Sarah Moss is one of those authors I have wanted to get to for what feels like ages because I had this feeling that I would adore her work. But sometimes that feeling of a potential favourite author makes me to anxious to actually pick up a book (this is irrational, I know), so I finally jumped at the chance to read and review her newest novel, because it sounds brilliant and it is quite short (I love short books). And I still think that Sarah Moss might be a potential favourite author, even if this book did not quite blow me away.

This book is set over a period of a couple of days, days Silvie and her family are spending in a experimental archeological setting, together with a professor and a few of his students. While the students can sleep in tents, Silvie's controlling and obsessive father forces his family to sleep in what he deems "authentic" huts. Silvie latches onto the sole female student, while trying not to make her father angry (and obviously failing, because he always finds something to be angry about). Moss uses this setting to showcast a variety of awful things: abuse and dysfunctional family dynamics, misogyny and sexism, classism and racism. She does so adeptly and impressively, but it does make for a rather grim reading experience.

The setting and the atmosphere are the biggest strength of this book. Told in long, run-on sentences (a style I particularly enjoy), Sarah Moss plays with the limited variation of their everyday life. The atmosphere becomes ever more oppressive and instilled with a sense of foreboding that made me very scared for Silvie. Moss is in perfect command of her language in a way that made me savour the words and excited for more of her books.

In the end, this book is more a collection of clever observations and vivid scenes than a cohesive whole - it is extremely well-done but did not always work for me. It felt longer than its less than 200 pages because spending time in Silvie's life is suffocating and repetitive, and while I know that this was on purpose and done exceedingly well, I did not always enjoy my reading experience.

A well written book however I did loose track of what’s was happening and need to go back over it . It’s not my favourite Sarah Moss book

A brilliantly crafted and powerful novella that nevertheless suffers from a rather dreary atmosphere. The narrative propels itself along but, while I was impressed by Sarah Moss's writing, I didn't really enjoy reading it. Feels like a book you admire rather than love.

Powerful and raw, Ghost Wall narrates a summer reenactment of Iron Age life, supposedly all part of a university course. The heat of the summer adds to the themes of oppression and abuse, as a girl is prepared to undergo the ritual of Iron Age sacrifice, alongside present day abuse.

For such a short piece, this packs a tremendous punch. Recommended.

I devoured this quiet, contemplative book in a single train journey. Fascinating exploration of family dynamics and modern living when a family go on holiday to live as if they were in the stone age, hunting and gathering, and how the different gender roles play a part.

I found this somewhat underwhelming, and didn't care for the writing style with its lack of speech marks. The story started promisingly, but then the modern-day story of Sylvie and her family, at the archeological settlement was, for me at least, pretty flat and I found myself skipping over pages to reach the promised 'terrifying climax' only to find that it wasn't.
Thanks to the publisher for a review copy of this book.

This is a brilliant short novel from Sarah Moss. She puts together gender, abuse of power, class and more.
Moss' expertise in writing is very clear in this book as well. She created a complicated relationship between Sylvie and her father. The past warm memories and current situation raised the tension. Although her writing is soft and subtle, it's striking. Some parts were hard to read.

I can say it's a very good at one sitting. There's no big moves in the book, but it's quite powerful, complex and impactful. So, it's very rich but presented in a simple way.

The end was a bit quick and it could be more satisfying. But, all in all it's a masterful writing and very good read.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing a copy in exchange for an honest review.

