The Fell

From Sarah Moss, the Sunday Times bestselling author of Summerwater and Ghost Wall, comes a story about the circumstances and the consequences of isolation.

‘A tense page-turner . . . I gulped The Fell down in one sitting’ – Emma Donoghue
‘Her work is as close to perfect as a novelist’s can be’ – The Times

At dusk on a November evening in 2020 a woman slips out of her garden gate and turns up the hill. Kate is in the middle of two weeks of Covid isolation, but she just can’t take it any more – the closeness of the air in her small house, the confinement. And anyway, the moor will be deserted at this time. Nobody need ever know.

But Kate’s neighbour Alice sees her leaving and Matt, Kate’s son, soon realizes she’s missing. And Kate, who planned only a quick solitary walk – a breath of open air – falls and badly injures herself. What began as a furtive walk has turned into a mountain-rescue operation . . .

Unbearably suspenseful, witty and wise, The Fell asks probing questions about the place the world has become since the first Covid lockdown in March 2020, and the place it was before. This novel is a story about compassion and kindness and what we must do to survive.

‘Gripping, thoughtful and revelatory’ – Paula Hawkins
‘This slim, intense masterpiece is one of my best books of the year’ – Rachel Joyce
‘One of our very best contemporary novelists’ – Independent