Elmet

A quiet explosion of a book, exquisite and unforgettable * The Economist *
Elmet is in so many ways a wonder to behold. It is also this year’s David among the predictable Goliaths on the Booker list. How thrilling if David were to win against them * Evening Standard *
Exceptional in every way * Mail on Sunday *
A work of troubling beauty … Brutal, bleak, ethereal * New Statesman *
Mozley is a gifted writer … Pastoral idyll, political exposé, cosy family saga and horror tale, it reads like a traditional children’s story that turns into a gangster film: Hansel and Gretel meets The Godfather * Sunday Times *
An impressive slice of contemporary noir steeped in Yorkshire legend … Elmet possesses a rich and unfussy lyricism * Guardian *
A rare find of a book and a truly startling debut … a fascinating and unique tale shot through with gothic elements of Yorkshire folklore and fable. A poignant and powerful story, relevant now more than ever in a time when many in the countryside feel disenfranchised and unheard, Elmet packs a punch * Stylist, Book Wars *
Rhythmic and lilting … a rich and earthy tale * Financial Times *
At its best, it reminds you of Cormac McCarthy’s The Road * Metro *
A cleverly constructed rural Gothic fable written in palatably simple prose … Elmet is a marvellous achievement * TLS *
A novel that straddles the centuries, simultaneously modern and backward-looking, Hardeyesque yet fully engaged with contemporary politics * Literary Review *
With subtle colloquial dialogue and vibrant descriptive passages, this is an evocative read, which deserves attention * Sunday Independent *
Spellbinding … What is so memorable is the sense of utter desolation of this family. They are as outside our world as Lear and Edgar on the heath * The Spectator, Books of the Year *
An amazingly brilliant debut novel … and a work of extraordinary Yorkshire grit … exquisite * Guardian, Books of the Year *
Lyrical and mythic … a beguiling patchwork of influences held together by Mozley’s distinct voice * New York Times *
A magical debut novel … this dazzling debut feels steeped in a more primitive, violent past … in seductively poetic prose, the book shines a light on the toll of power wielded cruelly, as well as on a countering force: the extraordinary sustenance family devotion can provide * People Magazine, Book of the Week *
Fiona Mozley’s remarkable debut looks at life on the margins of society … A darkly evocative tale that lingers in one’s mind * Financial Times, Books of the Year *
A cracking read. Darkly lyrical and full of violence, Mozley’s Yorkshire owes something to Ted Hughes, something to older, deeper folk tales and fables. She’s a name to watch * Observer, Books of the Year *
The breakout debut was the surprise dark horse on the Man Booker shortlist this year. A restless, fiercely felt novel about the deep bonds within an outlaw family in rural Yorkshire, it combines a demanding lyrical intensity with passages of astonishing violence and marks out Mozley, not yet 30, as a writer of great promise * Metro, Books of the Year *
Fiona Mozley might have been the surprise debut author on last year’s Man Booker prize shortlist , but her story of a bare-knuckle fighter who retreats to a Yorkshire copse with his children is deserving of the attention it received. Elmet taps into an almost mythological world where “Daddy” shapes his children to be “more like an army than a family”. Its politics are fascinating too - there’s much to chew on here about how we define the disenfranchised * Observer *
A modern West Riding Western with the most memorable climax since Golgotha. Haunting, page-turning with characters that burst on to the page * FT, Summer Reads *

FIONA MOZLEY is the author of two previous novels, Elmet and Hot Stew. She is the winner of a Somerset Maugham Award and the Polari Prize, and has been shortlisted for the Booker Prize, the Ondaatje Prize and the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award. She was longlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize and the Women’s Prize. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and lives in Edinburgh.

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