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Samantha Harvey

    January 1, 1975

    Samantha Harvey's work is deeply informed by her philosophical background, delving into the core of human existence. Her prose is stylistically refined, often blurring the lines between external reality and her characters' internal landscapes. Through her writing, she meticulously examines the intricate connections between individuals and the world they inhabit.

    The Western Wind
    The Wilderness. A Novel. Winner of the Betty Trask Award 2009
    The Shapeless Unease
    The Shapeless Unease
    Dear Thief
    Orbital
    • 2023

      Orbital

      • 144 pages
      • 6 hours of reading

      Life on our planet as you've never seen it before 'A slim, profound study of intimate human fears set against epic vistas' GUARDIAN 'Stunning... An uplifting book' SUNDAY TIMES A team of astronauts in the International Space Station collect meteorological data, conduct scientific experiments and test the limits of the human body. But mostly they observe. Together they watch their silent blue planet, circling it sixteen times, spinning past continents and cycling through seasons, taking in glaciers and deserts, the peaks of mountains and the swells of oceans. Endless shows of spectacular beauty witnessed in a single day. Yet although separated from the world they cannot escape its constant pull. News reaches them of the death of a mother, and with it comes thoughts of returning home. They look on as a typhoon gathers over an island and people they love, in awe of its magnificence and fearful of its destruction. The fragility of human life fills their conversations, their fears, their dreams. So far from earth, they have never felt more part - or protective - of it. They begin to ask, what is life without earth? What is earth without humanity?

      Orbital
    • 2020

      The Shapeless Unease

      A Year of Not Sleeping

      • 192 pages
      • 7 hours of reading
      3.7(964)Add rating

      Exploring the profound effects of insomnia, this debut memoir delves into the author's personal experiences and reflections. Samantha Harvey, an acclaimed stylist and Betty Trask Prize-winner, blends narrative with introspection, offering a unique perspective on sleep deprivation and its impact on the mind and body. Through her lyrical writing, she examines themes of memory, consciousness, and the human condition, creating a compelling and thought-provoking read that transcends traditional memoir boundaries.

      The Shapeless Unease
    • 2020

      The Shapeless Unease

      • 192 pages
      • 7 hours of reading
      3.8(225)Add rating

      'Easily one of the truest and best books I've read about what it's like to be alive now, in this country' Max Porter Sleep. Sleep. Like money, you only think about it when you have too little. Then you think about it all the time, and the less you have the more you think about it. It becomes the prism through which you see the world and nothing can exist except in relation to it. Samantha Harvey's insomnia arrived, seemingly, from nowhere; for a year she has spent her nights chasing sleep that rarely comes. She's tried everything to appease it. Nothing is helping. What happens when one of the basic human needs goes unmet? For Samantha Harvey, extreme sleep deprivation resulted in a raw clarity about life itself. Original and profound, The Shapeless Unease is a startlingly insightful exploration of memory, writing and influence, death and grief, and the will to survive.

      The Shapeless Unease
    • 2018

      The Western Wind

      • 304 pages
      • 11 hours of reading
      3.5(2973)Add rating

      **SHORTLISTED FOR THE WALTER SCOTT PRIZE 2019** 15th century Oakham, in Somerset; a tiny village cut off by a big river with no bridge. When a man is swept away by the river in the early hours of Shrove Saturday, an explanation has to be found- accident, suicide or murder? The village priest, John Reve, is privy to many secrets in his role as confessor. But will he be able to unravel what happened to the victim, Thomas Newman, the wealthiest, most capable and industrious man in the village? And what will happen if he can't? Moving back in time towards the moment of Thomas Newman's death, the story is related by Reve - an extraordinary creation, a patient shepherd to his wayward flock, and a man with secrets of his own to keep. Through his eyes, and his indelible voice, Harvey creates a medieval world entirely tangible in its immediacy.

      The Western Wind
    • 2015

      Dear Thief

      • 272 pages
      • 10 hours of reading
      3.9(18)Add rating

      Shortlisted for the 2015 James Tait Black Memorial Prize Longlisted for the 2015 Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction Longlisted for the 2015 Jerwood Prize In the middle of a winterâe(tm)s night, a woman wraps herself in a blanket, picks up a pen and starts writing to an estranged friend. In answer to a question you asked a long time ago, she writes, and so begins a letter that calls up a shared past both women have preferred to forget. Without knowing if her friend, Butterfly, is even alive or dead, she writes night after night âe" a letter of friendship that turns into something more revealing and recriminating. By turns a belated outlet of rage, an act of self-defence, and an offering of forgiveness, the letter revisits a betrayal that happened a decade and a half before, and dissects what is left of a friendship caught between the forces of hatred and love.

      Dear Thief
    • 2013

      He moves in with his distant brother William and his family, hoping to renew their friendship but learning to drop his expectations of brotherhood. Against a backdrop of tabloid frenzy, Leonard can only watch as William embraces the danger in the only way he knows how, which threatens to consume not only himself, but his entire family.

      All is Song
    • 2010

      On his birthday, Jake reflects on his life from a small plane, grappling with Alzheimer’s as he loses his memories and identity. With a troubled past involving his wife, son, and daughter, he struggles to piece together his story amid shifting realities. "The Wilderness" captivates with its powerful and beautiful prose.

      The Wilderness. A Novel. Winner of the Betty Trask Award 2009
    • 2009

      The Wilderness

      • 336 pages
      • 12 hours of reading
      3.3(104)Add rating

      It's Jake's birthday. He has lost his wife, his son is in prison and he is about to lose his past.As the disease takes hold of him, the key events of his life shift, and what until recently seemed solid fact melts into surreal imaginings. And why exactly is his son in prison?From the first sentence to the last, The Wilderness holds us in its grip.

      The Wilderness