A group of students go to Greenland in August on an archaeological dig just as a pandemic is sweeping the world. Their mission is to discover why a Viking settlement was suddenly abandoned. They have a month to complete the job. Wow, this is spooky stuff. There are supernatural undertones, fear they will never get off the island, discord within the group and then a despair which results in each writing a last letter home. Compulsive and unexpected, I found it hard to put down.
THE EXCEPTIONAL DEBUT FROM THE AUTHOR OF THE FELL
'I revelled in Cold Earth. Brilliant' Penelope Lively
'Chilling and remarkable... Moss is a master at evoking suspense' Guardian
On the west coast of Greenland, a team of archaeologists searching for traces of lost Viking settlements receives news from back home: a deadly pandemic has swept across the world. As the Arctic winter approaches and their communications with the outside world fail, the six abandoned souls are left fighting for survival, writing letters to loved ones they may never receive.
Cold Earth is a chilling, haunting and scarily prescient tale of grief, isolation and the will to survive.
'Unnerving, ambitious... utterly absorbing and - appropriately enough - very chilling' Daily Mail
'Moss is such a master at evoking the suspense of both the dread and the anticipation of this situation that readers will be tempted to turn to the end of the book to relieve anxieties. Try to control yourself, if only for the sake of appreciating her technique' Jane Smiley, Guardian
'Moss's stark writing delivers stinging splashes of cold water. Every element of the novel is distilled for purity of purpose. Holding it, the white cover and the blue edges imitate an artefact carved from ice' The Times
'[An] unnerving, ambitious debut - it's promising stuff: utterly absorbing and - appropriately enough - very chilling' Daily Mail
Author
About Sarah Moss
Sarah Moss was educated at Oxford University and is a senior Lecturer in Literature and Place at the Cornwall Campus of Exeter University. She spent 2009-10 as a visiting lecturer at the University of Reykavik. She co-edits, with Nicola Humble, the Food series at Manchester University Press. Night Waking is her second novel.
