Description

‘A genuine masterpiece’ Observer
‘Spectacular’ Maggie O’Farrell
‘Beautiful’ Hilary Mantel
‘Fascinating… bold and masterful’ Max Porter

The highly anticipated new novel from the Costa-award winning, three-times Booker-longlisted author of Reservoir 13.

Doc Wright could be two steps or two miles from his team. In an ice storm, distance loses meaning. No one can see. No one answers their radio. All he can do is keep going, but something has gone wrong inside his head.

Back home, he is the only one who can explain what happened to them in Antarctica. But after what changed on the ice, everything has lost its meaning. Now his wife, Anna, must become his carer. Now he must find a new way to be in the world. All he can do is try to tell his story – even if words fail him.

‘The most gripping piece of writing I’ve read in a long time: Sit. Read. Applaud’ Jarvis Cocker

‘Extraordinarily tense and atmospheric’ Telegraph

‘Exceptional… I absolutely loved it’ David Nicholls, author of Sweet Sorrow

‘Gripping, moving, magnificent’ Kamila Shamsie, author of Home Fire

A WHITE REVIEW BOOK OF THE YEAR * A WATERSTONES BOOK OF THE MONTH

Publisher Review

Praise for Lean Fall Stand: 'Gripping, moving, magnificent' Kamila Shamsie, author of Home Fire 'Jon McGregor has crafted a unique narrative, encompassing frozen wastes & altered interior landscapes. The most gripping piece of writing I've read in a long time: Sit. Read. Applaud' Jarvis Cocker 'Utterly original. Jaw-dropping. The sort of book you'll think about for ages' Paula Hawkins, author of Girl on the Train 'Another McGregor novel that, beneath its serene surface, takes huge risks ... Fortunately, it's also another McGregor novel that triumphantly gets away with it' The Times 'Lean Fall Stand is a beautiful piece of work and should win a roomful of prizes. Jon McGregor writes plainly and exactly, like a poet, and the precision of his writing makes every heartbeat register' Hilary Mantel, author of The Mirror and the Light 'A spectacular book ... It does what Jon McGregor does so well: examine the widening ripples of a single event. I read it again, as soon as I'd finished' Maggie O'Farrell, author of Hamnet 'Opens as excitingly as any work of fiction I've recently read ... It's extraordinarily tense and atmospheric - and McGregor's prose is tight as a wire' Telegraph 'Exceptional. ... So moving, and the use of language is remarkable. I absolutely loved it' David Nicholls, author of Sweet Sorrow 'A genuinely fascinating book and a troubling, riveting reading experience. A bold and masterful investigation into the weather system of the human mind' Max Porter, author of The Death of Francis Bacon 'A genuine masterpiece: poised, multilayered and full of the most astonishingly beautiful prose' Alex Preston, Observer 'McGregor's precise, well-judged prose attests to both the power of language and to the havoc created by its loss' Financial Times