A very satisfying Sarah Moss! I found the tension between the characters, even though they rarely, if ever, interact, to be really compelling. I also found this book contained some profound and familiar moments from life in lockdown. I didn't think I would want to read pandemic fiction while we are still in it, but this was very good. It might be my least favorite Moss I've read, but her writing is always precise and well-considered.

Amazingly bad and offensive even. Kate sneaks out of her house despite being in lockdown for exposure to Covid. Who cares right? She just has to get out. Heaven forbid she stay home so we can all stay safe. Oh no, she must go out. The house is lava apparently. Forget that her teenage son is left there to fend for himself. And then he goes and exposes the elderly neighbor who is a cancer patient, all because his selfish immature mother can’t stay home during lockdown. And this is only November 2020.

What a selfish whiny woman Kate is. This whole book was a joke. It feels like the author is promoting sneaking out of lockdowns.

An excellent pandemic novel, thoughtful, realistic and insightful. Kate is supposed to stay at home, but with her beloved Peak District fells just outside her door, is tempted out on a hike. After all, what harm could it do? Even though it is technically against the law. Inevitably things don’t go according to plan and it becomes impossible to keep her infringement of the rules a secret. Multiple voices and multiple viewpoints make this an immersive read, which deftly captures our new strange world. Sarah Moss is so good at everyday intimacies and everyday relationships, and is never judgemental – as opposed to some of her characters. And yet we all dealt with lockdown as best we could given our individual circumstances, and this immersive novel will strike a chord with everyone.

My first by this author, The Fell made me feel like I was in this small town in England quarantining by law. I felt the claustrophobic suffocation. I felt the quiet and the internal almost panic. The writing was interesting - kind of stream of consciousness with paragraphs lengths that added to the feelings described above. I’ll be thinking of this for quite some time and am looking forward to reading more of Ms Moss’ work. Heartfelt thanks to Farrar, Straus and Giroux for the advanced copy.

Thank you to Netgalley for an ARC of 'The Fell' by Sarah Moss.
4.5 Stars rounded down to four.
Kate can't bare being stuck indoors in isolation any more and 'harmlessly goes for a walk up the fell. She falls and leaves her son alone. I really sympathised with these brilliantly sincere characters.
A great, tense plot. Best read in one sitting.

4.5 stars
Another terrific Sarah Moss title. Honestly, my first thought was that it’s too soon for a pandemic book and considered not finishing it after a few pages. Perhaps that was just my mood that day. Glad I did stick with it. It’s a quick read, written in a stream of consciousness style, similar to Moss’ previous novel Summerwater. It captures the essence of how Covid & lockdowns have affected the main characters. As with Summerwater, I found the end abrupt. Regardless, a book to ponderand perhaps to read in a few years. Highly recommended. Thanks to author, publisher and NetGalley for a preview copy.

The lovely minimalist black, brown and white cover which graces this edition of The Fell declares that this is a novel by “the author of Summerwater”. For this reader, this is not really a selling point. I had loved Sarah Moss’ Ghost Wall, with its quasi-folk-horror vibes, but been less impressed with Summerwater. So I’m happy to report that I lapped up The Fell, which I found at once thoughtful and gripping.
The plot’s premise is simple and, as in Summerwater, it unfolds over a single day. The novel(la) is set in November 2020, in a remote village in the Peak District, during the UK’s Covid lockdown. Kate, one of the quartet of main characters, finds herself increasingly restless in the middle of a two-week mandatory quarantine period. Neither she nor her teenage son Matt are actually infected, but they are obliged to stay at home in view of a contact with a Covid-positive person. Surely, Kate thinks, a visit to the fells she loves so much will hardly hurt anyone? On impulse, she leaves home for what is meant to be a quick walk, but matters get complicated when she falls and sustains an injury.

As in John McGregor’s Lean, Fall, Stand, the ensuing rescue operation and race against time give The Fell the trappings of a thriller, but that is not really the point of the novel. What makes The Fell particularly interesting is a technique Moss also uses in Summerwater, that is, the alternating of different points of view, conveyed in almost stream-of-consciousness style, as we are drawn into the thoughts of the protagonists, all of whom have been, in different ways, affected by the Covid pandemic. There is Kate herself, feeling increasingly confined at home, the claustrophobia of her little house accentuating her feelings of inadequacy. There is Matt, torn between reporting his missing mum and risking her getting a fine which they cannot afford. There is Alice, their pensioner neighbour and possible the character I liked best, musing about mortality and privilege; and also Rob, one of the rescue team, who juggles daring rescues with the stress of family life. Their thoughts and feelings, and such dialogue as there is, have an authentic feel to them.

