This is a story of a wind. Yes, a wind. One that is important enough to have its own name: Helm. Situated atop a fell in the Eden Valley of Cumbria, Helm has seen humankind develop from its very beginning to modern day. Helm's story is told through sets of intertwining stories (as everything seems to be these days, at least in what I'm reading) taking in the Neolitchic era, the Crusades, the Industrial Revolution, the modern day and vignettes from times in between.

It was all wonderfully told, but it didn't quite hit the same notes of strange beauty as Hall's other books and stories. Although the characters in each interwoven strand are well drawn, I just didn't feel a strong connection with any of them (although I actively disliked Matthew and was glad his story ended the way I guessed it would). I felt the structure of the book jarring, in that you would embed yourself in one character's world to then move on to another then come back again to the same characters at a later point. Helm as a character in itself (Helmself!) was an interesting concept though.

I flip-flopped between a 3 and 4 star for this review. I did enjoy the book and Hall's writing so this is a 3.5-star rounded up to a 4.

Sarah Hall’s 'Helm' is an ambitious and inventive novel that takes as its narrator Britain’s only named wind. This conceit, which could easily have faltered, proves surprisingly effective: Helm’s voice is by turns lyrical, sardonic, and sharply observant, offering a perspective that is both elemental and disarmingly human.

The novel spans centuries, moving between Neolithic ritual, medieval devotion, Victorian meteorology, and contemporary climate science. What binds these disparate episodes is humanity’s ongoing attempt to understand and live with natural forces that remain beyond full control. Hall’s achievement lies in the way she interlaces these fragments into a larger meditation on time, landscape, and survival.

The prose is one of the book’s chief strengths. Hall writes with characteristic precision and intensity, layering dialect, folklore, and technical language into sentences that feel gusted through with energy. At moments the wind’s wit - sometimes earthy, even comic - tempers the more solemn themes, while in others the novel’s environmental urgency comes to the fore with real poignancy.

Helm is not an easy read: its non-linear structure and shifting registers demand careful attention - but it's worth taking the time!

This short and weird novel was apparently a twenty-year labour of love, and as somebody who's read all Sarah Hall's previous work, it definitely shows. Aida Edemariam pulls together all the threads beautifully in her review in the Guardian, so I won't repeat the same things here. Helm spans millennia, giving us glimpses into the lives of characters from the matriarch of a neolithic tribe to a medieval priest determined to cast out demons to an eighteenth-century wife who wants to stop her husband blowing up the local witch stones to a girl cast into a mental institution in the 1950s to a present-day climate scientist. If this sounds breathless and crowded, it is, but the characters are linked by their location in the Eden Valley in Cumbria and especially by their relationships with Helm. This local wind produces distinctive weather manifestations when it blows, creating a lee wave with a crest of whirling clouds; the track of the wind is powerful, but the force ceases immediately under the cap of clouds. Hall's enormously ambitious book tracks how Helm has been understood across the centuries and the threat posed by climate change to its continued existence. We even hear from Helm itself (or Helmself, as it prefers), jauntily irreverent: 'People have been giving Helm a hard time For Ever for being Helm. But, whatever, not bothered (OK, maybe a bit bothered)... It's true, Helm might have absorbed some negativity... Probably human-related (no offence). They can have that effect.'

I genuinely admire Hall as a writer, and I also admire what she was trying to do here, so I'm sorry that I found Helm such a consistent slog, especially as almost all its other early readers seem to have loved it. For me, one of the big problems was structure: although there are about six or so characters with central threads, their narratives are split into tiny chunks and scattered throughout the book, so just as I felt I was sinking into one person's thought-world, I was jarred out again. Then there are the bits that don't relate to any of these central threads, which I especially struggled with. I had the sense that Hall was enjoying having a play, being a bit silly and self-indulgent, and she's absolutely earned it after her brilliant career, but it didn't make some of the over-egged pastiches any easier to trudge through. Helm (possibly due to Helm) also has a weird obsession with sex, and this especially comes out in the one-off scenes, such as an annoying sequence where a Victorian couple get it on in a hot air balloon. There's a hint of Cloud Atlas about some of Hall's narrators - and yet Cloud Atlas benefited from its nested structure, whereas this is, deliberately, all over the place. The series of final encounters with Helm at the end of the novel are powerful but don't entirely justify what came before.

But as I say: I'm an outlier. If, like me, you enjoyed some sections of this book but couldn't quite get on board with the project, I'd suggest trying one of my favourite Halls instead: The Carhullan Army, How To Paint a Dead Man, The Beautiful Indifference. 3.5 stars.

Helm is a powerful and ambitious work of climate fiction which combines multiple narratives set across millennia and united by the legendary Cumbrian Helm wind. The novel's cast of characters includes a Neolithic tribe, a medieval exorcist, a Victorian engineer and a present-day climate scientist measuring the effect of airborne microplastics. Hall rotates through these different strands in short chapters interspersed with other short fragments including descriptions of items belonging to different characters which become 'exhibits' in a future museum.

