A captivating, magical and haunting debut novel of breathtaking imagination, from the winner of the 2014 Costa Short Story Award
LONGLISTED FOR THE 2019 INTERNATIONAL DYLAN THOMAS PRIZE
'That rare thing: genuinely unique' OBSERVER
'Will win you over ... Magical' THE TIMES
'Absolutely stunning. I loved it' MADELINE MILLER, AUTHOR OF CIRCE
On the remote island of Neverness, the villagers' lives are entwined with nature: its enchantments, seductions and dangers. There is May, the young fiddler who seeks her musical spirit; Madden Lightfoot, who flies with red kites; and Verlyn Webbe, born with a wing for an arm. Over the course of a generation, their desires, gossip and heartbreak interweave to create a staggeringly original world, crackling with echoes of ancient folklore.
Genre: Fantasy
LONGLISTED FOR THE 2019 INTERNATIONAL DYLAN THOMAS PRIZE
'That rare thing: genuinely unique' OBSERVER
'Will win you over ... Magical' THE TIMES
'Absolutely stunning. I loved it' MADELINE MILLER, AUTHOR OF CIRCE
On the remote island of Neverness, the villagers' lives are entwined with nature: its enchantments, seductions and dangers. There is May, the young fiddler who seeks her musical spirit; Madden Lightfoot, who flies with red kites; and Verlyn Webbe, born with a wing for an arm. Over the course of a generation, their desires, gossip and heartbreak interweave to create a staggeringly original world, crackling with echoes of ancient folklore.
Genre: Fantasy
Praise for this book
"I was thoroughly absorbed. Zoe Gilbert's invented folk-world is sensuous and dangerous and thick with magic." - Tessa Hadley
"An utterly tantalising new voice. With Folk, Gilbert casts a powerful spell, creating a world on the page that feels as old as the hills and yet exquisitely alive ... To read Folk is to find oneself rapt." - Alison MacLeod
"Folk is absolutely stunning. I loved it. With gorgeous, incantatory prose, it submerges you in a mysterious and utterly compelling world. Its illumination lingers long after you close the book." - Madeline Miller
"Brilliant. It's visceral and savage, but the savagery always comes with a light touch ... The stories all have a beautiful fairytale quality that makes them look like they were spun out of one of Neverness's half-magic mists. It's a gorgeous, uneasy siren of a book." - Natasha Pulley
"An utterly tantalising new voice. With Folk, Gilbert casts a powerful spell, creating a world on the page that feels as old as the hills and yet exquisitely alive ... To read Folk is to find oneself rapt." - Alison MacLeod
"Folk is absolutely stunning. I loved it. With gorgeous, incantatory prose, it submerges you in a mysterious and utterly compelling world. Its illumination lingers long after you close the book." - Madeline Miller
"Brilliant. It's visceral and savage, but the savagery always comes with a light touch ... The stories all have a beautiful fairytale quality that makes them look like they were spun out of one of Neverness's half-magic mists. It's a gorgeous, uneasy siren of a book." - Natasha Pulley
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Used availability for Zoe Gilbert's Folk