Cold Earth | Granta

  • Published: 06/05/2021
  • ISBN: 9781783787845
  • Granta Books
  • 288 pages

Cold Earth

Sarah Moss

Six young people meet on an archaeological dig in a remote corner of Greenland. Excavating the unsettling remains of a Norse society under attack, they also come to uncover their own demons, as it becomes apparent that a plague pandemic is sweeping across the planet and communication with the outside world is breaking down. Increasingly unsure whether their missives will ever reach their destination, each of the characters writes a letter to someone close to them, trying to make sense of their situation and expressing their fears and dwindling hope of ever getting back home …

Chilling and remarkable... Moss is a master at evoking suspense

Guardian

Unnerving, ambitious... utterly absorbing and - appropriately enough - very chilling

Daily Mail

I revelled in Cold Earth. Brilliant

Penelope Lively

The Author

Sarah Moss is the author of eight novels., most recently The Fell and Summerwater. Her memoir of her year living in Iceland, Names for the Sea was shortlisted for the RSL Ondaatje Prize. Her novels include Summerwater, Cold Earth, Night Waking, Bodies of Light (shortlisted for the Wellcome Book Prize), Signs for Lost Children (shortlisted for the Wellcome Book Prize), The Tidal Zone (shortlisted for the Wellcome Book Prize) and Ghost Wall, which was shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction in 2019. She was born in Glasgow, grew up in the north of England and now lives in Ireland, where she teaches on the MFA and MA creative writing programmes at University College Dublin.

More about the author →

From the Same Author

Sarah Moss on Granta.com

Essays & Memoir | Granta 166

Generation Gap

Sarah Moss

‘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

Sarah Moss

‘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.