This is a demanding read, but one which will appeal to readers who have enjoyed other novels which bring together disparate narratives from different time periods, such as Elif Shafak's 'There Are Rivers in the Sky' or Benjamin Myers's 'Cuddy'. Hall's writing is often beautifully lyrical and expressive, particularly in her extended descriptions of Helm which frame the novel. I found some parts of the novel more compelling than others - I was particularly engaged by Selima's chapters (the modern-day scientist), but when read side by side the different narratives do also have a cumulative power.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an ARC of this novel to review.

Helm is a positive climate fiction novel. Like Orbital, the Booker winner by Samantha Harvey, it celebrates the natural world whilst exploring the Anthropocene age’s effects and like a companion piece to Benjamin Myers’ Cuddy, in that the story telling was a similar format and both celebrate the North.
Five time periods alternate to tell the story of human life around Cross Fell and their relationship with the wind phenomenon unique to the area.
I couldn’t single out one particular time as any stronger than the others. It was all engaging and interesting to read, with Hall’s earthy language featuring throughout.

🌬️ Helm 🌬️

Helm by Sarah Hall
Release Date: 28th August

Thanks @faberbooks and @netgalley for the e-ARC!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5

📝 - Helm is a ferocious, mischievous wind — a subject of folklore and awe, who has blasted the sublime landscape of the Eden Valley since the very dawn of time. Through the stories of those who’ve obsessed over this phenomenon, Helm’s extraordinary history is formed: the Neolithic tribe who tried to placate Helm, the Dark Age wizard priest who wanted to banish Helm, the Victorian steam engineer who attempted to capture Helm — and the farmer’s daughter who loved Helm. But now Dr Selima Sutar, surrounded by infinite clouds and measuring instruments in her observation hut, fears human pollution is killing Helm.

💭 - A truly brilliant read. Funny (at times), informative, and important. Hall personifies Helm beautifully, bringing a wind to life in a way I wouldn’t have thought possible. I loved the traversing across time, seeing how each time period treated Helm, glorifying it, studying it, or making use of it. While I can’t say I fully understood every part, that didn’t make the book any less enjoyable, which is a feat in itself. A really unique read, and one I’d recommend for fans of writing centred in nature, perhaps similar to North Woods or There Are Rivers in the Sky - two other nature-centric reads I thoroughly enjoyed.

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This is such a difficult book for me to review. On the one hand it’s a masterpiece, the writing is clever and it evokes such a strong sense of a place and its people. On the other I struggled to pick it up as it felt a slog to get through as it’s so wordy. Not my favourite Sarah Hall book sadly but I’’m sure others will love it.

Helm is the only named wind in Britain and it resides in a part of Cumbria with a rich and long history, almost from the beginning of time. Helm has its own voice and story in this novel, as well as several other human voices and stories throughout the ages. The writing, as always with Sarah Hall, is poetic and fluid, and the subject just a little ‘off the wall’ but riveting nonetheless, in its message of how humankind is in danger of killing the plant we live on or at least destroying so much of what is essential to our survival. Helm is born at the beginning of time and has survived throughout aeons, doing its damage and fascinating mankind from worshiping the wind as a god to trying to control it, to pumping so much garbage into the atmosphere that Helm is in grave danger. Throughout, Helm is violent, yes, but also humorous, thoughtful and at times kind too. There is a strange magnetism in the writing and story here, an almost other worldly quality that keeps the reader engaged until the very last word.

I have reviewed this title for book sales and recommendation site LoveReading.co.uk

I’ve chosen it as a Liz Pick of the Month and a LoveReading Star Book. Please see the link for the full review.

Thank you

Helm is the UK’s only named wind, localised to the Cross Fell area of Cumbria. Notable for its distinctive rolling, turbulent cloud formations and its destructive force, it has, over time, gathered myth, legend, and scientific study among its many stories.
In this exceptional action-painting of a book, Sarah Hall shows us humanity’s humility and hubris in the face of nature.
From Helm’s perspective, we see the emergence of human society across the Cumbrian wilds: the coming together of tribes, their terror in the face of the crashing gales, and their development of “trinkets” (buildings, vehicles, furniture, clothing) – all toys for Helm’s wild pleasure.
As Helm observes and wonders, we follow a handful of story threads, spread across time, each with Helm at its core: something to be placated, subdued, or studied. Each thread offers glimpses into the society of its time and the oscillating positions of women and men, science and belief, hope and despair, exuberance and restraint.
Helm is an amused and bemused observer, fascinated by the couplings and carnage played out below. A neolithic society seeks the final stone for their circle; a medieval exorcist climbs the hill to cast out the destructive demon Helm; men of science try to study or tame the wild spirit in more secular fashion; and a lone voice from the weather station wonders whether Helm can survive the attrition of climate change.
I absolutely loved this book. Hall paints such vivid pictures with few words, capturing the firing of synapses, the crash-zoom and montage of people in motion, heads full of dreams. The book is funny – particularly Helm’s droll reflections – moving, and thrilling, and each thread has its own tone and reality, each a convincing and satisfying short story of its own. They twist around and through each other, accumulating into a vivid study of our relationship with the full force of nature, something we have battled for as long as we’ve existed – and which, even now, we cannot control, only break.

