March 2009 Good Housekeeping selection.
Shortlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction 2009
With an extraordinary portrayal of how the mind reconfigures when Alzheimer’s takes hold, this novel is about a man called Jake and the loosening of his grip on the world. A deeply involving foray into the mind that reveals the essence of the man is still there and fighting.
Lovereading view...
This is an incredibly thoughtful and insightful debut novel. Tackling the issue of Alzheimer’s from the sufferer’s point of view Harvey tells a thoughtful and sensitive story. Compelling stuff.
| Primary Genre | Modern and Contemporary Fiction |
| Recommendations: |
Win a Copy of The Sisters of Hope Square by Faith Hogan and a Bucket List Scratch Book
Closing date: 04/07/2026
FROM THE AUTHOR OF 2024 BOOKER PRIZE WINNING ORBITAL
It's Jake's birthday. 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, the key events of his life shift, and what until recently seemed solid fact melts into surreal imaginings. Is his daughter alive or long dead? And why exactly is his son in prison? There was a cherry tree once, and a yellow dress, but what do they mean? Is there anything he'll be able to salvage from the wreckage?
*cover may vary*
'Deeply original and captivating… [a novel] so full of urgent life that it rouses even as it terrifies' OLIVIA LAING, OBSERVER
'Brilliant… An extraordinary dramatization of a mind in the process of disintegration' THE TIMES
The Wilderness features in the following genres: Modern and Contemporary Fiction, eBooks of the Month, General Fiction, Fiction, Recommendations
The Wilderness is available in Paperback
The Wilderness was written by Samantha Harvey and published by Vintage an imprint of Random House
The Wilderness has 328 pages
£9.89
