Description

SHORTLISTED FOR THE SCOTLAND’S NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR DEBUT FICTION
FINALIST FOR THE LOS ANGELES TIMES BOOK PRIZE FOR FIRST FICTION

‘Ambitious, wildly original … it will trick and tease you to the bitter end.’
THE TIMES

‘Singular and potent … Unsettling and sharply funny with carefully built-up layers of dis-ease in a comic deadpan.’
GUARDIAN

‘A masterclass in misdirection.’
FINANCIAL TIMES

‘Unsettling, puckish, and brilliantly written, this novel is an absolute one-off.’
CLAIRE FULLER, Women’s Prize shortlisted author of Unsettled Ground

‘Magical, perplexing, and funny in a wholly original way.’
RACHEL YODER, author of Nightbitch

‘A remarkable, preternatural study of a family reckoning with its own history.’
THE TELEGRAPH

‘An acid trip of a novel. Weird, sinister and darkly funny.’
AMY TWIGG, author of Spoilt Creatures

‘An unforgettable narrative voice.’
FRANCINE TOON, bestselling author of Pine

As always with these things, it started with a birthday party.

On a bright summer day in 1989 New England, Abi, three years old, vanishes from her aunt’s secluded home. Upstairs, her young cousins are looking out of the window. Something is unfolding in the distance at the edge of the forest – something sinister that is watching them back.

The adults don’t seem to notice that the youngest of the group has disappeared. Too busy bickering over politics and reminiscing about the family’s domineering late matriarch, Beezy, they leave the children with no choice but to get Abi back themselves. As the cousins embark on a quest through their grandmother’s sprawling estate, buried family secrets come to light and long-awaited plans are set in motion. Will they lose themselves while trying to find her?

Idle Grounds is a chilling, evocative and darkly comic debut about childhood, legacy, and the burdens and privileges we carry with us.

Publisher Review

This debut novel is superb * The Telegraph * [An] extremely accomplished debut * Scotsman * Bamford conjures, in vivid, amplified language, how children fluidly and unpredictably make sense of the world … [Idle Grounds] is unsettlingly, sharply funny at times, with carefully built-up layers of dis-ease delivered in a comic deadpan * Guardian * Atmospheric . . . . captures an ambling quest that is by turns funny, lyrical and surreal . . . Bamford keeps us guessing until the very end * Mail on Sunday * Idle Grounds is a masterclass in misdirection * Financial Times * Unsettling, puckish, and brilliantly written, this novel is an absolute one-off. I loved it — Claire Fuller Magical, perplexing and funny in a wholly original way — Rachel Yoder Every sentence positively bristles with unease. One of the most atmospheric novels I have read in a long time. Beautifully written — Jennie Godfrey [A] gorgeous, spirited debut. Absorbing … the writing is so enthralling * Literary Review * An acid trip of a novel. Weird, sinister and darkly funny. I can’t wait to see what Bamford does next — Amy Twigg