Ghost Wall
This upcoming novella from Sarah Moss is a powerful little thing. Moss is always at her best when describing the complexities of family relationships; the tensions and strains as well as the vital support that our loved ones can provide. Playing on the themes of conflicting priorities and power that were central to Bodies of Light and Night Waking Ghost Walk takes these to a new level with the violent relationship between narrator Silvie and her father.
Sylvie, her abusive father Bill and browbeaten mother are taking part in an “experiential archaeology” experiment, living as ancient Britons in the rugged countryside of Northumberland with a small group of university students and their professor. It’s a study in contrasts the ancient and the modern, the class-based clashes of sensibility and experience between Sylvie’s solidly working-class family and the middle-class academics. Sylvie’s father, a disillusioned (and delusional) bus-driver obsesses over the way pre-Roman people “really” lived, demanding total commitment to authenticity while the university folk are only semi-invested and well aware of the flaws of the experiment; they live in tents, wear modern clothing, shop at Spar.
Moss tackles some heavy themes that highlight the complexity of the relationships and the characters. Bill’s rigid insistence that his family live “authentically”, food, clothes and shelter, reflects an unpleasant nationalism. His knowledge of history is wilfully selective, bolstering his ignorance instead of correcting it. His obsession with an imaginary golden-age of pre-Roman Britain is used to justify pernicious racism and faulty reasoning also visible in his violent misogyny.
The roles and mentalities of Sylvie and her mother are nuanced and sympathetic, capturing all of the hurt, blame, fear and (often aborted) rebellion present in abusive relationships. Sylvie’s defense of both parents when they are criticised by outsiders is an involuntary reaction that she questions but is unable to resist. Perhaps most disturbing of all is the affect that the family dynamic has on other members of the group. It is increasingly clear that the control Bill exercises over his wife and daughter is unhealthy and violent but beyond sidelong looks Molly is the only outsider to address it and challenge it. As the group becomes increasingly invested in the ancient ritual of the “Ghost Wall” a disturbing herd mentality emerges and the passive acceptance of Bill’s actions takes a sinister and violent shift that highlights the paralysing nature of abuse and how it can be possible for outsiders not just to turn a blind eye to but to be drawn into it.
As ever Moss’s writing is exception. She has a gift for first-person narrative and using internal dialogue to interrogate how the mind works on the external world (and vice versa). The build-up of tension as clashing ideals and personalities create an increasingly toxic atmosphere is palpable and only heightened by the surface calm and the isolation of the characters from real life.
The contrast between the ancient and the modern is diminished not just by the setting of the “experiential archaeology” practised by the characters (I’m with sceptical student Molly, the concept is largely a nonsense) but in the eerily, disturbingly unchanged way that humans can act and react to fear and violence and the capacity for ritual and patterns of behaviour to reify power structures and relationships, reinforcing the powerful and enervating the victims.

After the growing tension of the earlier chapters the conclusion does seem to be a little hurried and a little more juxtaposition between Sylvie and the Bog Girl throughout the story would have helped it feel a little more balanced and consistent. Nevertheless Sarah Moss has provided yet another gripping, sophisticated story of human relationships with her usual masterful command of drama and humour.

Having read every novel that Sarah Moss has written (plus a reasonable proportion of her non-fiction) I was eagerly anticipating Ghost Wall. It didn't disappoint, exactly, although its brevity made it feel a little more insubstantial than previous stand-outs like The Tidal Zone and Bodies of Light. Set in the 1990s at a recreated Iron Age camp in Northumbria, Ghost Wall is narrated by seventeen-year-old Silvie, who, along with her mother, is being emotionally and physically abused by her father Bill. Bill is obsessed with Britain's distant past, which he incorrectly imagines as a time before immigration and multiculturalism, and is desperate to try and recreate his idea of what life was like 'back then'. This allows Moss, always an incredibly intelligent writer, to get in some good musings about how we think about history, and how Anglo-Saxons would have taken shortcuts as well rather than mindlessly following tradition.

Moss's deft characterisation and sharp observation is once again in action. While it is impossible to sympathise with the bullying and racist Bill, Moss makes his frustration palpable when he finds his years of amateur research being ignored because he doesn't have a PhD. Similarly, Bill is distraught at what he sees at the 'state' of Newcastle in the 1990s, with the deserted quayside a graveyard for its former industrial glory. (I'm not sure he'd be very impressed by the pop-up bars in shipping containers we have here now!) Silvie is brilliantly drawn; Moss once again shows her skill at writing teenagers respectfully, as while some of Silvie's frequent interjections are rebellion for rebellion's sake, many are not, as when she rightly tells off two of the archaeology students for making fun of her accent. And the sparks of attraction Silvie feels towards one of the students, Molly, suggest that she may be coming close to a realisation about her own sexuality, but this never feels forced or tokenistic.

For me, Ghost Wall was let down a little by its structure. Moss's first novel, Cold Earth, set in Greenland, was delightfully creepy, and the opening of Ghost Wall, with its atmospheric description of a human sacrifice destined to be uncovered as a 'bog body', recalled that mood. It soon becomes clear that the novel is building up to the offering of somebody in the present-day. However, when the climax kicks off, it's virtually over before it's begun. This decision feels inexplicable after all the careful work Moss has done to reach that point, and it makes the book as a whole feel unfinished, episodic. However, a below par Moss novel is still very much worth reading. Ghost Wall recalls Fiona Mozley's Elmet and Claire Fuller's Our Endless Numbered Days in its examination of place, history, and a certain kind of violent masculinity.

I will post this review to my blog closer to publication date.

I like history and that is why the setting of the book sounded interesting. Experimental archeology is not a common setting for books, nevertheless the author shows a lot of knowledge in this book. I also found the differences betweeen the characters and their ideas of this field very interesting. It probably shows the wide range in people experiencing such situations.
The combination with the other topic (abuse), makes the story very captivating and worth reading. I really believed that the end of te book will go the way, the men planned it and it was exciting and scary at the same time.
Because the story captured me so much I was a bit disappointed that we know nothing about the life of the characters afterwards. I would have wished to have a longer book to read, not only because of the ending. It was also the "mother" character I would have wished to learn more about. The students (mostly Molly) are also a bit too sketchy, a bit of depth would be interesting.
But I liked the book very much and would recommend it.

