I have enjoyed Claire Fuller’s work, especially Our Endless Numbered Days, which I thought was excellent. Unsettled Ground didn’t quite do it for me, I’m afraid.
Fuller paints her usual penetrating and humane portraits of her main characters, in this case a pair of twins living on the margins of rural society whose world is shaken when their mother dies. It is in many ways a very fine portrait of hardship, resilience, loss and grief and also a very good picture of what life is like for those who are well out of society’s mainstream. Although this was very well done (of course it is – Fuller is brilliant at it) as a whole I found the book rather a slog to get through. It’s quite bleak and oppressive much of the time and I could have done with a little more leaven of engaging events, or even a bit of humour.
I suspect that that the problem may be at least partly to do with me, in that a somewhat oppressive story based around two people having a tough time isn’t really what I need as we start our third, prolonged, lockdown. Others got on much better with it and there’s no doubt that Claire Fuller is a fine writer so don’t be put off by me, but I can only give this a qualified recommendation.
(My thanks to Penguin Books for an ARC via NetGalley.)
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