Follow Me To Ground

'A tangled, gnarled, wonderfully original, strange, beautiful beast of a book' DAISY JOHNSON, author of Everything Under 'Beautiful and terrifying' SUNDAY TIMES 'Seethingly assured debut fuses magical realism with critical and feminist theory' GUARDIAN In house in a wood, Ada and her father live peacefully, tending to their garden and the wildlife in it. They are not human though. Ada was made by her father from the Ground, a unique patch of earth with birthing and healing properties. Though perhaps he didn’t get her quite right. They spend their days healing the local human folk – named Cures - who visit them, suspiciously, with their ailments. When Ada embarks on a relationship with a local Cure named Samson, and is forced to choose between her old life with her father, and a new one with her human lover. Her decision will uproot the town – and the Ground itself – for ever. A poised and simmering tour-de-force, FOLLOW ME TO GROUND is a sinister vision of desire and freewill, voiced in earthy prose and eviscerating detail by an astoundingly original new writer. 'Equal parts beauty and horror, and unlike anything you will read this year’ TEA OBREHT 'Fierce, palpable, hynoptic. A dazzling, troubling dream' COLIN BARRETT 'A writer to watch' METRO 'A n astonishing debut heralding the career of an exciting new writer. Strange, lyrical, and arresting, this novel will draw readers into its extraordinary spell.' KIRKUS starred review LONGLISTED FOR THE DESMOND ELLIOT PRIZE 2019

'A tangled, gnarled, wonderfully original, strange, beautiful beast of a book' DAISY JOHNSON, author of Everything Under 'Beautiful and terrifying' SUNDAY TIMES 'Seethingly assured debut fuses magical realism with critical and feminist theory' GUARDIAN In house in a wood, Ada and her father live peacefully, tending to their garden and the wildlife in it. They are not human though. Ada was made by her father from the Ground, a unique patch of earth with birthing and healing properties. Though perhaps he didn’t get her quite right. They spend their days healing the local human folk – named Cures - who visit them, suspiciously, with their ailments. When Ada embarks on a relationship with a local Cure named Samson, and is forced to choose between her old life with her father, and a new one with her human lover. Her decision will uproot the town – and the Ground itself – for ever. A poised and simmering tour-de-force, FOLLOW ME TO GROUND is a sinister vision of desire and freewill, voiced in earthy prose and eviscerating detail by an astoundingly original new writer. 'Equal parts beauty and horror, and unlike anything you will read this year’ TEA OBREHT 'Fierce, palpable, hynoptic. A dazzling, troubling dream' COLIN BARRETT 'A writer to watch' METRO 'A n astonishing debut heralding the career of an exciting new writer. Strange, lyrical, and arresting, this novel will draw readers into its extraordinary spell.' KIRKUS starred review LONGLISTED FOR THE DESMOND ELLIOT PRIZE 2019

"Seethingly assured...like all the best horror, Follow Me to Ground ] is an impressive balancing act between judicious withholding and unnerving reveals." -- The Guardian A "legitimately frightening" ( The New York Times Book Review ) debut novel about an otherworldly young woman, her father, and her lover that culminates in a shocking moment of betrayal. "You've never encountered a father-daughter story like Rainsford's slim debut" ( Entertainment Weekly ). Ada and her father, touched by the power to heal illness, live on the edge of a village where they help sick locals--or "Cures"--by cracking open their damaged bodies or temporarily burying them in the reviving, dangerous Ground nearby. Ada, a being both more and less than human, is mostly uninterested in the Cures, until she meets a man named Samson--and they quickly strike up an affair. Soon, Ada is torn between her old way of life and new possibilities with her lover, and eventually she comes to a decision that will forever change Samson, the town, and the Ground itself. "Visceral in its descriptions...this unworldly story is a well-crafted and eerie exploration of desire...beautifully intoxicating" ( Shelf Awareness ). In Ada, award-winning author Sue Rainsford has created an utterly bewitching heroine, one who challenges conventional ideas of womanhood and the secrets of the body. "A triumph of imagination and myth-bending...equal parts beauty and horror Follow Me to Ground is] unlike anything you will read this year" (T a Obreht).

"Seethingly assured...like all the best horror, Follow Me to Ground ] is an impressive balancing act between judicious withholding and unnerving reveals." -- The Guardian A "legitimately frightening" ( The New York Times Book Review ) debut novel about an otherworldly young woman, her father, and her lover that culminates in a shocking moment of betrayal. "You've never encountered a father-daughter story like Rainsford's slim debut" ( Entertainment Weekly ). Ada and her father, touched by the power to heal illness, live on the edge of a village where they help sick locals--or "Cures"--by cracking open their damaged bodies or temporarily burying them in the reviving, dangerous Ground nearby. Ada, a being both more and less than human, is mostly uninterested in the Cures, until she meets a man named Samson--and they quickly strike up an affair. Soon, Ada is torn between her old way of life and new possibilities with her lover, and eventually she comes to a decision that will forever change Samson, the town, and the Ground itself. "Visceral in its descriptions...this unworldly story is a well-crafted and eerie exploration of desire...beautifully intoxicating" ( Shelf Awareness ). In Ada, award-winning author Sue Rainsford has created an utterly bewitching heroine, one who challenges conventional ideas of womanhood and the secrets of the body. "A triumph of imagination and myth-bending...equal parts beauty and horror Follow Me to Ground is] unlike anything you will read this year" (T a Obreht).