The Fell feels timely but, once the pandemic is (hopefully) past, it will also serve as an important historical document albeit in the context of a fictional story. Moss is highly observant, conveying with startling empathy the minute details of life in lockdown and quarantine. She does not judge. While at times, the novel seems to suggest a frustration at Covid measures, this is no anti-vaxxer manifesto and its approach is balanced and understanding both of the need for the enforcement of Covid measures, and the disruption and difficulties that these inevitably bring.

Out on the moors, missing her choir practice, Kate sings Thomas Ravenscroft’s “Remember O thou man”. The choice of music is probably an oblique hint at the deeper themes of the novella – “Adam’s fall” and his subsequent redemption, as mentioned in this Renaissance carol, reflect Kate’s physical fall, but also raise philosophical questions about life and death, actions and consequences, guilt and absolution.

https://endsoftheword.blogspot.com/2021/11/The-Fell-Sarah-Moss.html

I received an advanced reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review

This book was really unexpected. I loved her last two, and was expecting more of the same. Was definitely not looking for a Covid read, but this book all the right notes. Always enjoyable when the real villain in the psychological thriller is the human condition. Easy five.

Perhaps my expectations were a little bit too high. I read Ghost Wall earlier this year and it is my favourite book of 2021. So, I shoved everything aside for this one and, to be honest, it is a bit of a disappointment.

There is still good writing. It is still easily 4 stars. I loved the character Alice. I love the historical reasonings and argumentations the characters make in their heads. I didn't always agree with them, but I did understand them and they felt quite real.

But I think what was missing was the almost unbearable tension of Ghost Wall, it was always clear where this was going to go (to me at least).

I alternated audio with e-book and have to say I enjoyed the e-book reading experience much more, so partly my fault.

I will still read all her other novels soon though, in the hope of finding another Ghost Wall.

Set in November 2020 when most of the world was on lockdown on account of the global pandemic , Sarah Moss’s The Fell revolves around Kate, who furloughed from her job , is self-isolating at home with her son Matt after being exposed to COVID -19. Feeling restless and stir crazy, one evening she decides to go for a walk along the hills close to home, falls and is seriously injured . Not knowing what has happened to his mother Matt correctly assumes that his mother went for a walk and is initially annoyed that she broke the law by venturing out of the house while supposed to be in quarantine . However, as the night progresses and after it is confirmed that Alice,their next door neighbor, saw her walking towards the moors , the search for Kate develops into a mountain rescue operation amidst worsening weather conditions.
The story is told through a stream of consciousness narrative from the perspectives of four people- Kate, Matt, Alice and Rob. Kate’s thoughts flit between her financial worries compounded by fear of being fined on account of her breaking quarantine laws , her son Matt and the life choices she is made to reflect upon through a dazed and delirious conversation with a raven she meets on her expedition. Matt concerned for Kate’s physical and emotional well-being is made to mull over his own behaviors and feelings, realizing how much is at stake for him for his mother to return home safe and sound. On one hand we see him as a difficult self absorbed teenager while on the the other we see the mature way in which tries to remain hopeful busying himself with household chores while responsibly interacting with his next door neighbor Alice keeping with quarantine regulations . Alice is an elderly widow and cancer survivor struggling to adjust to the isolation brought on by the pandemic and recent widowhood , but tries to remain hopeful and keep up Matt’s spirits while making plans to lead a fuller life once the pandemic ends. Rob, the mountain rescue volunteer whose team along is tasked with finding Kate, ponders over whether Kate’s action were deliberate and whether she was driven to drastic behavior motivated by personal reasons while also questioning his own motivations for volunteering for such risky endeavors in his downtime often at the cost of his personal relationships.
The author takes us on an insightful exploration into the mind and thoughts of people in the midst of the global pandemic delving deep into the emotional toll of forced isolation and uncertainty on the human psyche and the need for human interaction and contact in trying times. The author does not hesitate to touch upon how lives and livelihoods are affected when regulations set in place for the greater good and out of consideration for the health and well being of others can test people's powers of endurance and push them to their limits. Tense and fast paced, reflective and thought provoking , The Fell is an almost too relatable depiction of how the pandemic has changed the way we live, think and behave . Once I adjusted to the stream-of-consciousness narrative, I was completely reeled into this relatively short but immersive novel. Though this is not a lengthy novel, it is very deep and absorbing and I took time to pause and take a breather when it felt too heavy or just got too real. This was my first Sarah Moss novel and I look forward to reading more of her work.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher Farrar ,Straus and Giroux for the eARC in return for an honest review.

