When fifty one year old twins Jeanie and Julius Seeder’s mother Dot collapses and dies of a stroke they could not have envisaged how their lives would change so dramatically and how many secrets her passing would unlock.

I absolutely love the way that Claire Fuller writes. She has a wonderful gift with words and her beautifully rich descriptions can make even the mundane spring to life before you. Her characters are so well developed and you watch in fascination as the twins relationship changes as do their interactions with others as their lives spiral downwards. I love Julius name - a little stroke of genius especially as his story unfolds. This is a tale that contains harshness especially surviving poverty, being further kicked when you are down with some characters encircling the pair like ravenous wolves which makes you feel anger on their behalf. Life sometimes just isn’t fair. Dot’s secrets emerge a piece at a time, the story slowly builds and builds and there are several obstacles along the journey to a more optimistic end. There are some touches of dark humour, on occasions it’s creepy and disturbing and at others it’s intriguing as you try to solve the puzzles Dot leaves behind. I love the musical elements especially the folk songs and Maude the dog is fantastic!

Overall, once agin the author enthrals with the power of her storytelling and the excellent quality of her writing in this character driven tale. I loved it.

With thanks to NetGalley and Penguin/Fig Tree for the much appreciated arc for an honest review.

With thanks to the publishers for an advance Netgalley copy in exchange for an honest review.

I’m new to Claire Fuller’s work. Whilst I felt the plot development was somewhat slowly paced, and the supplementary characters weren’t developed to great depth, this was made up for by the fascinating depiction of the central characters - twins Julius and Jeanie - as they go through a pretty terrible time on the face of it. I was particularly drawn to the detailed descriptions of nature, their garden and their work outside; beautiful prose and a striking mix of tender and raw imagery.

Claire Fuller’s talent for bringing society’s outsiders to the emotional heart of her novels is put to brilliant use with Jeanie Seeder, the endearing, infuriating and vividly memorable heroine of her compelling new book, Unsettled Ground. Jeanie and her twin Julius have grown up like a latter-day Hansel and Gretel in a ramshackle fairy-tale cottage that is, in reality, just off the A34. After losing the mother who has ruled their lives, Jeanie and Julius find themselves hurled at the age of 51 into a spiral of misfortune that they are spectacularly ill-equipped to resolve. Jeanie’s understanding of the modern world is especially fragile, and her unpredictable, often bizarre attempts to deal with the crises that befall her are both hilarious and heart-rending.

A masterpiece of faultless prose and effortless storytelling, Unsettled Ground will have readers racing to find out how Jeanie copes with the fall-out from her mother’s long-hidden secrets and dangerous passions, whilst rooting for her all the way.

There is so much to admire in Claire Fuller's latest novel, it's hard to know where to start. ''Unsettled Ground' is the story of 51 year old twins, Julius and Jeanie, who live an isolated, rural, hand-to-mouth existence with their mother, Dot. The novel opens with Dot's death, and the twins' struggles to give her a decent burial with no money. As the story progresses, and the twins' financial situation becomes ever more precarious,, secrets that their mother has been keeping all their lives begin to emerge. 'Unsettled Ground' had me gripped from page one, and not just because of the intriguing storyline. Fuller's prose is a work of genius, she conjures characters so adeptly, creating such a vivid, heartbreaking story of accidental homelessness, extreme poverty and the far reaching consequences of adult illiteracy. The scenes in which Jeanie, one of the twins, struggles to buy food in a supermarket, and is forced at one point to spend the night in a public lavatory, were truly moving. Fuller's story brought home to me how much I take for granted every day, how life is so much easier if you can read. But this isn't a depressing novel at all, rather it highlights the power of the human spirit to keep fighting in the face of adversity, and the enduring strength of love. I was really looking forward to reading Claire Fuller's latest offering, knowing I was in for a treat, and 'Unsettled Ground' didn't disappoint.

Twin siblings Julius and Jeanie have always lived with their mother Dot in relative poverty (and almost complete isolation). The twins are 51 when Dot dies and suddenly, the only world which they know and in which they are comfortable is threatening to be torn apart. While it’s difficult to get their heads around the reality of their mother no longer being there, Jeanie and Julius begin to discover Dot’s secrets – and these are just as unsettling. The twins want to do all they can to maintain their private, closed off world – but what does that really mean, and what are they willing to do to achieve it? This is a claustrophobic read, tinged with sadness and emotion. It’s very hard not to feel for Jeanie and Julius and you are sympathetic to their plight, if not their actions.

