Tim Pears' prize-winning, critically acclaimed debut about a hot summer in a Devon village where time seems to stand still

WINNER OF THE HAWTHORNDEN PRIZE AND THE RUTH HADDEN MEMORIAL AWARD Tim Pears' prize-winning, critically acclaimed debut about a hot summer in a Devon village where time seems to stand still This overwhelmingly hot summer everything seems to be slowing down in the tiny Devon village where Alison lives, as if the sun is pouring hot glue over it. ‘This idn't nothin',' says Alison's grandmother, recalling a drought when the earth swallowed lambs, and the summer after the war when people got electric shocks off each other. But Alison knows her grandmother's memory is lying: this is far worse. She feels that time has stopped just as she wants to enter the real world of adulthood. In fact, in the cruel heat of summer, time is creeping towards her, and closing in around the valley.

"A gifted storyteller, steeped in country lore and the beauty of ordinary events. Like Thomas Hardy whose kindred spirit quietly animates these pages, he is concerned with the dignity of work, the force of destiny and the consequences of human passion" - New York Times

"Reminiscent of Faulkner and García Márquez, the writing retains a very English scale … Sensitive, heart-warming and hallucinatory" - Financial Times

"More perfect than any first novel deserves to be" - Observer

"Refreshing, even revelatory … A work that is dense with detail and richly evocative … A very impressive performance" - Washington Post

"Engaging, well-written and original" - Guardian

"Remarkable … a gorgeous tapestry of country life as it was and, perhaps in a few places, still is. And it is tough and trenchant enough to be enjoyed by people who are not otherwise interested in rural idylls" - Sunday Telegraph