You can pre-order your copy here.Finalist for the Women’s Prize in Fiction Unsettled Ground is published on the 25th March 2021 by the Fig Tree imprint of Penguin Random House and it’s just been longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction! Thank you so much to PRH for sending me a review copy. That being said, Fuller is clearly an accomplished writer and I’ve seen a lot of rave reviews for her latest novel, so if you’re interested by the premise, it might be better for you to cast your own judgement! Lots to admire, but a few aspects that didn’t quite work for me. I also felt let down by the big reveal of the plot it was very predictable and therefore quite anti-climatic. Even the chapters set in the town away from the farm seemed dated except for the odd reference to modern technology, so I was a bit confused when the book was meant to be set. Although Fuller pays a lot of attention to the setting of her novel, I do feel that it got a bit lost between the archaic setting of the farm and the outside world.
Unsettled Ground is described as a thriller/suspense fiction, but it wasn’t quite what I was expecting. Grief-stricken, both Jeanie and Julius do everything that they can to survive, but as they begin to question why their mother kept them living at home way into their adulthood, they soon realise all of the things that they have been missing out on in life: education and the chance for a family of their own. There are some really beautiful descriptive passages about their garden and the surrounding farmland Fuller really paints it as a retreat away from the fast-pace of modern life and at times I forgot that I was reading a contemporary novel and not a classic.ĭespite their initial closeness, things start to hot up when the cracks in the twins’ relationship start to show. Their living situation on the fringes of society immediately isolates them, yet they remain bonded within the walls of the old cottage by their music and love of nature. What stood out most when reading this book was the intimate relationship between the twins. Atmospheric and, as the title suggests, unsettling, Fuller puts her own spin on the thriller genre in this novel of deceit and betrayal. They live a tranquil and simple life, but when Dot suddenly dies, the twins are left in a desperate situation as secrets about their mother begin to unravel.
At the age of 51, twins Jeanie and Julius still live with their mother, Dot, in extreme poverty in a small rural cottage.
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