The biggest book yet from the bestselling author of Summerwater, Ripeness is a breathtaking story of love, loss and belonging that moves between 1960s Italy and modern day Ireland.

The perfect book club spring read from the Sunday Times bestselling author.

In 1960s Italy, a family secret rips a teenage girl's world apart, only for her to discover its true meaning decades later.

'Moss makes every moment count' – The Sunday Times
'A book of lasting pleasures' – Eleanor Catton, Booker Prize-winning author of The Luminaries
'Powerful and beautifully written' – The Guardian

Just out of school and teetering on the brink of adulthood, Edith is sent alone to rural Italy. Her task is simple: support her sister Lydia, a brilliant but brittle ballet dancer, through the final weeks of her pregnancy. Once the baby is born, she is to make a phone call that will change all of their lives forever.

Decades later, Edith is living a contented life in Ireland, happily divorced and finally free. But with the arrival of an unexpected message, Edith must face the truth of that long-ago summer, and the secret she has carried for a lifetime.

'Tender and rueful’ – Emma Donoghue, Booker Prize-shortlisted author of Room
'A delicious novel' – Literary Review
'Sublime . . . glorious' – Vogue
'Luminous' – Financial Times
'Beautifully crafted . . . absorbing and moving' – Daily Mail

"I devoured Ripeness, thrilling at the world Moss brings to life and the characters who inhabit it. What a delicious novel" - Literary Review

"The sublime author Sarah Moss returns with Ripeness . . . Glorious" - Vogue

"Impressive " - The Independent

"Sarah Moss is a master of the ticking clock. Her novels thrum with tension . . . as the climax rushes towards us, Moss makes every moment count" - The Sunday Times

"Beautifully crafted . . . absorbing and moving" - Daily Mail

"An extended meditation on what home or belonging might mean in a period of disruption and displacement . . . Moss perfectly judges the prickly absolutism of the younger Edith . . . unfailingly spare and alert . . . captivating" - The Irish Times

"Evocative . . . Immensely moving - and this story feels very much like life . . . This novel lingers so strongly in the mind" - Harper's Bazaar

"A powerful and beautifully written story of family, friendship and identity" - The Guardian

"An expansive, expressive tale of family, history and ballet, this is illuminated by pin-sharp imagery and rueful self-awareness" - Mail on Sunday

"An insightful examination of family ties and belonging" - The Economist

"There’s no shortage of gifted writers who have never had a sniff of a major prize. The English novelist Sarah Moss, now based in Dublin, is such an obvious example of this . . . Moss’ new novel, Ripeness, might fix that" - The Critic