I love Sarah Moss' writing and have read all of her books. This one could even be her best yet. 17 year old Silvie is on an experimental archaeological dig with her parents. But it's more than a dig, it's a re-enactment of what it was like to live in Iron Age Britain with all the discomforts that ensue. Her father is an amateur enthusiast (fanatic) and has somehow inveigled his way on to this dig. He is obsessed with Britishness and is a thoroughly unpleasant man. Silvie's mother is downtrodden and browbeaten and much of her and Silvie's life is taken up with trying to appease him. Things are bad enough what with not being able to wash properly, poor food and scratchy clothes but then her father becomes obsessed with re-enacting a bog sacrifice. I found this to be an incredible tense read. The tension builds up throughout until you can scarcely breathe and I was relieved when the ending came. The descriptions of life on the dig are exceptional - you really feel as though you are there and it is not hard to see parallels with extreme nationalism in Silvie's father's obsession with what it is to be really British. Thanks to NetGalley and Granta for the ARC.

Review Originally Published on Instagram:

I have been lucky enough to receive a review eBook of one of my favourite writers Sarah Moss: Ghost Wall.

Ghost Wall's blurb goes as follows: "Teenage Silvie is living in a remote Northumberland camp as an exercise in experimental archaeology. Her father is an abusive man, obsessed with recreating the discomfort, brutality and harshness of Iron Age life. Behind and ahead of Silvie's narrative is the story of a bog girl, a sacrifice, a woman killed by those closest to her, and as the hot summer builds to a terrifying climax, Silvie and the Bog girl are in ever more terrifying proximity." I will start just saying that I loved this book which I'm sure will surprise no one. Sarah Moss uses Silvie's story and her father's obsession with Pre-Roman history to talk about a lot of current topics. Feminism is a current theme in Moss books and this one is no exception. The book creates a captivating atmosphere and a tension that keeps you at the edge of your sit.

In a way Ghost Wall is a coming of age story. Silvie goes through a lot in this book and all of her dinamics both with her family and with the students in the campsite are very interesting and very belivable.

The writing style is beautiful, I love her sentence to sentence structure with this I don't want to say that it's inaccesible in anyway. Ghost Wall is a very short book and it makes you want to read it in a sitting.

To sum up, if you are interested in this book pick it up and if you are not interested you should change your mind and read it too.

Thank you @Granta and @Netgalley for the review copy.

All opinions are my own.

The beginning of this book is so thoroughly creepy I was hooked from the first lines. A young girl tied to a stake about to be burned to death, everyone is watching and nobody is helping her. The tone changes immediately and now you realise that you have been reading the ending and spend your time wondering how those horrific scenes will come about. Creeping menace, lots and lots of it, abound in this book.

Sil's family are spending the summer in an experimental archeology exercise in Northumberland close to the moors and near to the ruins of Hadrian's Wall. They are living life as it was in the bronze age. Wearing tunics, living in a primitive tent together, cooking over a fire and foraging for everything they eat. It is not fun at all. Sil's dad is a domineering, bully of a man. Her mum is meek and mouselike. She is beaten and submissive to her husband. Sil has become used to doing exactly what her dad requires because it is easier and she is less likely to end up with bruises. The way that Sarah Moss has written him is so good, you really feel his simmering anger! Along with Sil and her family, there are 3 university students and their professor who are living the ancient lifestyle with them as part of their studies. One of the students is a young woman who becomes close to Sil and who, partly inadvertently, leads Sil astray and into danger.

This is a small book with a great big story. I thoroughly enjoyed it. It is a book which would appeal to reluctant readers due to the instant entry into the action and the easy vocabulary. It is very well written and I'm going to be buying copies for school. I would recommend it for junior high school age students. Although it is set in Britain near the ruins of Hadrian's Wall I think that young people anywhere would relate to it.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for giving me access to this book.

The fascination with how a mythical past can still hold a powerful influence over the psyche of those in the present who are struggling with liberal modernity and its concepts of gender and racial equality and empowerment is to me the central theme of this disturbing novel by Sarah Moss. Regarding this she has written "Foundation myths live in prehistory, back just before the inconvenient truths of the historical record, and foundation myths feel very relevant at the moment. I live in a country where xenophobia and nativism have become normal in the last couple of years".

The father of Silvie the central character, is an abusive bully both emotionally and physically who's frustration with the confines of his working class existence has led him to an obsessional passion to recreate and experience the reality of what life would be like in Iron Age Britain, a time of a mythical and pure indigenous race.

