devoted following throughout the publication of three psychologically sharp novels. Her fourth novel is … a dark tale, no doubt — but if you’re a reader who lives for contemplative storytelling and perfectly wrought characters, this author is for you.\u003c\/p\u003e","OtherText_Review_10_Src":"BookPage, Writers to Watch","OtherText_Review_11":"\u003cp\u003e[A] stunning story … Touching on themes of love, friendship, and neighbours, [\u003cem\u003eUnsettled Ground\u003c\/em\u003e is] a powerful exploration of loneliness and isolation.\u003c\/p\u003e","OtherText_Review_11_Auth":"Christobel Kent","OtherText_Review_11_Src":"Independent","OtherText_Review_12":"\u003cp\u003e[Fuller’s] absorbing novel unsettles us with its fine evocation of life’s fragility while grounding us in the healing powers of love, loyalty, and nature’s bounty.\u003c\/p\u003e","OtherText_Review_12_Src":"Irish Independent","OtherText_Review_13":"\u003cp\u003eClaire Fuller has long been a writer expert on both character and relationships. The \u003cem\u003eUnsettled\u003c\/em\u003e in the title is well chosen — there’s an unsettling edge to the world Fuller creates, but it is one that slowly, skilfully draws the reader in, weaving a captivating tale of love, resilience, and survival.\u003c\/p\u003e","OtherText_Review_13_Src":"Living Magazines","OtherText_Review_14":"\u003cp\u003eThis fourth novel from the award-winning Fuller begins with a heartrending crisis for adult twins Julius and Jeanie Seeder … A gripping, unsettling narrative that ultimately offers a journey of resilience and hope, with unforgettable results.\u003c\/p\u003e","OtherText_Review_14_Src":"Library Journal, STARRED REVIEW","OtherText_Review_15":"\u003cp\u003eFuller paints a devastatingly haunting picture of abject poverty … This tale offers a remarkable peek into how the embrace of family can completely smother other aspects of life. Nevertheless, human ingenuity persists … It’s reassuring to think that reinvention is possible after all.\u003c\/p\u003e","OtherText_Review_15_Src":"Booklist, STARRED REVIEW","OtherText_Review_16":"\u003cp\u003eFuller is a master of building suspense … At once unsettling and hopeful, her book checks all the boxes of an engrossing mystery.\u003c\/p\u003e","OtherText_Review_16_Auth":"Clare Mackintosh, author of After the End","OtherText_Review_16_Src":"Kirkus Reviews","OtherText_Review_17":"\u003cp\u003eIn \u003cem\u003eUnsettled Ground\u003c\/em\u003e, Claire Fuller uncovers marginalized lives we don’t often see on the page in the rich and sensory prose that has gained her a strong following.\u003c\/p\u003e","OtherText_Review_17_Auth":"Isabel Costello","OtherText_Review_17_Src":"The Literary Sofa","OtherText_Review_18":"\u003cp\u003eFuller paints a devastatingly haunting picture of abject poverty … This tale offers a remarkable peek into how the embrace of family can completely smother other aspects of life. Nevertheless, human ingenuity persists … It’s reassuring to think that reinvention is possible after all.\u003c\/p\u003e","OtherText_Review_18_Src":"Booklist, STARRED REVIEW","OtherText_Review_19":"\u003cp\u003eFuller is a master of building suspense … At once unsettling and hopeful, her book checks all the boxes of an engrossing mystery.\u003c\/p\u003e","OtherText_Review_19_Src":"Kirkus Reviews","OtherText_Review_1_Auth":"Isabel Costello","OtherText_Review_1_Src":"Good Housekeeping","OtherText_Review_2":"\u003cp\u003eFuller explores the painful realities of poverty and social isolation with immense sensitivity in this multi-layered and emotionally astute novel.\u003c\/p\u003e","OtherText_Review_20":"\u003cp\u003eIn \u003cem\u003eUnsettled Ground\u003c\/em\u003e, Claire Fuller uncovers marginalized lives we don’t often see on the page in the rich and sensory prose that has gained her a strong following.