The Stranding: SHORTLISTED FOR THE COSTA FIRST NOVEL AWARD

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A book that’s been published recently or is coming soon: Maybe You Should Talk To Someone - Lori Gottlieb It reminded me of a few books I’ve read in recent years - the reflective tone and tenderness of Nothing But Blue Sky, the quiet, humming prose of Tessa Hadley’s Free Love and the immersive family saga The Paper Palace, which was a little too cynical for my taste, something happily absent here. Kate Sawyer is having a pinch-me moment. “It seems that authors these days are supposed to be cool - maybe they always have been; maybe Virginia Woolf was cool - but I’m really excited and I’m not going to pretend I’m not,” she says. “To be shortlisted for a Costa, alongside such brilliant writers and in the prize’s 50th year, too? I really couldn’t wish for any more for my first novel.” Where most dystopian stories are rife with the usual tensions of people murdering each other for resources, zombies, etc, this book takes a more quiet, meandering journey. The story is told in two timelines where we follow Ruth: Before the catastrophe and After the catastrophe. What the catastrophe is, exactly, we're never told. Ruth avoids news at all costs Before, and After all we really know is something happened and the whole world was flooded with...something. Fire? Radiation? Bombs? No idea. We all have a very different type of family, but in this book we get a glimpse into someone else’s and see that actually we’re all more similar than we realise.

The Stranding by Kate Sawyer | Waterstones The Stranding by Kate Sawyer | Waterstones

To receive transcripts and news from Kate to your inbox please SIGN UP FOR MY NEWSLETTER or visit https://www.mskatesawyer.com/novelexperiencepodcast for more information.The last chapter or so was nicely done, and there are some really lovely passages throughout the book, but the characters were all a bit bland and I couldn’t say that any of them interested me enough to care. This type of story has been done many times before, and whilst this wasn’t a bad offering, it certainly didn’t excite me. I haven't really read any novels before that so clearly depict a short stint of time, while also providing the characters' entire life histories for context. The details were revealed gradually, and they were revealed well, eventually bringing the separate threads to a satisfying and interwoven conclusion. But when she arrives at her destination, she finds instead that the world, and life, she left behind no longer exists.

The Stranding, By Kate Sawyer Grazia’s Book Club Recommends The Stranding, By Kate Sawyer

What happens next (and before), I’d really rather not say, suffice to say that this is an unforgettable book. A novel that has stayed with me for weeks afterwards . . . Perceptive and unflinching’– Jessie Burton, author of The MiniaturistA truly unique and gripping read * Marianne Cronin, author The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot * Mary knew that this was the house for her family whenever she laid eyes on it. Now, decades later, she is getting married and the house is playing a huge part. Mary's family have, like a lot of us, been broken and mended across the years and the story is told both in the here and now and in retrospect. I loved it because everyone was flawed but still likeable (I hate it when there are obviously ‘good’ and ‘bad’ caricatures in a story), I loved the complicated lives and choices made and I really loved the garden setting. This isn’t so fanciful, given the “rights of nature” movement, which Robert Macfarlane has described as “the new animism”. Two years ago, Macfarlane reported on a move by residents of the US city of Toledo to draw up an emergency “bill of rights” for Lake Erie, granting it legal personhood and according it rights in law to “exist, flourish, and naturally evolve”. But it wasn’t quite that simple. “Ecosystems are not human, and they certainly don’t bear human responsibilities,” argued the bill’s organisers. “Rather, nature requires its own unique rights that recognise its needs and characteristics.” Kate Sawyer has created a dystopia so unerringly familiar that it can make you laugh and shiver simultaneously. Sensual and hopeful, this is a pacey and surprisingly relatable read * Gemma Reeves, author of Victoria Park *

month - Kate Sawyer - The Stranding - Jo Book review of the month - Kate Sawyer - The Stranding - Jo

She herself has been through some trauma though, and as the eldest sister she was put in some positions of responsibility that should never have been hers to bear.I'm sure all readers of This Family will have differing opinions on which characters they liked, and which characters they disliked, especially when considering the three sisters (Emma, Phoebe, and Rosie), based on their own personalities and preferences.