Set in Northumberland in the 1980's the story is a first person narration by 17 year old Silvie who together with her parents have joined with an archaeology professor and his students to recreate an ancient Iron Age camp as part of an 'experimental archaeology' exercise. Through references to her mother's bruises and her father forbidding her to have a weekend job we begin to learn of the controlling all pervasive power that her father has over his family and his absolute requirement to be obeyed at all times. Although her mother is compliant, Sarah is beginning to question this situation and there is the first stirrings of rebelliousness.

The tension is built up quite exquisitely layer by layer leading to a horrific reenactment of a sacrifice that is the inevitable conclusion of such obsessional behaviour where the confines of the modern world can be jettisoned in favour of a return to a past where misogyny and patriarchal power would go unquestioned. This is a short book and can be easily read in one or two sittings and I must admit that once started I found it quite difficult to put down. The end leaves questions unanswered as to what the future for Silvie would be and thus leaving the reader to their own conclusions. I was somewhat reminded of Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit who's central character also from Lancashire is confronted by the need to confront irrationality against an exploration of adolescent love. Like Jeanette Winterson I think that Sarah Moss has produced a book that will remain long in the mind after reading.

Ghost Wall is a clever portrayal of the mob mentality effect and the utmost primitive desires of humankind, no matter how despicable. It's cleverly written and develops beautifully into a culmination of fear based manipulation. One of my favourite things about Ghost Wall was the way that nothing was explained to the reader; instead, they were brought along on the journey that Sylvie went on, through brute force and cleverly designed storytelling.
Much like Trainspotting, the novel uses literary techniques to both befuddle and engage the reader. Throwing convention out of the window, Sarah Moss's style demands attention, and the novel pays off in a huge way.

I was really pleased to have been sent this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I loved the premise of it and while it took me a while to get used to the stream of consciousness narrative and lack of punctuation, I was increasingly drawn in.

Very subtle hints as to Silvie’s home life, the anxiety that radiates off her as she's tempted to the local shop and the sudden, fast ending that left you wanting more meant that you felt you were really with her the whole time.

I feel it could have done with a few more pages (because I want to know what happened next!) and I do think the style of narrative will put off some people, but on the whole I thought this was a great story, well told.

This is a novel about 17 year old Silvie and her parents. Her father Bill, a bus driver, is somewhat of a self-taught expert on Ancient Britain and is often called upon by academics for support and it is though this means that the family join an archaeology professor (Jim) together with 3 of his student to spend the summer at an Iron Age camp in Northumbria. Silvie is the narrator and much of the text details their Sunday afternoon walks across the bogs of the wild landscape. Slowly the narration changes and we witness the harsh life the women in the family are exposed to through his temper and violence. For example he sneers at sanitary products and thinks Silvie should just manage just as the Ancient Britons did. The style in which this is written is almost stream of consciousness with Silvie’s thoughts both poetic but enjambed. Underneath all the tension mounts, with Molly the student challenging Bill and undermining him, whilst Silvie is aware that she will bear the brunt of this. It is hard to believe she is 17 for she succumbs time and again to her father’s dictates.

The novel ends fairly rapidly with the tension building to the last minute. I was scared for Silvie, really scared, dreading a ‘Lord of the Flies’ type ending. All in all an uncomfortable read but certainly interesting, even if I am not that interested in things Ancient Britain or how to skin a rabbit or forage.

Thank you to the author, publishers and NetGalley for providing an ARC via my Kindle in return for an honest review.

Short but powerful. An exciting first novel that is unusual in that it could have benefited from another 50 pages as opposed to so many bloated novels out there.

Very exciting new talent.

Sylvie and her mother are spending the summer living as iron age people, together with her tyrannical and brutal bus driver father and a professor and some of his students. They search and hunt for food on the northern moors. Sylvie's father and the professor are fascinated by the bog people, and in particular the ritual sacrifice of young female victims. Sylvie's first person narrative is increasingly linked with the bog people and victims.

This is a lyrical novel, the wild beauty of the landscape is vividly described as is the personality of Sylvie - cowed into accepting the brutality of her father as normal, just as the bog victims accepted their fate. Short and worth reading.

Thanks to netgalley for the chance to read and review. This does not affect my opinions of the book.
A young girl is being sacrificed to the bog in iron age times. The reasons are unclear but the emotions spark and drag you in. Fast forward to modern day and a young woman is spending a summer re-enacting iron age times with her family, a group of students and their professor. What starts out as a seemingly harmless exercise in experiencing history, quickly takes a dark turn. The final 10% of the book hand my heart in my throat as I wondered if they would actually go ahead with their re-enactment.
A gripping, fast paced read. Highly recommended.