Clear

WINNER OF THE WALES BOOK OF THE YEAR 2025 WINNER OF THE ONDAATJE PRIZE 2025 LONGLISTED FOR THE 2024 HIGHLAND BOOK PRIZE 'Tender, riveting and inventive is Clear, the newest offering and masterpiece from the brilliant Carys Davies. It will take your breath away' Sarah Jessica Parker 'An exquisite, hopeful masterpiece' Rachel Joyce 'A poignant, profound depiction of both solitude and connection. Carys Davies has written a masterful, discreetly sublime book' Hernan Diaz 1843. On a remote Scottish island, Ivar, the sole occupant, leads a life of quiet isolation until the day he finds a man unconscious on the beach below the cliffs. The newcomer is John Ferguson, an impoverished church minister sent to evict Ivar and turn the island into grazing land for sheep. Unaware of the stranger's intentions, Ivar takes him into his home, and in spite of the two men having no common language, a fragile bond begins to form between them. Meanwhile, on the mainland, John's wife, Mary, anxiously awaits news of his mission. Against the rugged backdrop of this faraway spot beyond Shetland, Carys Davies's intimate drama unfolds with tension and tenderness: a touching and crystalline study of ordinary people buffeted by history and a powerful exploration of the distances and connections between us. Perfectly structured and surprising at every turn, Clear is a marvel of storytelling, an exquisite short novel by a master of the form.

WINNER OF THE WALES BOOK OF THE YEAR 2025 WINNER OF THE ONDAATJE PRIZE 2025 LONGLISTED FOR THE 2024 HIGHLAND BOOK PRIZE 'Tender, riveting and inventive is Clear, the newest offering and masterpiece from the brilliant Carys Davies. It will take your breath away' Sarah Jessica Parker 'An exquisite, hopeful masterpiece' Rachel Joyce 'A poignant, profound depiction of both solitude and connection. Carys Davies has written a masterful, discreetly sublime book' Hernan Diaz 1843. On a remote Scottish island, Ivar, the sole occupant, leads a life of quiet isolation until the day he finds a man unconscious on the beach below the cliffs. The newcomer is John Ferguson, an impoverished church minister sent to evict Ivar and turn the island into grazing land for sheep. Unaware of the stranger's intentions, Ivar takes him into his home, and in spite of the two men having no common language, a fragile bond begins to form between them. Meanwhile, on the mainland, John's wife, Mary, anxiously awaits news of his mission. Against the rugged backdrop of this faraway spot beyond Shetland, Carys Davies's intimate drama unfolds with tension and tenderness: a touching and crystalline study of ordinary people buffeted by history and a powerful exploration of the distances and connections between us. Perfectly structured and surprising at every turn, Clear is a marvel of storytelling, an exquisite short novel by a master of the form.

1843. On a remote Scottish island, Ivar, the sole occupant, leads a life of quiet isolation until the day he finds a man unconscious on the beach below the cliffs. The newcomer is John Ferguson, an impoverished church minister sent to evict Ivar and turn the island into grazing land for sheep. Unaware of the stranger's intentions, Ivar takes him into his home, and in spite of the two men having no common language, a fragile bond begins to form between them. Meanwhile on the mainland, John's wife Mary anxiously awaits news of his mission. Against the rugged backdrop of this faraway spot beyond Shetland, Carys Davies's intimate drama unfolds with tension and tenderness: a touching and crystalline study of ordinary people buffeted by history and a powerful exploration of the distances and connections between us. Perfectly structured and surprising at every turn, Clear is a marvel of storytelling, an exquisite short novel by a master of the form.

1843. On a remote Scottish island, Ivar, the sole occupant, leads a life of quiet isolation until the day he finds a man unconscious on the beach below the cliffs. The newcomer is John Ferguson, an impoverished church minister sent to evict Ivar and turn the island into grazing land for sheep. Unaware of the stranger's intentions, Ivar takes him into his home, and in spite of the two men having no common language, a fragile bond begins to form between them. Meanwhile on the mainland, John's wife Mary anxiously awaits news of his mission. Against the rugged backdrop of this faraway spot beyond Shetland, Carys Davies's intimate drama unfolds with tension and tenderness: a touching and crystalline study of ordinary people buffeted by history and a powerful exploration of the distances and connections between us. Perfectly structured and surprising at every turn, Clear is a marvel of storytelling, an exquisite short novel by a master of the form.

"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 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 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.

"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 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 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.