Unsettled Ground
Fiction
Tin House Books
May 18, 2021
Hardcover
327
Purchased
At fifty-one years old, twins Jeanie and Julius still live with their mother, Dot, in rural isolation in the English countryside. The cottage they have shared their entire lives is their only protection against the modernizing world around them. Inside its walls, they make music, and in its garden, they grow everything they need to survive. To an outsider, it looks like poverty; to them, it is home.
But when Dot dies unexpectedly, the world they’ve so carefully created begins to fall apart. The cottage they love, and the security it offered, is taken back by their landlord, exposing the twins to harsh truths and even harsher realities. Seeing a new future, Julius becomes torn between the loyalty he feels towards his sister and his desire for independence, while Jeanie struggles to find work and a home for them both. And just when it seems there might be a way forward, a series of startling secrets from their mother’s past come to the surface, forcing the twins to question who they are, and everything they know of their family’s history.
In Unsettled Ground, award-winning author Claire Fuller masterfully builds a tale of sacrifice and hope, of homelessness and hardship, of love and survival, in which two marginalized and remarkable people uncover long-held family secrets and, in their own way, repair, recover, and begin again.
Another review of a book that is all about the characters, with very little plot. This one is very dark, and extremely sad, while at the same time hopeful and beautiful. The writing in this book immerses you into the story so that you can feel the earth under your fingers and the desolation in your heart. These two characters were so memorable, and so well written, and I don't know if I've ever wanted everything to work out more than I did with this book! Jeanie and Julius were put into situations that I don't know if even I would know how to deal with, and I feel I have a lot more "worldly knowledge" than they did. I spent the entire book waiting for someone to care enough to help them help themselves. There is a twist toward the end that I had already figured out, so that wasn't anything revelatory for me, but may add extra intrigue for some readers. The ending was certainly not happy, but it was hopeful, and with all that happens to the characters, I was grateful settling for that.
A beautifully written, very quiet account of the devastating lives of sheltered twins left to navigate their world after the death of their mother. This book is nominated for the Women's Prize for Fiction, and that honor is very well deserved.
