3.5
Clear
ByPublisher Description
“Tender, riveting, and inventive is Clear, the newest offering and masterpiece from the brilliant Carys Davies. It will take your breath away…What a thrill.” —Sarah Jessica Parker
A New York Times Book Review Top 10 Historical Fiction Book of 2024
A Vogue, The Washington Post, NPR, Kirkus Reviews, The Guardian, and The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Best Book of the Year
Winner of the 2024 Bookmark Festival Book of Year
Finalist for the Libby Book of the Year in Historical Fiction
Shortlisted for the 2024 Books Are My Bag Award, the Historical Writers’ Association Gold Crown Award, and the Saltire Society Literary Award
Longlisted for Blackwell’s Book of the Year, the Highland Book Prize, and the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction
A “daring and necessary…sophisticated and playful” (The New York Times) novel from an award-winning writer, Clear is the story of a minister dispatched to a remote island to “clear” its last remaining inhabitant—an unforgettable tale of resilience, change, and hope.
John, an impoverished Scottish minister, has accepted a job evicting the lone remaining occupant of an island north of Scotland—Ivar, who has been living alone for decades, with only the animals and the sea for company. Though his wife, Mary, has serious misgivings about the errand, he decides to go anyway, setting in motion a chain of events that neither he nor Mary could have predicted.
Shortly after John reaches the island, he falls down a cliff and is found, unconscious and badly injured, by Ivar who takes him home and tends to his wounds. “Clear chronicles the surprising bond that develops between these two men…pack[ing] a great deal of power into a compact tale” (The Wall Street Journal) about connection, home, and hope—in which John begins to learn Ivar’s language, and Ivar sees himself reflected through the eyes of another person for the first time in decades.
Unfolding during the final stages of the infamous Scottish Clearances—a period of the 19th century which saw whole communities of the rural poor driven off the land in a relentless program of forced evictions—this singular novel explores what binds us together in the face of insurmountable difference, the way history shapes our deepest convictions, and how the human spirit can endure despite all odds. Moving and unpredictable, “a love letter to the scorching power of language” (The Guardian), Clear is “a jewel of a novel” (The Washington Post)—a profound and unforgettable read.
A New York Times Book Review Top 10 Historical Fiction Book of 2024
A Vogue, The Washington Post, NPR, Kirkus Reviews, The Guardian, and The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Best Book of the Year
Winner of the 2024 Bookmark Festival Book of Year
Finalist for the Libby Book of the Year in Historical Fiction
Shortlisted for the 2024 Books Are My Bag Award, the Historical Writers’ Association Gold Crown Award, and the Saltire Society Literary Award
Longlisted for Blackwell’s Book of the Year, the Highland Book Prize, and the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction
A “daring and necessary…sophisticated and playful” (The New York Times) novel from an award-winning writer, Clear is the story of a minister dispatched to a remote island to “clear” its last remaining inhabitant—an unforgettable tale of resilience, change, and hope.
John, an impoverished Scottish minister, has accepted a job evicting the lone remaining occupant of an island north of Scotland—Ivar, who has been living alone for decades, with only the animals and the sea for company. Though his wife, Mary, has serious misgivings about the errand, he decides to go anyway, setting in motion a chain of events that neither he nor Mary could have predicted.
Shortly after John reaches the island, he falls down a cliff and is found, unconscious and badly injured, by Ivar who takes him home and tends to his wounds. “Clear chronicles the surprising bond that develops between these two men…pack[ing] a great deal of power into a compact tale” (The Wall Street Journal) about connection, home, and hope—in which John begins to learn Ivar’s language, and Ivar sees himself reflected through the eyes of another person for the first time in decades.
Unfolding during the final stages of the infamous Scottish Clearances—a period of the 19th century which saw whole communities of the rural poor driven off the land in a relentless program of forced evictions—this singular novel explores what binds us together in the face of insurmountable difference, the way history shapes our deepest convictions, and how the human spirit can endure despite all odds. Moving and unpredictable, “a love letter to the scorching power of language” (The Guardian), Clear is “a jewel of a novel” (The Washington Post)—a profound and unforgettable read.
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3.5
tanyasbooknook
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“Thoroughly enjoyed this however do wish it was a bit longer so we could get to know the characters, including Pegi, and the landscape in just a little a bit more detail. The ending I thought, although a little abrupt, worked really well. I wasn't left wondering but instead comforted in knowing that Ivar had left with John and Mary”
BBell
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Katie
Created 3 days agoShare
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“A beautiful story about language, human connection, and the unlikely ways in which we find companionship.
This is a quiet and tender book. It’s beautifully written and atmospheric - you can picture and feel the surroundings that are described. There’s a bitter sweetness here that lends itself to the narrative.
The ending felt slightly rushed and I do think this could have benefited from being a bit longer. All in all a lovely and moving story.”
AnneRenno
Created 4 days agoShare
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Sparky Ellis
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About Carys Davies
Carys Davies’s debut novel West was shortlisted for the Rathbones Folio Prize, runner-up for the Society of Authors’ McKitterick Prize, and winner of the Wales Book of the Year for Fiction. She is also the author of The Mission House, which was The Sunday Times (London) 2020 Novel of the Year, and two collections of short stories, Some New Ambush and The Redemption of Galen Pike, which won the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award and the Jerwood Fiction Uncovered Prize. Her other awards include the Royal Society of Literature’s V.S. Pritchett Prize, the Society of Authors’ Olive Cook Short Story Award, and a Cullman Fellowship at the New York Public Library. Born in Wales, she lived and worked for twelve years in New York and Chicago, and now lives in Edinburgh. Clear is her most recent novel.
Other books by Carys Davies
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