Ripeness

Moving from 60s Italy to contemporary Ireland, Ripeness is a breathtaking story of love and the search for belonging from Sarah Moss, bestselling author of Summerwater

'The achievement of a lifetime, written by one of the best writers alive' - Jessie Burton

'A book of lasting pleasures' - Eleanor Catton

'Her work is as close to perfect as a novelist’s can be' - The Times

On the brink of adulthood and just out of school, Edith finds herself travelling to rural Italy. She has been sent by her mother with strict instructions: to see her sister, ballet dancer Lydia, through the final weeks of her pregnancy, help at the birth and then make a phone call which will seal this baby’s fate, and his mother’s.

Decades later, happily divorced and newly energized, Edith is living a life of contentment and comfort in Ireland. When her best friend Maebh receives a call from an American man claiming to be her brother, Maebh must decide if she will meet him, and Edith finds herself plunged back into her own past . . .

'Tender and rueful . . . Sarah Moss is a marvel of insight and eloquence' - Emma Donoghue

'One of our greatest living writers' - Katherine May, author of Wintering

Praise for Sarah Moss:

'Throws much contemporary writing into the shade' - Hilary Mantel

‘One of our very best contemporary novelists’ - Independent

'A brilliant mind' - The Guardian

'Moss has quietly been putting out some of the most interesting and carefully sculpted novels of recent years' - Financial Times

'One of the finest contemporary writers working in Britain today' - Stylist

'Is Sarah Moss the best British writer never nominated for the Booker?' - Daily Mail

'Nothing escapes her sly humour and brilliant touch' - Jessie Burton

'The most brilliant writer. She deserves to win all the prizes' - Joanna Trollope