- Published: 06/05/2021
- ISBN: 9781783787678
- Granta Books
- 320 pages
Bodies of Light
Sarah Moss
Bodies of Light is a deeply poignant tale of a psychologically tumultuous nineteenth century upbringing set in the atmospheric world of Pre-Raphaelitism and the early suffrage movement.
Ally (older sister of May in Night Waking), is intelligent, studious and engaged in an eternal – and losing – battle to gain her mother’s approval and affection. Her mother, Elizabeth, is a religious zealot, keener on feeding the poor and saving prostitutes than on embracing the challenges of motherhood. Even when Ally wins a scholarship and is accepted as one of the first female students to read medicine in London, it still doesn’t seem good enough.
The first in a two-book sequence, Bodies of Light will propel Sarah Moss into the upper echelons of British novelists. It is a triumphant piece of historical fiction and a profoundly moving master class in characterisation.
£9.99
Her third novel confirms the richness of her concerns and it sharpens our sense of her steely, no-nonsense voice... Moss produces well-crafted, deeply researched, hard-working novels about hard-working women... [A] tremendously talented writer
Alexandra Harris, Guardian
Not just a beautiful novel but an important one
Mark Haddon
Wise and tender... Moss's style is measured and refined. A very accomplished piece of work
Alexander Gilmour, Financial Times
From the Same Author
Sarah Moss on Granta.com
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Generation Gap
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‘I’d been dubious about his company at first.’
Sarah Moss on watching Shakespeare with her twelve-year-old son.
Essays & Memoir | Granta 160
A Wolf in the Forest Wants
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‘I biked to the hospital anyway, because it didn’t occur to me to think of an alternative form of transport.’
Sarah Moss on her admission to hospital.
In Conversation | The Online Edition
In Conversation
Louise Kennedy & Sarah Moss
Two Ireland-based writers discussing national identity, disappointing holidays and art deco china.