In the early days of the Covid pandemic, a woman quarantined due to possible CV-19 exposure becomes so claustrophobic that even working in her back garden isn't enough to calm her many anxieties. Leaving her adolescent son behind without a warning, she sneaks into the surrounding hills and fails to return. Moss's novella explores the ramifications of her decision on both her and other people in her small community.

A fan of the author's previous work, I expected to like this novella much more than I did. Like so many of us, I also experienced periods of overwhelming claustrophobia and anxiety in the early days of 2020. Sadly, I found myself irritated by the main character's decisions and not even the sympathetic portrayals of her son, her neighbour or her rescuer were enough to make this story come alive for me. I also felt that the author missed the chance to explore some of the positives that many people experienced during the pandemic including an deepened sense of community and an increased appreciation for quiet and reflection. Overall, a slightly disappointing read for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this opportunity to read an advance copy of this novel in exchange for a fair review.

Thanks to Netgalley and FSG for the ebook. Kate has been furloughed from her job at the diner and is in the middle of a two week quarantine, when she needs to get out and walk. She heads to the moors, where she has a very slight chance of running into anyone. When Kate falls and hurts herself badly, she becomes a missing person and a rescue team is assembled. This short but potent book has four narrators: Kate, her son Matt, a retired next door neighbor who also can’t leave her house during this pandemic because she’s recovering from breast cancer, and one of the rescue team, a volunteer named Rob. These four voices take us through this crisis, but also take us inside the early days of the pandemic when life was scary with more questions than answers about this new world.

It’s the height of the Covid 19 pandemic in the UK when Kate, tired of lockdown decides to take a walk in the hills near her home. She was only supposed to be out a short time, no one ever need know that she broke quarantine, but a fall on the walk changes everything. Lying alone and helpless, Kate must rely on the generosity of neighbors if she is to survive. Moss writes beautifully about a topic that has caused so much pain, death and division, but I admit I was uneasy with some of what I took to be anti-masking attitudes and general dismissal of Covid 19 as a true health threat

The Fell wonderfully captures the reality of our recent pandemic lockdowns — this isn’t metaphorical or an imagining of how some fictional pandemic might play out — this is the essence of November 2020. Set in England’s Peak District (in view of the orange glow of Manchester but the details are so relatable to this Canadian), as yet another stay-at-home order pits the essential workers against the furloughed, the rule-followers against the scofflaws, frazzled parents against bored children, one woman decides that she’s had enough. Although only on day eight of a two week quarantine (single mother Kate and her teenaged son, Matt, don’t have symptoms but they’ve apparently been exposed to someone with COVID), Kate is fed up with being locked down. Used to a daily ramble on the nearby fells, Kate grabs her rucksack as the day is waning — convinced she won’t meet anyone as the sky starts to drizzle, she doesn’t intend to be out long and doesn’t even say goodbye to her son — but when Matt realises she’s missing and the night turns dark and cold, he’s uncertain where to turn for help: Do you call the police when your Mom is breaking the law and risking a huge fine? As employed so well in her last novel Summerwater, author Sarah Moss uses rotating POVs to look at the pandemic (in this case, from four different perspectives; all believably real characters having varied experiences), but this is mostly Kate’s story, and as it unspools, we realise that it’s her fragile mental health that’s forcing her to act out. This is a short read — under 200 pages — so while it could have gone into more depth, it’s hardly shallow. Rounding up to four stars.

I ended 2020 and began 2021 reading Moss's entire canon back to back - to say I enjoy her writing immensely is an understatement. Her newest novel (or perhaps, at 160 pages, novella?), does not disappoint, and seems to be in the first flux of books directly addressing the current pandemic and quarantine. Like her previous masterwork, Summerwater, the book takes place within a single day, and bounces amongst the perspectives of several different characters. Here, her canvas is much smaller than the dozen plus narrators of that book, encompassing just 4 main protagonists.

As always Moss's prose is an absolute pleasure to read, flowing effortlessly, with hidden depths and boundless humanity. Perhaps the only quibble is that it is maybe TOO short, which somehow makes it seem a slighter endeavor - I wanted more than just a few brief hours in the company of Moss's characters and writing.