Helm

'A truly astonishing thing' George Monbiot'Magisterial ' Guardian'Visionary' Observer'Vital, fierce and free' Financial TimesA Book of the Year in the Financial Times, Observer, BBC, Daily Mail, Guardian, Observer, New Statesman, IndependentShortlisted for the Goldsmiths PrizeLonglisted for the Gordon Burn Prize Helm is a ferocious, mysterious wind, 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 it has enchanted - from a Neolithic tribeswoman to a Dark Age wizard priest, a Victorian steam engineer to a devoted farmer's daughter. And then there is the scientist Dr Selima Sutar, surrounded by measuring instruments, alone in her observation hut today, who fears the end is nigh for this unique life force. 'A huge, millennia-spanning achievement.' Guardian 'Helm is a wonder... A big, celebratory book, in places delightfully playful, in others as tight and breathless as a thriller. ' Andrew Miller'So brilliantly and beautifully written it will suck you in like a whirlpool. She writes about landscape and emotions like nobody else.' Val McDermid'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