A wondrous tale of bonds forged when two men are pitted against each other on a remote island during the Highland Clearances, from the prize-winning author of West.
Carys Davies is the author of two novels, The Mission House (Granta, 2020) and West (Granta, 2018), which won the Wales Book of the Year Fiction award, was Runner-Up for the Society of Author's McKitterick Prize and was shortlisted for the Rathbones Folio Prize. Her short stories have been widely published in magazines and anthologies and broadcast on BBC Radio 4, and have won the Jerwood Fiction Uncovered Prize, the Society of Authors' Olive Cook Award, the Royal Society of Literature's V S Pritchett Prize, and a Northern Writers' Award. Davies' second collection, The Redemption of Galen Pike, won the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award 2015.
A compact, taut and brilliant novel with an ingenious premise. The
book is about belonging, a dying language, secrets, and a pistol in
a box. I loved every page
*Anthony Doerr*
This intriguing and inventive story escorts the reader to an
unexpectedly joyous ending that hints at our contemporary interest
in new ideas of what a family might be. The writing style is one of
clarity and reserved sensibility punctuated with an end-game needle
jab. Not to be missed
*Annie Proulx*
The sheer beauty of Clear-with its perfect sentences, its austere
tenderness, and its quiet sense of disquiet-feels timeless... A
poignant, profound depiction of both solitude and connection. Carys
Davies has written a masterful, discreetly sublime book
*Hernan Diaz*
An exquisite, hopeful masterpiece. Magical and humane, it is a
celebration of love and courage. It will be my favourite book of
2024, and probably many more years to come
*Rachel Joyce*
Clear is a love letter to a vanished way of life, to a landscape,
and to human relationships. Captivating, tender, and satisfying,
this is a novel to be savoured
*Claire Fuller, author of Unsettled Ground*
With CLEAR, Carys Davies has again done brilliantly what she does
best - saying most by saying least. She has the rare gift of
eloquent brevity - CLEAR is astute, moving, unexpected
*Penelope Lively*
A wonderfully humane and moving depiction of loneliness and the
connections forged between strangers that transcend all barriers,
even language
*Clare Chambers*
Carys Davies is a writer of enviable sentences, descriptions and
scenes. The atmosphere rendered in Clear is so true and immediate,
any reader will be left with a sense memory of this landscape and
these people. The story is original, captivating and lasting.
Exquisite stuff
*Caoilinn Hughes*
An archipelago of short chapters, stepping stones that lead us
along a narrative of such intensity that the reader's desire is to
finish the book at a sitting
*Bernard MacLaverty*
Carys Davies' great gift is believing that her characters, whether
they know it or not, have in them the strength to answer back
against circumstances that would annihilate them. The circumstances
here, devised by the merciless rich and powerful, are the
Clearances
*David Constantine*
Another miniaturist gem by Carys Davies, in which she excels as
both portrait and landscape painter
*Chloe Aridjis*
Tender, riveting and inventive is CLEAR, the newest offering and
masterpiece from the brilliant Carys Davies. It will take your
breath away
*Sarah Jessica Parker*
The Welsh novelist writes epics in miniature... It is a tender,
humane book
*Sunday Times*
Short, powerful... an unforgettable tale of resilience, change and
hope from the award-winning writer
*PA Media*
Gripping... feels a bit like a thriller set against a history
lesson rendered fantastically vivid
*Vogue*
A lyrical exploration of the landscape, of loneliness, and of human
relationships... A perfectly crafted novel
*Historical Novel Society*
A memorable and beautifully told tale
*Scottish Herald*
Her own language is a marvel of eloquent restraint
*Observer*
An astonishing novel
*Scotland on Sunday*
This quiet, careful novel feels built from the very elements
themselves... Novels this unassuming, surprising and profound are
special indeed
*Tortoise Media*
Some wonderfully atmospheric writing
*Sunday Times*
Wonderful... Tense and tender, I absolutely loved it
*Scottish Field*
Clear is a love letter to the scorching power of language, a power
that Davies has long understood... Davies is a writer of immense
talent and deep humanity, capable of balancing devastating audacity
with equally devastating restraint
*Guardian*
An atmospheric marvel... It overflows with all the fundamentals of
humanity: life, love, connection, empathy... The characters are so
vividly alive, so full of feeling that you can almost hear their
hearts pounding
*I Newspaper*
There is great pleasure to be found of Davies's clear and calm
prose, her wry asides and deep love of language, and in the book's
quiet optimism. It is a slim, masterfully carved gem of a story
that you won't easily forget
*Evening Standard*
Amid the barbarity of mass evictions, with all their modern
resonances, Davies ultimately offers us a story that is hopeful and
humane
*Irish Times*
A lucid and stylish prose writer, Davies is excellent at revealing
characters through the language they use and through the gestures
and tonal shifts that betray their weaknesses, their prejudices and
hollow sentiments
*TLS*
Another epic in miniature. Davies manages to pack in more drama and
nuance into 160 pages than other authors manage in novels twice
that length
*Spectator*
Mustering a cast of highly individual characters, Davies's
idiosyncratic novel brilliantly explores a forgotten corner of
history
*Daily Mail*
Told in Davies's trademark unvarnished prose, this is a taut, tense
novella
*Newspaper*
An exquisitely told story of the coming together of souls in a
remote location, with sublime storytelling
*Prima*
This is a gem of a novel that shines with tenderness and courage,
and shimmers with the love of a long-lost language... Sublime
*Daily Mail*
The magic is in Davies's handling of her material... To deliver an
epic story in miniature like this - in fewer than 150 pages - is an
exceptional achievement
*The Critic*
A powerful novella that deals with loneliness, human connection and
the power of language with beautiful economy... Clear is a
wonderful example of an apparently small and contained story that
has a huge heart and universal themes, looking at how we
communicate and connect with each other on a fundamental level
*Big Issue*
A profoundly intimate tale of loneliness, longing and the lengths
you will go to for love
*Marie Clare*
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