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The Given World
Not yet published
Expected 14 May 26'Wonderful ... an Under Milk Wood for the twenty-first century' AMY LIPTROT
'Reminds us with every luminous sentence about the fragile grace of ordinary lives' EVIE WYLD
'Extraordinary ...The best serious fiction I've read this year' FRANCIS SPUFFORD
'Attuned, loving and thoughtful ... I loved its warmth and intricacy' SARAH MOSS
'Nobody does nature better than Melissa Harrison' TRISTAN GOOLEY
A FINANCIAL TIMES AND OBSERVER BOOK TO LOOK OUT FOR IN 2026
April brings spring surging with it, giving rise, among many in the village, to a comforting illusion that all is somehow still right with the world, and that nothing will ever change.
In the ancient Welm Valley, something is the river is behaving oddly, while the arrival of spring, with its familiar rhythms, is shadowed by an undercurrent of unease.
A woman falls while out walking and hopes to be found before nightfall; a builder experiences sudden, overwhelming vertigo on a farmhouse roof; across the village, people are plagued by the same vast, strange dream. And alone in the converted priory, overlooking watermeadows unchanged for centuries, Clare Grey receives devastating news which will force her to reconsider her family’s past and the fresh weight of her solitary existence.
'Reminds us with every luminous sentence about the fragile grace of ordinary lives' EVIE WYLD
'Extraordinary ...The best serious fiction I've read this year' FRANCIS SPUFFORD
'Attuned, loving and thoughtful ... I loved its warmth and intricacy' SARAH MOSS
'Nobody does nature better than Melissa Harrison' TRISTAN GOOLEY
A FINANCIAL TIMES AND OBSERVER BOOK TO LOOK OUT FOR IN 2026
April brings spring surging with it, giving rise, among many in the village, to a comforting illusion that all is somehow still right with the world, and that nothing will ever change.
In the ancient Welm Valley, something is the river is behaving oddly, while the arrival of spring, with its familiar rhythms, is shadowed by an undercurrent of unease.
A woman falls while out walking and hopes to be found before nightfall; a builder experiences sudden, overwhelming vertigo on a farmhouse roof; across the village, people are plagued by the same vast, strange dream. And alone in the converted priory, overlooking watermeadows unchanged for centuries, Clare Grey receives devastating news which will force her to reconsider her family’s past and the fresh weight of her solitary existence.
Kindle Edition
Expected publication May 14, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Melissa Harrison has slowly been building up a body of work which luxuriates in the natural world, in descriptive fiction which lets you smell the soil, feel the river water flow, sense the dew in the air. Her latest novel, The Given World, tells the story of a community in the Welm Valley, through the voices of its residents. As usual her writing is beautiful, restraining and lyrical in its quality. She draws her characters expertly on the page, and as each chapter is from a different characters point of view, she has managed to do so multiple times over. By novels end I felt I knew this community as if it were my own.
I have long admired Harrison's writing and The Given World cements that love even more. This is a grand, beautiful novel, and one worth spending some time with.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC.
I have long admired Harrison's writing and The Given World cements that love even more. This is a grand, beautiful novel, and one worth spending some time with.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
" Everyone's more separate these days. People don't believe they have the same responsibility to one another now, they don't see the web that runs between them."
The Given World is a truly beautiful and moving book but also a vital read in a rapidly changing world.
Melissa Harrison's knowledge and understanding of the natural world and the rural environment is powerful. At first glance this could be conceived as a novel about village life but this is much much more. Melissa Harrison has taken a microscopic view of rural living and also the seasonal beauty- the changing sensory delights in flora and fauna.
This is a story told over six months and each chapter is written from the perspective of a different resident; individuals whose families have lived in the area for generations; those who have been in the area since childhood when farming and building use changed; the young and older - each with a differing connection to the landscape and finally the new incomers- the weekenders/holiday home owners.
Each character has a different understanding /connection living in the Whelm Valley - for some every seasonal moment and adaptation has an impact of nostalgia or but also a deeper resonance and connection of living in a rural environment whilst for others the land is their lifeblood and living and for some the countryside community could be construed as being part of an idyll but without the deeper connection ( and for a few - its about power, land grabbing and greed).
The prose is exquisite - emotions are exposed and tenderly revealed. But is the inter-laying of describing the natural environment alongside the daily lives ( successes, failures, hopes and dreams) that makes this such a superb reading. It leaves you with questions about what will become of the countryside as the human condition continues to be ever more disconnected from what once was - for many- an integral and primal connection to the seasons and countryside and a deeply woven relationship.
Highly recommended - and deserving of plaudits and success in 2026
Thank you to Hutchinson Heinemann publishers and Netgalley for the advance copy
The Given World is a truly beautiful and moving book but also a vital read in a rapidly changing world.
Melissa Harrison's knowledge and understanding of the natural world and the rural environment is powerful. At first glance this could be conceived as a novel about village life but this is much much more. Melissa Harrison has taken a microscopic view of rural living and also the seasonal beauty- the changing sensory delights in flora and fauna.
This is a story told over six months and each chapter is written from the perspective of a different resident; individuals whose families have lived in the area for generations; those who have been in the area since childhood when farming and building use changed; the young and older - each with a differing connection to the landscape and finally the new incomers- the weekenders/holiday home owners.
Each character has a different understanding /connection living in the Whelm Valley - for some every seasonal moment and adaptation has an impact of nostalgia or but also a deeper resonance and connection of living in a rural environment whilst for others the land is their lifeblood and living and for some the countryside community could be construed as being part of an idyll but without the deeper connection ( and for a few - its about power, land grabbing and greed).
The prose is exquisite - emotions are exposed and tenderly revealed. But is the inter-laying of describing the natural environment alongside the daily lives ( successes, failures, hopes and dreams) that makes this such a superb reading. It leaves you with questions about what will become of the countryside as the human condition continues to be ever more disconnected from what once was - for many- an integral and primal connection to the seasons and countryside and a deeply woven relationship.
Highly recommended - and deserving of plaudits and success in 2026
Thank you to Hutchinson Heinemann publishers and Netgalley for the advance copy
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews