A wondrous, elemental novel from ‘a writer of show-stopping genius’ (Guardian).

Helm is a ferocious, mischievous wind – a subject of folklore and wonder – who has blasted the sublime landscape of the Eden Valley since the very dawn of time.

This is Helm’s life story, formed from the chronicles of those the wind enchanted: the Neolithic tribe who tried to placate it, the Dark Age wizard priest who wanted to banish it, the Victorian steam engineer who attempted to capture it – and the farmer’s daughter who fell in love. But now Dr Selima Sutar, surrounded by measuring instruments, alone in her observation hut, fears the end is nigh.

Vital and audacious, Helm is the elemental tale of a unique life force – and of a relationship: between nature and people, neither of whom can weather life without the other.

‘I can think of no other British writer whose talent so consistently thrills, surprises and staggers.’ BENJAMIN MYERS
‘I’m awed . I wouldn’t think a novel could be at once so taut and so multifarious, expanding one’s sense of what fiction can do.’ SARAH MOSS
‘Helm is as vital, fierce and free as the phenomenon it describes.’ FINANCIAL TIMES
‘A spectacular epic tapestry. Nobody could tell the story of our inextricable relationship with wild nature as beautifully as Sarah Hall.’ LEE SCHOFIELD
‘[Hall] sweeps from the cinematic to the specific, her prose pulsing with life and lyricism. Helm pushes both the boundaries of the novel and our relationship with nature.’ SPECTATOR
‘A big, celebratory book, in places delightfully playful, in others as tight and breathless as a thriller.’ ANDREW MILLER

‘Dark and brilliant.’ SARAH MOSS
‘A masterpience.’ DAISY JOHNSON
‘Extraordinary.’ SARAH PERRY

‘Hall has set a bar . . . Finely wrought, intellecutally brave and emotionally honest.’
THE SCOTSMAN

In the bedroom above her immense studio at Burntcoat, the celebrated sculptor Edith Harkness is making her final preparations. The symptoms are well known: her life will draw to an end in the coming days.

Downstairs, the studio is a crucible glowing with memories and desire. It was here, when the first lockdown came, that she brought Halit. The lover she barely knew. A presence from another culture. A doorway into a new and feverish world.

‘Sarah Hall makes language shimmer and burn . . . One of the finest writers at work today.’
DAMON GALGUT

‘Wonderful . . . The writing goes down smoking hot onto the page.’
ANDREW MILLER

‘I can think of no other British writer whose talent so consistently thrills, surprises and staggers . . . With Burntcoat she has solidified her status as the literary shining light we lesser souls aspire to.’
BENJAMIN MYERS

‘Dark and brilliant.’ SARAH MOSS
‘A masterpiece.’ DAISY JOHNSON
‘Extraordinary.’ SARAH PERRY
‘Searing… Sarah Hall’s best work yet.’ JON McGREGOR

You were the last one here before I closed the door of Burntcoat, before we all shut our doors.

In the bedroom above her immense studio at Burntcoat, the celebrated sculptor Edith Harkness is making her final preparations. The symptoms are well known: her life will draw to an end in the coming days.

Downstairs, the studio is a crucible glowing with memories and desire. It was here, when the first lockdown came, that she brought Halit. The lover she barely knew. A presence from another culture. A doorway into a new and feverish world.

‘One of the best books of the year.’ TELEGRAPH
‘Hall has set a bar . . . Finely wrought, intellectually brave and emotionally honest.’ THE SCOTSMAN

‘Sarah Hall makes language shimmer and burn . . . One of the finest writers at work today.’ DAMON GALGUT
‘Wonderful . . . The writing goes down smoking hot onto the page.’ ANDREW MILLER
‘Transporting . . . A beautiful novel, full of heat and darkness.’ AVNI DOSHI
‘I can think of no other British writer whose talent so consistently thrills, surprises and staggers . . . With Burntcoat she has solidified her status as the literary shining light we lesser souls aspire to.’ BENJAMIN MYERS

SHORTLISTED FOR THE EDGE HILL SHORT STORY PRIZE
SHORTLISTED FOR THE JAMES TAIT BLACK MEMORIAL PRIZE

A Guardian, Financial Times and Irish Times Book of the Year

‘No one writes stories the way Hall does and quite possibly no one ever will. Astonishing, miraculous, a gift.’ Daisy Johnson

‘The queen of dark short fiction.’ Guardian

‘Astonishing, miraculous, a gift.’ Daisy Johnson

‘The best short story writer in Britain.’ Spectator

In Turkish forests or rain-drenched Cumbrian villages, characters walk, drive, dream and fly, trying to reconcile themselves with their journey through life and death. Radical, charged with a transformative, elemental power, each of these stories invites us to stand at the very edge of our possible selves.

Includes the story ‘The Grotesques’, winner of the BBC Short Story Award, 2020.

Hugely atmospheric, exotic and familiar, The Electric Michelangelo is a love story and an exquisitely rendered portrait of seaside resorts on opposite sides of the Atlantic by one of the most uniquely talented novelists of her generation.