Elmet

By: Fiona Mozley
Location: FIC MOZ
Genre: Literary Fiction- Man Booker


"I was so impressed with this debut novel which was nominated for the 2017 Booker Prize. Fiona Mozley covers a lot of ground - family love and loyalty, moral questions over fairness and greed and how justice is realized ."- Angela

“We all grow into our coffins, Danny. And I saw myself growing into mine.”  

 

“It wasn’t all that wonderful, all the time. Those men who would come together so naturally to support one another would go home drunk and beat their wives.” Ewart was caught for a moment. Vivien continued. “There are dreams, Ewart, and there are memories. And there are memories of dreams.”
 Fresh and distinctive writing from an exciting new voice in fiction, Elmet is an unforgettable novel about family, as well as a beautiful meditation on landscape.


Daniel is heading north. He is looking for someone. The simplicity of his early life with Daddy and Cathy has turned sour and fearful. They lived apart in the house that Daddy built for them with his bare hands. They foraged and hunted. When they were younger, Daniel and Cathy had gone to school. But they were not like the other children then, and they were even less like them now. Sometimes Daddy disappeared, and would return with a rage in his eyes. But when he was at home he was at peace. He told them that the little copse in Elmet was theirs alone. But that wasn't true. Local men, greedy and watchful, began to circle like vultures. All the while, the terrible violence in Daddy grew.

Atmospheric and unsettling, Elmet is a lyrical commentary on contemporary society and one family's precarious place in it, as well as an exploration of how deep the bond between father and child can go. 

"The final 70 pages of Elmet blew me away: a crescendo of fateful violence that reaches Shakespearean proportions". Rebecca