From 1960s Italy to present-day Ireland, Ripeness is the story of a family secret that rips a teenage girl's world apart, only for her to discover its true meaning decades later.
From the Sunday Times bestselling author of Summerwater, Sarah Moss.
'Moss makes every moment count' - The Sunday Times
'A book of lasting pleasures' - Eleanor Catton
'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
'A delicious novel' - Literary Review
'Sublime . . . glorious' - Vogue
'Luminous' - Financial Times
'Beautifully crafted . . . absorbing and moving' - Daily Mail
Autorentext
Sarah Moss has written several novels including the Sunday Times top ten bestseller Summerwater, and Ghost Wall, which was longlisted for the Women's Prize. She has also written a memoir, My Good Bright Wolf - awarded Scotland's Non-Fiction Book of the Year at the Saltire's - and Names for the Sea, which is an account of her year living in Iceland. She was born in Glasgow and grew up in the north of England. After moving between Oxford, Canterbury, Reykjavik, west Cornwall and the English Midlands, she now lives in Dublin.