Samantha Harvey

It's Jake's birthday. He is sitting in a small plane, being flown over the landscape that has been the backdrop to his life - his childhood, his marriage, his work, his passions. Now he is in his early sixties, and he isn't quite the man he used to be. He has lost his wife, his son is in prison, and he is about to lose his past. Jake has Alzheimer's. As the disease takes hold of him, Jake struggles to hold on to his personal story, to his memories and identity, but they become increasingly elusive and unreliable. What happened to his daughter? Is she alive, or long dead? And why exactly is his son in prison? What went so wrong in his life? There was a cherry tree once, and a yellow dress, but what exactly do they mean? As Jake, assisted by 'poor Eleanor', a childhood friend with whom for some unfathomable reason he seems to be sleeping, fights the inevitable dying of the light, the key events of his life keep changing as he tries to grasp them, and what until recently seemed solid fact is melting into surreal dreams or nightmarish imaginings. Is there anything he'll be able to salvage from the wreckage? Beauty, perhaps, the memory of love, or nothing at all? From the first sentence to the last, "The Wilderness" holds us in its grip. This is writing of extraordinary power and beauty.

Staunch Könyvdíj, 2019 Walter Scott történelmi regénydíj, 2019 - jelölés Waterstones: az év könyvei, 2019 Hit, morál és az emberi természet örök ellentmondásai. 15. század, Anglia, Somerset megye. Oakhamet, ezt a kis falut széles folyó vágja el a világtól, még hídja sincs. Húshagyókedd hajnalán egy férfi holttestét sodorja partra a víz. Nem tudni, baleset, öngyilkosság vagy gyilkosság történt. A falu lelkésze, John Reve, gyóntatóként ismeri hívei életét, de vajon képes lesz kideríteni, mi okozta a falu leggazdagabb és legszorgalmasabb embere, Thomas Newman tragédiáját? Napról napra haladunk visszafelé az időben az áldozat halálának pillanatáig. A történetet a lelkész meséli el, aki türelmes pásztora tévelygő nyájának, de neki is vannak sötét titkai... „Katartikus, lélegzetelállító regény.” - New York Times Book Review „Életre kelti a középkori Angliát...” - Washington Post „Középkori whodunnit… valóságos időutazás. Hasonló élményt nyújt, mint Hilary Mantel könyvei.” - Financial Times „Irodalmi igényű detektívregény.” - Sunday Times „Samantha Harvey prózája fénylően gyönyörű.” - Daily Express