A Best Book of January at O, The Oprah Magazine
A Best Book of the Year at The Guardian, The Times (London), and
The Irish Times
"[Moss] writes beautifully about . . . souls in tumult, about people
whose lives have not turned out the way they'd hoped . . . There's
little doubt, reading Moss, that you're in the hands of a sophisticated
and gifted writer." --Dwight Garner, The New York Times
**
The acclaimed author of Ghost Wall offers a new, devastating,
masterful novel of subtle menace.**
They rarely speak to one another, but they do take notice--watching from
the safety of the park's rented cabins, peering into the half-lit
drizzle of a Scottish summer day, forming judgments based on what little
they know of their temporary neighbors. It is the longest day of the
year, and as the hours pass nearly imperceptibly, twelve people shift
from being strangers, to bystanders, to allies--their idle curiosity
sparked into action as tragedy sneaks into their lives.
At daylight, a mother races up the mountain, fleeing into her precious
hour of solitude. A retired man studies her return as he reminisces
about the park's better days. A young woman, weary of her attentive
boyfriend, distracts herself with speculation about their neighbor's
politics. Alone in a kayak on the dark waters of the loch, a teenage boy
escapes the infuriating scrutiny of his family. This cascade of
perspectives runs through the community as each inhabitant begins to
focus on one particular family that doesn't belong. Nightfall brings an
irrevocable turn.
From Sarah Moss, the acclaimed author of Ghost Wall--a "riveting"
(Alyson Hagy, The New York Times Book Review), "sharp tale of
suspense" (Margaret Talbot, The New Yorker)--Summerwater is a
devastating, masterful novel of subtle menace, a searing exploration of
our capacity for kinship and cruelty, and a gorgeous evocation of the
natural world as it changes around us, bearing constant witness to our
choices.
