“Unsettled Ground” by Claire Fuller

At 51 years old, twins Julius and Jeanie have been sequestered from the outside world their entire lives—that is, until their mother’s death. Check out our Summer 2021 pick for the LARB Book Club: “Unsettled Ground” by Claire Fuller.

August 3, 2021

Unsettled Ground was the summer 2021 LARB Book Club pick. To join the Book Club, where we put you in conversation with editors and members and send a copy of the selected title to your door, become a LARB Friend member today.

¤

“Fuller paints a devastatingly haunting picture of abject poverty, especially in her descriptions of the houses they dwell in, each of which becomes a character in its own right. This tale offers a remarkable peek into how the embrace of family can completely smother other aspects of life. Nevertheless, human ingenuity persists. . . . It’s reassuring to think that reinvention is possible after all.” —Booklist, Starred Review

From the award-winning author of Our Endless Numbered Days, Swimming Lessons, and Bitter Orange comes a brilliant novel about an unusual family held together by a string of lies, a small town with too many questions, and a sudden death that threatens to undo them all.

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.

¤

Claire Fuller was born in Oxfordshire, England. She has written three novels: Our Endless Numbered Days, which won the Desmond Elliott Prize; Swimming Lessons; and Bitter Orange. She has an MA in Creative and Critical Writing from the University of Winchester and lives in Hampshire with her husband. www.clairefuller.co.uk

¤

To view all Book Club picks, please visit the LARB Book Club page.