The Stranding: SHORTLISTED FOR THE COSTA FIRST NOVEL AWARD

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Incredibly moving, totally gripping and (considering it's about the end of the world and living in a dead whale) strangely relatable * Ellie Taylor, author of My Child and Other Mistakes * When many of us were approved for this book on Netgalley around the same time, the lovely @kimsreadingadventure hosted a buddy read at the beginning of March.

The Stranding by Kate Sawyer | Hachette UK

The end of summer, but still a hot, humid day. All are gathering to celebrate the wedding of the matriarch of the Roberts family, Mary. Over the years there have been fallings-out, estrangements and arguments, but the bride has requested that everyone be on their best behaviour for her special day. I didn’t want this book to end. It blew me away, and moved me beyond belief’– Bryony Gordon, author of Mad Girl Will they be able to put aside their differences, the past betrayals and hurts? And put their love for Mary and her desire for peace above their personal feelings? This family is deeply flawed but there’s the potential for what unites them to be stronger than what divides.Ruth lives in the heart of London. She works as a school teacher who enjoys drinking and falling in love. With her newest relationship becoming a little too much for her, Ruth decides to take a trip to New Zealand, leaving her friends and family behind, to fulfil a wish of saving the whales. A quiet, piercing contemplation on what really matters when it comes to the end of the world. Strange and beautiful * Abigail Dean, author of Girl A * In the After timeline, Ruth and Nik, the only two survivors in the area, try to survive by scavenging, fishing and farming--the usual post-apocalyptic stuff. But where you might expect something eventful happening, nothing much does. The story never moves beyond the area they start the After timeline in, and other than the catastrophe, the book is uneventful. It's all just glimpses of Ruth's life without ever delving deep enough for real character growth. It was a pleasant enough read, but I missed some meat to the story. There are difficulties galore and several surprises in store as Emma and Phoebe and their half-sister, Rosie, arrive. Will the siblings behave themselves for Mary’s sake?

REVIEW: The Stranding by Kate Sawyer - Female First REVIEW: The Stranding by Kate Sawyer - Female First

Beautiful and harrowing but also optimistic and extremely moving . . . a truly arresting depiction of an unlikely relationship’– Clover Stroud, author of The Wild Other It’s a sultry late summer’s day and a wedding is due to take place in this family home. The last celebration to be held under its roof. This is home to Mary, the bride-to-be. She’s lived, loved, and lost here for 40 years. It’s also home to her fractured family who, she hopes, will return for her special day. This book was a fabulous reading experience. I cried when I came to the end, not because it was sad but because I wanted to stay in the chaotic, messy world the author created. Author of this stand-alone novel, Kate Sawyer, was an actor and producer before turning her attention to writing fiction. She has written for both short films and theatre productions. She lives in East Anglia, where she had her first child as a solo mother by choice. The synopsis In alternating chapters set in the Before (before a catastrophic apocalyptic event) and After, we get to know Ruth, a woman who, dissatisfied with her life, heads to New Zealand from the UK, deciding to pursue a lifelong passion for whales.Mary is getting married for the second time. She’s hosting a celebratory meal for the whole family and her ex-husband is on hand to cook a hog roast. Everyone has promised to behave; they all agree that Mary deserves her hard won happiness. Poor Mary – that she still has to worry that her adult daughters may cause havoc. We wonder why. I have an overactive imagination, as all creative people do, and there have been times during the pandemic when I’ve thought ‘Is this the end of everything?’,” admits Kate. “But strangely I found that thinking and writing about the worst case scenario - and I hope this is true of people reading about it, too - made me find and feel hope. . .” I found it easy to read, it covered the questions I’d asked in my mind with each chapter, revealing a bit more each time until finally it all came together. If you love a rambling, multi character, family chronicle, then this would appeal. For me it missed the mark and was all a bit so so.

Kate Sawyer - Apple Podcasts Novel Experience Kate Sawyer - Apple Podcasts

Kate Sawyer is having a pinch-me moment. “It seems that authors these days are supposed to be cool - maybe they always have been; maybe Virginia Woolf was cool - but I’m really excited and I’m not going to pretend I’m not,” she says. “To be shortlisted for a Costa, alongside such brilliant writers and in the prize’s 50th year, too? I really couldn’t wish for any more for my first novel.” The story plays out over the course of a single, gorgeous September day, in the house and garden that Mary moved into with her ex-husband many years ago. Her new marriage will be the last chance for her fractured family to celebrate together before she moves on, and it is her one wish that they get along - at least for this day. A truly unique and gripping read * Marianne Cronin, author The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot *It reminded me of a few books I’ve read in recent years - the reflective tone and tenderness of Nothing But Blue Sky, the quiet, humming prose of Tessa Hadley’s Free Love and the immersive family saga The Paper Palace, which was a little too cynical for my taste, something happily absent here. This is a big claim to make for a novel. His point, says Ghosh, is not just about the book itself, but the welcome it received (including being shortlisted for the Booker prize). “It wasn’t hived off into the usual silos of climate change or speculative fiction, but was treated as a mainstream novel. I do think that was a very major thing. Since then, there’s been an outpouring of work in this area. In my own personal inbox, I get two or three manuscripts a day.” A heartbreaking novel of love, loss and hope about a woman who hides from the end of the world in the belly of a whale.

The Stranding by Kate Sawyer | Goodreads

Original, visceral, rich with themes of refuge and redemption, it's a beautifully imagined story about the hiding places in our hearts and minds * Emma Stonex, author of The Lamplighters. *The Stranding’ by Kate Sawyer is out now Here's what our Grazia Book Club thought about The Stranding, by Kate Sawyer It's GORGEOUS and original and captivating . . . Beautiful writing and characters I cared for as if they were my own family * Marian Keyes, international bestselling author of Grown Ups * The way Sawyer reveals the answers to some of the questions I had was quite clever, and the showing not telling aspect of the book, which can be rather hard to do when writing novel, was fantastic as I often felt a small bit of closure when I understood how certain events had taken place. Every character is so beautifully real - made up of heartache, happiness, of people they've loved and hated. I found something in al of them that moved me and made me think of my own family, the beautiful and the dysfunctional parts. It was so simple to find a connection with them, and understand how the ties between have changed over time. I adored how the family in this story isn't just the typical - it's ex husbands, in-laws, friends, half siblings, relatives - all complex with their own beautifully meaningful connections. Kate Sawyer writes and immerses the reader in a beautifully realised and moving family drama set in Suffolk, with all its complexities, the dysfunctions, joy, regrets, betrayal, loss, grief, love, pain, heartbreak, squabbles and conflict. 4 decades of memories and nostalgia tumble out during a sweltering September day in which Mary is getting married again in the beloved family home with its willow tree, a day to remember as she is moving out soon, for the home has been sold. In a non-linear narrative, Mary is hoping her 3 daughters manage to be civil to each other, for the family has been broken for some time. As preparations get underway, we become aware this is an unconventional wedding, present is Mary's ex-mother in law, Irene, whom she has been caring for, and the catering, with its centrepiece of a hog roast, is being done by her ex-husband, Richard. Sunflowers are the significant central motif of the celebrations.