A group of students go to Greenland in August on an archaeological dig just as a pandemic is sweeping the world.  Their mission is to discover why a Viking settlement was suddenly abandoned.  They have a month to complete the job.  Wow, this is spooky stuff.  There are supernatural undertones, fear they will never get off the island, discord within the group and then a despair which results in each writing a last letter home.  Compulsive and unexpected, I found it hard to put down.

Comparison: Sarah Hall (The Carhullan Army), Cormac MacCarthy (The Road), Margaret Atwood.

Synopsis

Six young people meet on an archaeological dig in a remote corner of Greenland. Excavating the unsettling remains of a Norse society under attack, they also come to uncover their own demons, as it becomes apparent that a plague pandemic is sweeping across the planet and communication with the outside world is breaking down. Increasingly unsure whether their missives will ever reach their destination, each of the characters writes a letter to someone close to them, trying to make sense of their situation and expressing their fears and dwindling hope of ever getting back home...

Reviews

'Moss is such a master at evoking the suspense of both the dread and the anticipation of this situation that readers will be tempted to turn to the end of the book to relieve anxieties. Try to control yourself, if only for the sake of appreciating her technique'
Jane Smiley, Guardian

'Moss's stark writing delivers stinging splashes of cold water. Every element of the novel is distilled for purity of purpose. Holding it, the white cover and the blue edges imitate an artefact carved from ice'
The Times

'[An] unnerving, ambitious debut - it's promising stuff: utterly absorbing and - appropriately enough - very chilling'
Daily Mail

About the Author

Sarah Moss was educated at Oxford University and is a senior Lecturer in Literature and Place at the Cornwall Campus of Exeter University. She spent 2009-10 as a visiting lecturer at the University of Reykavik. She co-edits, with Nicola Humble, the Food series at Manchester University Press. Night Waking is her second novel.   Author photo © Simon Burt More books by this author Author 'Like for Like' recommendation