Helm

''Sarah Hall''s writing has conquered the body and the soul and now it conquers the wind itself.'' DAISY JOHNSON
''Ye Gods, Ms Hall is talented.'' DAVID MITCHELL
''Incandescently good ... sexy and funny and erudite and strange.'' SARAH PERRY, GUARDIAN

A wondrous, elemental novel from ‘a writer of show-stopping genius’ (Guardian).

Helm is a ferocious, mischievous wind — a subject of folklore and wonder, who has blasted the sublime landscape of the Eden Valley since the very dawn of time.

This is Helm''s life story, formed from the chronicles of those the wind enchanted: the Neolithic tribe who tried to placate it, the Dark Age wizard priest who wanted to banish it, the Victorian steam engineer who attempted to capture it — and the farmer’s daughter who fell in love. But now Dr Selima Sutar, surrounded by measuring instruments, alone in her observation hut, fears the end is nigh.

Rich, wild and vital, Helm is the elemental tale of a unique life force – and of a relationship: between nature and people, neither of whom can weather life without the other.

''I can think of no other British writer whose talent so consistently thrills, surprises and staggers.'' BENJAMIN MYERS
''I’m awed … I wouldn’t think a novel could be at once so taut and so multifarious, expanding one’s sense of what fiction can do.'' SARAH MOSS
''Helm is just a brilliant achievement … I can think of no better writer to give voice to a natural phenomenon, because she is one herself.'' KIRSTIN INNES
''A spectacular epic tapestry. Nobody could tell the story of our inextricable relationship with wild nature as beautifully as Sarah Hall.'' LEE SCHOFIELD
''I forced myself to read slowly so it wouldn’t end, and still consumed Helm as if starving. This is a novel to wallow in, it’s rich and snug and feels wonderful.'' COURTTIA NEWLAND
''A big, celebratory book, in places delightfully playful, in others as tight and breathless as a thriller.'' ANDREW MILLER