\u003c\/p\u003e","OtherText_Review_20_Auth":"Isabel Costello","OtherText_Review_20_Src":"The Literary Sofa","OtherText_Review_2_Src":"Guardian","OtherText_Review_3":"\u003cp\u003eFuller writers agonizingly well about the poverty, and the cruelty of predatory villagers who smell fresh blood. The scenario is thick with jeopardy — just when you think things can’t get worse, they do — yet, blessedly, the climax pulls back from the abyss without losing a jot of drama. Superb.\u003c\/p\u003e","OtherText_Review_3_Src":"Daily Mail","OtherText_Review_4":"\u003cp\u003eFuller’s prose is often graceful, lyrical ... Fuller has a remarkable way of juxtaposing beauty with ugliness, resilience with despair, and her portrayal of these troubled but appealing siblings is as sensitive as it is powerful. \u003cem\u003eUnsettled Ground\u003c\/em\u003e shows us that at any age, the unexpected can trip us up and force us to rewrite not only our present but our past.\u003c\/p\u003e","OtherText_Review_4_Src":"Toronto Star","OtherText_Review_5":"\u003cp\u003eA revelatory experience … [Claire Fuller is] a novelist doing her strongest work yet … This is a powerful, beautiful novel that shows us our land as it really is: a place of shelter and cruelty, innocence and experience.\u003c\/p\u003e","OtherText_Review_5_Src":"Times (U.K.)","OtherText_Review_6":"\u003cp\u003eFuller has a keen eye for how things fall apart. Ruinous living is a theme in all her novels … But ruination is also the scene of patching up, as Fuller’s characters deploy their skills of brushing, mending, sewing, and painting. The same goes for parental manipulation. In \u003cem\u003eUnsettled Ground\u003c\/em\u003e, it is only when the big lie is revealed that renovation can commence.\u003c\/p\u003e","OtherText_Review_6_Src":"Times Literary Supplement","OtherText_Review_7":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eUnsettled Ground\u003c\/em\u003e shares with Fuller’s previous works themes of closely guarded family secrets and homes built upon shaky foundations … Fuller displays a tenderness for her characters — with all the mistakes they make or lies they tell — as well as highlighting the precariousness of even the most fervently believed truths.\u003c\/p\u003e","OtherText_Review_7_Src":"Financial Times","OtherText_Review_8":"\u003cp\u003eA kind of photonegative English pastoral … \u003cem\u003eUnsettled Ground\u003c\/em\u003e examines where the fault lines lie — how a parent’s errors can reverberate through a life.\u003c\/p\u003e","OtherText_Review_8_Src":"Sunday Telegraph","OtherText_Review_9":"\u003cp\u003eImpressive … With sensitivity and intelligence, Fuller unpicks the relentless complexity of the modern world, in which mobile phones are connected to bank accounts are connected to central heating systems, and the hopeless poignancy of our longing for simplicity […] It is exactly this note of astringency, combined with Fuller’s skill at evoking sensations from the animal pleasures of sex to the misery of sleeping rough that gives the narrative its fierce energy.\u003c\/p\u003e","OtherText_Review_9_Auth":"Christobel Kent","OtherText_Review_9_Src":"Guardian","OtherText_ShortDescription_0":"A portrait of life on the fringes of society and a heart-stopping novel of betrayal and resilience, love and survival.","PrizeCodeText_0":"Short-listed","PrizeCodeText_1":"Commended","PrizeCodeText_2":"Commended","PrizeCode_0":"04","PrizeCode_1":"03","PrizeCode_2":"03","PrizeName_0":"Women’s Prize for Fiction","PrizeName_1":"American Booksellers Association IndieNext Pick","PrizeName_2":"Amazon Best Book of the Month","ProductFormDescription":"epub","PublicationDate":"2021-05-18","Publisher":"House of Anansi Press Inc","ShortDescription":"A portrait of life on the fringes of society and a heart-stopping novel of betrayal and resilience, love and survival."}