Bloody brilliant. From the wonderful opening, Helm swept me along through time and the Eden valley via both its wonderful, irreverent, moody, empathetic self as well as those of the characters whose lives (or chapters of their lives) were intertwined with Helm. I think this one will linger with me, my mind returning to the upsetting institutionalisation of Little Janni, the warrior priest Michael and his march of attrition to attempt to exorcise Helm, and to NayNay who lived a life. Probably the most unique book I will read this year.

Man’s struggle with the elements, ancient fears and superstitions, the weather appearing in the guise of evil to medieval Christians, and onward to modern scientific research and climate change. Brimming with foreboding and resistance to the nature, man’s relationship to, quite literally a force of nature appears in the shape of Helm, anthropomorphic wind looming over the north of England. We travel through centuries of life under the shadow of climatic disturbances, wanting to harness the wind’s powers, and ultimately to understand man’s adverse influence in the modern world. This all sounds like a lesson in meteorology, and in some ways it is, but it is writing overflowing with poetic vision and atmosphere. There are some pretty compelling stories of almost historic power here. My only reservations were in keeping up with the time lines and the characters, the reader has to put in some work to keep up, and I would have liked some more help with putting the stories in context, with a few more dates thrown in. Nevertheless this is an absolutely compelling read, and I felt sorry to leave some of the stories unfinished.

Helm is an ambitious novel worthy of prizes.  Several distinct voices across various times throughout Cumbrian historytell of the folklaw, science and superstitions relating to the forceful Helm wind. It's a confirmation of Sarah Hall's talent that she can pull off such an ambitious conceit. Helm is equally dazzling and unsettling. This novel won't be for everyone - there's little in the way of plot and Hall ventures into some strange territories (some chapters are narrated by the wind itself) - but readers with a taste for original and gorgeously written prose will find much to enjoy.
My thanks to Faber and Netgalley for an advance review copy.

Absolutely superb, and surely Hall's best book. A wonderfully varied and powerful achievement and a novel of huge, polyphonic historical scope. Utterly mystified by its failure to get onto the Booker longlist; would be a worthy winner.

I've got mixed feelings about this book. I started thinking I would love it. I loved the writing and the premise of the book, being about a wind, a fierce force of nature and how it remained constant throughout the evolution of humans. But once it got going I lost track of the different sets of characters in each time period and my interest waned. Maybe I should give it another go at another time.

Truly original. Written from multiple points of view, each with a unique and compelling voice, this is a multi-faceted portrait of a most unusual character. I loved Helm (in fact, I'd have enjoyed the whole book written from Helm's point of view!); the author has captured the voice of the wind. It was hard work to keep up with the interleaved storylines at times, but the effort is well-rewarded. I found the book deeply tragic, both in terms of some of the protagonist's individual stories and in terms of the environmental overview, but with an element of compassion that gave me a sense of hope.

Helm blew me away (excuse the pun...) An eerie and unsettling collection of folkloric stories, with a beautiful sense of time and place.

This is unlike anything I’ve read and redefines what it means for a novel to have a sense of place.

We start by meeting Helm, the only named wind in England, who has been around for so long that it has seen many generations of humans come and go. Several of these stories are told and we see the different ways we have interacted with the environment over time. Whether that is trying to control or change or just understand it.

I really enjoyed the personality of Helm, was so distinctive and inventive while still somehow being believable for a wind. Of the humans, Selima’s arc was my favourite. The isolation of studying something most people don’t understand resonated with the remoteness of the location and her personal life really well.

As someone who lives not far away from Eden valley I also felt very at home reading about events in Shap and jokes about Todmorden!

Overall, this feels like a timeless climate novel that explores our past as well and present times and while it does think about the future it’s much more hopeful than most climate novels.

Wayward, omniscient, airy, slightly foreboding — this book was exactly what you might expect from one told from the perspective of wind, blowing together a mosaic of stories, characters, and artefacts that span the entirety of humankind.

This book will appeal to readers who love unique, witty, memorable writing. The language in this was, in my opinion, central to the story. Setting and atmosphere were also very strong. As a reader who’s drawn to character-driven stories, I think this is where the novel lost me, as we’re introduced to a large cast of characters who we don’t spend enough substantial time with to get to know and connect with deeply. I don’t think this is a fault of the book, but instead reflects the story’s priorities.

I normally love Sarah Hall’s work, but reading the description of this book beforehand I have to admit I already had doubts whether I would like it. But hey, it’s Sarah Hall! Give it a try!
Alas, this was not for me. It is definitely beautifully and poetically written but it is a bit too vague/obscure for my liking. And as a bookseller I don’t know yet how I would sell this to my customers…
Thank you Faber & Faber and Netgalley UK for the ARC.