A poignant, funny and engrossing exploration of family life, centred around a cataclysmic event and its aftermath; from the author of Night Waking and Signs for Lost Children
Sarah Moss was educated at Oxford University and is currently an Associate Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Warwick. She is the author of four novels: Cold Earth, Night Waking, which was selected for the Fiction Uncovered Award in 2011, Bodies of Light and Signs for Lost Children; and the co-author of Chocolate: A Global History. She spent 2009-10 as a visiting lecturer at the University of Iceland, and wrote an account of her time there in Names for the Sea: Strangers in Iceland (Granta 2012), which was shortlisted for the RSL Ondaatje Prize 2013.
Sarah Moss's great gift is as a first-rate depicter of human
emotions. Her character live and breathe in the way that readers
need characters to do: as compassionate, sympathetic and
recognisable individuals we can connect with utterly, as people
struggling to cope with the realities of life... This is grown-up
writing for grown-up readers, the kind of story that makes you
think about your own life choices and close relationships. Few
novels do that with such depth and clarity as Moss's has done so
here
*Sunday Herald*
Sarah Moss is an impressively flexible writer... The Tidal Zone may
be something of a pioneer as a novel... A novel for our times... An
intensely contemporary novel, with swingeing criticisms of this
country today... An excellent read
*Guardian*
Sarah Moss is a writer of exceptional gifts, who can combine the
profound and the prosaic, the contemporary and the historic, in a
compelling narrative. She writes better than anyone I know about
the way we live now, about our fears and obsessions and dreams,
about mortality and parenthood and just keeping going from day to
day. I love her work, and I loved this book. She gives us so much.
She writes very freely and fearlessly, making up her own rules as
she goes. She is also very funny
*Margaret Drabble*
The Tidal Zone is a remarkable, passionate, funny and beautifully
furious book, full of love, history, justice and tenderness. I
recommend it to any reader with a heart, or a head
*AL Kennedy*
A breathtaking book that intertwines the sudden drama of
catastrophe with the ongoing rhythms of domestic life. I haven't
read anything that better nails the love and fear of parenting and
the complexities of marriage with children
*Stylist*
In her first four novels to date Moss has proved to be a versatile
writer... [The Tidal Zone] is different again, a contemporary story
about a family whose ordinary lives are tipped into freefall when
eldest daughter Miriam collapses one day at school. Granta is
tipping this as her breakout novel and I do hope so - she deserves
to be so much better known
*Editor's Choice, Bookseller*
Sarah Moss [is] a writer of consistently clever works. She's one of
Britain's most underrated writers... One of the things Moss does so
well in her novels is to play with your expectations. Here she
shakes up the traditional mother-father roles.
*The Times*
A clever, well-constructed, moving, funny and very well-written
novel, rooted in domestic reality but able to take on the big
themes of mortality and the fragility and preciousness of life.
Excellent
*Daily Mail*
Brilliant... [Moss] absolutely captures [...] the big dramatic
action but also wonderfully pins the small currents and rhythms of
domestic life... A rich and complex novel, very layered but also a
fast, speedy and tense read... Literally breathtaking, [...] I had
to remind myself to breathe again... [Moss] is such a good
writer... all of the great questions of life and death are here
*Monocle Arts Review*
An astute storyteller [...] Moss taps into a range of experiences
that you do not need to be a parent to feel and tackles this
extremely uncomfortable subject with tact, plausibility and flowing
prose.
*Press Association*
A sophisticated state-of-the-nation novel [that] delivers a
powerful account of private fears in the face of public
expectations and modern parenthood confronting gender politics...
Animated by wry intelligence yet comparable to a Dutch painting of
a domestic interior in its evocation of turmoil beneath stillness,
Sarah Moss's fifth novel reprises her exploration of mortal and
moral paradoxes... Bristling with contemporary teenage attitude,
this coming-of-age story is about grown-ups, for grown-ups.
*Country Life*
Moss writes soulful, ambitious prose, which takes note of the
familiar and mundane, but mostly dwells on a bigger, deeper
picture. The nature of familial love, the grip of fear imposed by a
seriously ill child, the guilt of yearning for escape; all are
examined with intelligence and emotional charge
*Big Issue*
The Tidal Zone is rich in texture and detail, and Moss expands her
narrative even further, folding in the story of Adam's father
[which] adds a new dimension [...] introducing a way of living that
relinquishes class systems, money, institutions and ideologies...
Moss' language is unflinching and she convincingly captures Adam's
inner life
*Literary Review*
Moss's new novel begins with a couple of extraordinary pages
describing three incidents in which a young girl's heart stopped...
Moss is one of our most fearless novelists [who] underline[s] how
precarious and illusory our cosy lives are
*Metro*
Sarah Moss presents a beautifully crafted portrayal of liberal
middle-class family life [to] explor[e] themes of parental love,
fear of loss, the challenges of marriage, the work-life juggle,
recovery and more... It captures things you know must be true but
had perhaps never thought of... Gripping
*Oxford Times*
Sarah Moss is an absolutely terrific writer... [A] richly detailed
and beautifully observed novel [with] all the pace and excitement
of a thriller.
*Oldie*
A big-hitter about every parent's worst fear, which in the hands of
Moss doesn't become sensationalist or clichéd
*Bookseller*
I devoured this... it's definitely going to be one of my favourite
books of the year... Profoundly moving, relevant and important
*Jen Campbell*
If you enjoy Sarah Moss' writing then I think you will love this
one... to my mind her best novel to date and if you haven't
discovered her then you have treats in story... Sarah Moss
traverses the territory with assurance and confidence. With each
book I sense an author getting better and better... Having already
made the Wellcome Book Prize shortlist twice, [Moss] must surely
make it for a third time with The Tidal Zone and surely other
accolades will follow
*Dove Grey Reader*
Within two pages you know that this is a writer who has such
talent, such ability... The writing style is perfect. It's
amazing
*Mercedes Mills*
The Tidal Zone has an astounding way of looking at a potential
tragedy within one household and simultaneously shows how it is
situated in the expansive tapestry of human experience. She does
this writing in a way which is poetic, profound and filled with wry
humour, but it's also a story firmly grounded in the small details
of real life... The Tidal Zone magnificently captures the real grit
and poignancy of daily life while framing it within a bigger
picture. It's an emotionally affecting read with realistic and
relatable characters that will keep you gripped worrying what will
happen to them.
*Lonesome Reader*
Brilliant... it examines the mundane and routing, questioning the
futility of daily rituals that we hold dear. It's everyday
magic
*Domestic Sluttery*
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