Description

‘Hall makes language shimmer and burn.’ DAMON GALGUT
‘No one writes like Sarah Hall.’ SARAH PERRY
‘I can think of no other British writer whose talent so consistently thrills, surprises and staggers.’ BENJAMIN MYERS

A wondrous, elemental novel from ‘a writer of show-stopping genius’ (Guardian).

Helm is a ferocious, mischievous wind – a subject of folklore and wonder, who has blasted the sublime landscape of the Eden Valley since the very dawn of time.

This is Helm’s life story, formed from the chronicles of those the wind enchanted: the Neolithic tribe who tried to placate it, the Dark Age wizard priest who wanted to banish it, the Victorian steam engineer who attempted to capture it – and the farmer’s daughter who fell in love. But now Dr Selima Sutar, surrounded by measuring instruments, alone in her observation hut, fears the end is nigh.

Rich, wild and vital, Helm is the elemental tale of a unique life force – and of a relationship: between nature and people, neither of whom can weather life without the other.