Ripeness

long-buried family secrets in 1960s Italy from the Sunday Times bestselling author of Summerwater

By: Sarah Moss

Narrated by: Flora Montgomery

In 1960s Italy, a family secret rips a teenage girl's world apart, only for her to discover its true meaning decades later.

'Moss makes every moment count' - The Sunday Times
'A book of lasting pleasures' - Eleanor Catton
'Powerful and beautifully written' - The Guardian

Just out of school and teetering on the brink of adulthood, Edith is sent alone to rural Italy. Her task is simple: support her sister Lydia, a brilliant but brittle ballet dancer, through the final weeks of her pregnancy. Once the baby is born, she is to make a phone call that will change all of their lives forever.

Decades later, Edith is living a contented life in Ireland, happily divorced and unexpectedly free. But when her friend Méabh receives an email from a stranger claiming to be her brother, everything shifts. As Méabh confronts a history she never knew she had, Edith must finally face the truth of that long-ago summer, and the secret she has carried for a lifetime.

‘Tender and rueful’ - Emma Donoghue
'A deliciou's novel' - Literary Review
'Sublime . . . glorious' - Vogue
'Luminous' - Financial Times
'Beautifully crafted . . . absorbing and moving' - Daily Mail

Critic reviews

Sex and childbirth, emigrant and exile, the present and the past: Sarah Moss’s ambidextrous talent is evident on every page of this elegant novel. It is intelligent, but never disembodied; evocative, but never sentimental; honest, but never cruel. Ripeness is a book of tart and lasting pleasures (Eleanor Catton, Booker prize-winning author of The Luminaries and Birnam Wood)

This book felt to me like I was reading the achievement of a lifetime, written by one of the best writers alive. Moving, unexpected, masterful, it is a story of stories, of belonging, of exits and entrances, and everything in between. Moss’s understanding of who her characters are is also her understanding of all of us. A beautiful, powerful read that echoed for me long after (Jessie Burton, author of The Miniaturist)

Tender and rueful, Ripeness is a tale of being a foreigner that moves between 1960s Italy and 2020s Ireland, finding pain and bliss in both. Working at the height of her mature powers, Sarah Moss is a marvel of insight and eloquence (Emma Donoghue, author of Room)

I devoured Ripeness, thrilling at the world Moss brings to life and the characters who inhabit it. What a delicious novel

The sublime author Sarah Moss returns with Ripeness . . . Glorious

Impressive

A luminous tale about borders, bodies and a sense of belonging (Thomas McMullan, Financial Times)

Sarah Moss is a master of the ticking clock. Her novels thrum with tension . . . as the climax rushes towards us, Moss makes every moment count

Sarah Moss is one of the best writers working today, and this might be her best book yet. A wise and tender novel about birth, ballet and belonging, it captivated me completely (Bobby Palmer, author of Isaac and the Egg)

Beautifully crafted . . . absorbing and moving

An extended meditation on what home or belonging might mean in a period of disruption and displacement . . . Moss perfectly judges the prickly absolutism of the younger Edith . . . unfailingly spare and alert . . . captivating

Evocative . . . Immensely moving - and this story feels very much like life . . . This novel lingers so strongly in the mind

A powerful and beautifully written story of family, friendship and identity

An expansive, expressive tale of family, history and ballet, this is illuminated by pin-sharp imagery and rueful self-awareness

An insightful examination of family ties and belonging

There’s no shortage of gifted writers who have never had a sniff of a major prize. The English novelist Sarah Moss, now based in Dublin, is such an obvious example of this . . . Moss’ new novel, Ripeness, might fix that