Unsettled Ground is the tale of twins Julius and Jeanie who live with their mother Dot in a small cottage after their father's tragic death many years previously. After Dot herself dies their lives fall apart as the truth about her unravels while Jeanie finds herself having to survive in abject poverty while taking care of her feckless brother.

Claire Fuller writes books that move me. Her style is similar to that of Anne Tyler, with a slow pace which nevertheless keeps me turning the page. Can't ask for anything more. Many thanks to NetGalley and Fig Tree for the opportunity to read and review this exceptional book.

Fifty one year old twins Jeanie and Julius have lived alone with their mother Dot in a run-down cottage with minimal archaic facilities since they witnessed the horrific death of their father when they were 12. Scratching a hand to mouth existence, they sell any surplus food and eggs from their small holding via an “honesty box” stall at the end of the lane and the local upmarket deli which will only pay them for any produce they actually sell. After Dot’s sudden death their lives are thrown into disarray when the rug is pulled completely from under them and they must somehow find a way to survive with few friends and no real experience to fall back on. The hardest part is negotiating their way through the maze of local people keen to take advantage of them and knowing who the handful of people they can trust really are.
This could so easily have been a dreary misery memoir and yet the cleverly crafted plot keeps it moving at sufficient pace that I wanted to read on to find out what happened. There were so many “what if’s” in Jeanie’s life. What if her dyslexia had been diagnosed at school and she’d learned to read? What if she hadn’t had to miss so much school when rheumatic fever had left her with a weakened heart? What if their mother hadn’t brought them up to be too proud to accept help, even in the form of the free prescription Dot was entitled to that would have prevented her dying from the stroke? What if they’d had the confidence to use their one real talent, incredible musical ability to earn a living? Like Fuller’s Swimming Lessons, I found I didn’t actually like most of the characters but by the end I was rooting for Jeanie so strongly I found myself worry about her when I woke in the night.

When Julius and Jeanie Seeder' find their mother dead on an early spring morning, it is clear that their lives are about to change. What they don't realise is how much of the lives they have already lived are going to be changed in retrospect once they discover their mother's long kept secrets.
This novel was both a joy to read an at times deeply sad. The prose is gorgeous, beautiful sentences and description that elevates even the most mundane and, occasionally, grim moments of daily British life. The characters feel real and well-fleshed out, even if, due to the British pastoral element it does at time feel to have shades of The Archers (no bad thing in my book!)
This isn't a jolly countryside tale, however, at times it is gruelling and I found myself mentally begging the author to give these poor characters a break- not since reading A Little Life have I felt that an author has put such an innocent character through the wringer, but, Jeanie Seeder is bloody tough! It is a story of survival; surviving poverty, surviving the aftermath of what is tantamount to abuse, surviving cruelty of fate and other people.
For me the book had strong echoes of Jez Butterworth's play Jerusalem for the rural cast of characters, the living outside of society and the looming sense of dread. Bruce Chatwin's On The Black Hill and Helen Dunmore's A Spell of Winter. At times heart-breaking with not just chinks of light, but great big shafts of them and the most beautiful description of cold and horticulture that I have read for quite some time. Highly recommend.

Unsettled Ground by Claire Fuller is about a brother and sister in their fifties struggling to manage after their mother's death and finding out things that she had kept from them.

This was a compulsive read, I could hardly put it down.
Julius and Jeanie live in a small cottage with their mother, Dot, a close family united by the death of their father/husband many years ago. When tragedy strikes, the life they thought would continue begins to unravel. Secrets are hinted at by their friends and acquaintances in the town, but no one seems capable of being honest with the siblings. Subterfuge, ignorance and eventually violence start to tear apart the modest life they have.
I found it heartbreaking at times, with no guarantee for a happy ending, because life simply isn’t like that. The resourcefulness and strength of Jeanie in particular stands out and you want to make everything ok for her, because she deserves that so much.
It’s written in a quiet, measured style that is very effective. The settings are effectively drawn and the gentle beauty of the landscape sits in perfect harmony with the turmoil of the characters.
A very rewarding book.