Summerwater cover art

Summerwater

A Novel

Preview

Audible Standard 30-day free trial

Try Standard free
Select 1 audiobook a month from our entire collection.
Listen to your selected audiobooks as long as you're a member.
Get unlimited access to bingeable podcasts.
Standard auto renews for £5.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Summerwater

By: Sarah Moss
Narrated by: Morven Christie
Try Standard free

£5.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for £9.71

Buy Now for £9.71

About this listen

'[Morven] Christie's narration keeps listeners rapt while maintaining rhythm with the action, be it a runner's stride, lovers' desire, a child's watchfulness. The result is a memorable marriage of remarkable fiction and outstanding performance." -- AudioFile Magazine, Earphones Award winner

The acclaimed author of Ghost Wall offers a new, devastating, masterful novel of subtle menace

They rarely speak to each other, but they take notice—watching from the safety of their cabins, peering into the half-lit drizzle of a Scottish summer day, making judgments from what little they know of their temporary neighbors. On the longest day of the year, the hours pass nearly imperceptibly as twelve people go from being strangers to bystanders to allies, their attention forced into action as tragedy sneaks into their lives.

At daylight, a mother races up the mountain, fleeing into her precious dose of solitude. A retired man studies her return as he reminisces about the park’s better days. A young woman wonders about his politics as she sees him head for a drive with his wife, and tries to find a moment away from her attentive boyfriend. A teenage boy escapes the scrutiny of his family, braving the dark waters of the loch in a kayak. This cascade of perspective shows each wrapped up in personal concerns, unknown to each other, as they begin to notice one particular family that doesn’t seem to belong. Tensions rise, until nightfall brings an irrevocable turn.

From Sarah Moss, the acclaimed author of Ghost Wall—a “riveting” (Alison Hagy, The New York Times Book Review) “sharp tale of suspense” (Margaret Tablot, The New Yorker), Summerwater is a searing exploration of our capacity for kinship and cruelty, and a gorgeous evocation of the natural world that bears eternal witness.

A Macmillan Audio production from Farrar, Straus and Giroux

“Sharp, searching, thoroughly imagined, Summerwater is utterly of the moment, placing its anxious human dots against a vast, indifferent landscape; with its wit and verve and beautiful organization, it throws much contemporary writing into the shade!”—Hilary Mantel, author of The Mirror & the Light

Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Literary Fiction World Literature Marriage

Critic reviews

"Sharp, searching, thoroughly imagined, Summerwater is utterly of the moment, placing its anxious human dots against a vast indifferent landscape; with its wit and verve and beautiful organisation it throws much contemporary writing into the shade!"
- Hilary Mantel

No reviews yet