2025 Saltire Literary Award (shortlist)
'Unsettling, puckish, and brilliantly written, this novel is an absolute one-off. I loved it' CLAIRE FULLER
'Magical, perplexing and funny in a wholly original way' RACHEL YODER
'Ambitious, wildly original . . . marches to its own beat' THE TIMES
'Bamford conjures, in vivid, amplified language, how children fluidly and unpredictably make sense of the world … [Idle Grounds] is unsettling, sharply funny at times, with carefully built-up layers of dis-ease delivered in a comic deadpan' GUARDIAN
'A masterclass in misdirection' FINANCIAL TIMES
'Superb' THE TELEGRAPH
As always with these things it started with a birthday party.
On a bright summer day in 1989 New England, Abi, three years old, vanishes from her aunt’s secluded home. Upstairs, her young cousins are looking out of the window. Something is unfolding in the distance at the edge of the forest – something sinister that is watching them back.
The adults don’t seem to notice that the youngest of the group has disappeared. Too busy bickering over politics and reminiscing about the family’s domineering late matriarch, Beezy, they leave the children with no choice but to get Abi back themselves. As the cousins embark on a quest through their grandmother’s sprawling estate, buried family secrets come to light and long-awaited plans are set in motion. Will they lose themselves while trying to find her?
Idle Grounds is a chilling, evocative and darkly comic debut about childhood, legacy, and the burdens and privileges we carry with us.
'Haunting yet humorous, this is a debut to look out for' DAZED
'Every sentence positively bristles with unease. One of the most atmospheric novels I have read in a long time. Beautifully written' JENNIE GODFREY
'An acid trip of a novel. Weird, sinister and darkly funny' AMY TWIGG
Genre: Literary Fiction
'Magical, perplexing and funny in a wholly original way' RACHEL YODER
'Ambitious, wildly original . . . marches to its own beat' THE TIMES
'Bamford conjures, in vivid, amplified language, how children fluidly and unpredictably make sense of the world … [Idle Grounds] is unsettling, sharply funny at times, with carefully built-up layers of dis-ease delivered in a comic deadpan' GUARDIAN
'A masterclass in misdirection' FINANCIAL TIMES
'Superb' THE TELEGRAPH
As always with these things it started with a birthday party.
On a bright summer day in 1989 New England, Abi, three years old, vanishes from her aunt’s secluded home. Upstairs, her young cousins are looking out of the window. Something is unfolding in the distance at the edge of the forest – something sinister that is watching them back.
The adults don’t seem to notice that the youngest of the group has disappeared. Too busy bickering over politics and reminiscing about the family’s domineering late matriarch, Beezy, they leave the children with no choice but to get Abi back themselves. As the cousins embark on a quest through their grandmother’s sprawling estate, buried family secrets come to light and long-awaited plans are set in motion. Will they lose themselves while trying to find her?
Idle Grounds is a chilling, evocative and darkly comic debut about childhood, legacy, and the burdens and privileges we carry with us.
'Haunting yet humorous, this is a debut to look out for' DAZED
'Every sentence positively bristles with unease. One of the most atmospheric novels I have read in a long time. Beautifully written' JENNIE GODFREY
'An acid trip of a novel. Weird, sinister and darkly funny' AMY TWIGG
Genre: Literary Fiction
Praise for this book
"Deliciously uncanny New England Gothic. In refreshingly idiosyncratic prose, Bamford captures all of childhood's strangeness and cruelty. The landscapes of Idle Grounds are haunted not only by the old ghosts of family history but by the new ghosts that are born as each generation grows up." - Allen Bratton
"Deviously subtle and intoxicatingly sinister, Idle Grounds conjures up a new language of nightmare symbolism to fill the reader's heart with dread. A deservedly assured debut!" - Leon Craig
"Unsettling, puckish, and brilliantly written, this novel is an absolute one-off. I loved it." - Claire Fuller
"Every sentence positively bristles with unease. One of the most atmospheric novels I have read in a long time. Beautifully written." - Jennie Godfrey
"I knew I would like Idle Grounds very much, and it was doubly pleasant to realize I was right. Bamford writes from the shared consciousness of the junior branch of an entire family, and it felt as unnerving and delightful as when an eight-year-old takes you into their confidence for five minutes, in order to unload their pet likes and dislikes onto you...Reading this book expanded my memory and powers of retrieval and recall." - Daniel M Lavery
"To read Krystelle Bamford's astonishing debut is to be perpetually conflicted, like the child cousins it follows, between tearing at breakneck speed through the forest of its gorgeous pages to find out what will happen next, and deliberating with delirious languor, stopping to pick up, turn over, and marvel at each wryly glorious description, each exquisite joke. Idle Grounds left me like a kid with a dreadful yet delicious secret who tells everyone, I know something you don't know! - but I can't tell; you'll have to find out for yourself." - Rachel Lyon
"An acid trip of a novel. Weird, sinister and darkly funny. I can't wait to see what Bamford does next." - Amy Twigg
"Magical, perplexing and funny in a wholly original way." - Rachel Yoder
"Deviously subtle and intoxicatingly sinister, Idle Grounds conjures up a new language of nightmare symbolism to fill the reader's heart with dread. A deservedly assured debut!" - Leon Craig
"Unsettling, puckish, and brilliantly written, this novel is an absolute one-off. I loved it." - Claire Fuller
"Every sentence positively bristles with unease. One of the most atmospheric novels I have read in a long time. Beautifully written." - Jennie Godfrey
"I knew I would like Idle Grounds very much, and it was doubly pleasant to realize I was right. Bamford writes from the shared consciousness of the junior branch of an entire family, and it felt as unnerving and delightful as when an eight-year-old takes you into their confidence for five minutes, in order to unload their pet likes and dislikes onto you...Reading this book expanded my memory and powers of retrieval and recall." - Daniel M Lavery
"To read Krystelle Bamford's astonishing debut is to be perpetually conflicted, like the child cousins it follows, between tearing at breakneck speed through the forest of its gorgeous pages to find out what will happen next, and deliberating with delirious languor, stopping to pick up, turn over, and marvel at each wryly glorious description, each exquisite joke. Idle Grounds left me like a kid with a dreadful yet delicious secret who tells everyone, I know something you don't know! - but I can't tell; you'll have to find out for yourself." - Rachel Lyon
"An acid trip of a novel. Weird, sinister and darkly funny. I can't wait to see what Bamford does next." - Amy Twigg
"Magical, perplexing and funny in a wholly original way." - Rachel Yoder
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Used availability for Krystelle Bamford's Idle Grounds