Idle Grounds
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Cornerstone
Publishing:19th Mar '26
£9.99
This title is due to be published on 19th March, and will be despatched as soon as possible.
This paperback is available in another edition too:
- Hardback£16.99(9781529154580)
'Ambitious, wildly original'
THE TIMES
'An absolute one-off'
CLAIRE FULLER
'Magical'
RACHEL YODER
'A masterclass in misdirection'
FINANCIAL TIMES
On a bright summer day in 1989 New England, Abi, three years old, vanishes from her aunt’s secluded home. Upstairs, her young cousins are looking out of the window. Something is unfolding in the distance at the edge of the forest – something sinister that is watching them back.
The adults don’t seem to notice that the youngest of the group has disappeared. Too busy bickering over politics and reminiscing about the family’s domineering late matriarch, Beezy, they leave the children with no choice but to get Abi back themselves. As the cousins embark on a quest through their grandmother’s sprawling estate, buried family secrets come to light and long-awaited plans are set in motion. Will they lose themselves while trying to find her?
Idle Grounds is a chilling, evocative and darkly comic debut about childhood, legacy, and the burdens and privileges we carry with us.
'Superb'
THE TELEGRAPH
'Unsettingly, sharply funny'
GUARDIAN
'Extremely accomplished'
SCOTSMAN
This debut novel is superb * The Telegraph *
[An] extremely accomplished debut * Scotsman *
Bamford conjures, in vivid, amplified language, how children fluidly and unpredictably make sense of the world … [Idle Grounds] is unsettlingly, sharply funny at times, with carefully built-up layers of dis-ease delivered in a comic deadpan * Guardian *
Atmospheric . . . . captures an ambling quest that is by turns funny, lyrical and surreal . . . Bamford keeps us guessing until the very end * Mail on Sunday *
Idle Grounds is a masterclass in misdirection * Financial Times *
Unsettling, puckish, and brilliantly written, this novel is an absolute one-off. I loved it -- Claire Fuller
Magical, perplexing and funny in a wholly original way -- Rachel Yoder
Every sentence positively bristles with unease. One of the most atmospheric novels I have read in a long time. Beautifully written -- Jennie Godfrey
[A] gorgeous, spirited debut. Absorbing ... the writing is so enthralling * Literary Review *
An acid trip of a novel. Weird, sinister and darkly funny. I can't wait to see what Bamford does next -- Amy Twigg
ISBN: 9781804951965
Dimensions: 198mm x 129mm x 15mm
Weight: 200g
192 pages