Published: 01/01/2014
ISBN: 9781783780419
Granta Books
112 pages

The Long Dry

Cynan Jones

When the farmer wakes at dawn, he can already feel the heat of the day rising and the silence from his wife hanging heavy in the air. As he sets out across his parched fields to find a missing cow, his mind starts to turn over the dreams he harbours, the cares he and his wife both carry alone, and the uneasy sense that something is about to change. Written with clarity and depth, this is a powerful novel about the fragility of life and the small, unseen moments upon which fate twists.

The Long Dry is undoubtedly an impressive debut

Keith Hopper, TLS

Lovely, poignant [and] resonant

Sarah Waters

From first to last, through spare style, human empathy, and wonderfully observed detail, Jones attains a pitch of emotional involvement that is mesmerising. The effect is beautiful

Tim Pears, author, In the Place of Fallen Leaves

The Author

Cynan Jones was born in 1975 near Aberaeron, Wales. He is the author of five short novels, The Long Dry, Everything I Found on the Beach, Bird, Blood, Snow, The Dig, and Cove. His work is published in over 20 countries and has won several prizes including a Betty Trask Award, the Jerwood Fiction Uncovered Award, the Wales Book of the Year Fiction prize, and the BBC National Short Story Award. He has also written stories for radio and screen, and a collection of tales for children. Other writing has appeared in numerous publications including Granta and the New Yorker. He was elected a Fellow of the RSL in 2019. www.cynanjones.com

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