THE WESTERN WIND is Waterstones Fiction Book of the Month for March 2019

Samantha Harvey's latest novel, THE WESTERN WIND (Jonathan Cape, 2018) has been selected as Waterstones Fiction Book of the Month for March 2019! 

If you haven't yet travelled back in time with this Medieval murder mystery and philosophical meditation on morality and desire, you can find it pride of place in Waterstones stores throughout the country! 

Somerset, 1491: Thomas Newman, an influential landowner, is missing, suspected to be drowned in the local river. For the embattled residents of rural Oakham, Newman represented their economic survival: now they are prey to darker concerns. In a gradually unfolding kaleidoscope of secrets, the author of The Wilderness chooses parish priest John Reve is her nervy, intelligent foil to probe at the truth. A superb, character-driven tale, thick with a sense of time and place.

'Beautifully rendered, deeply affecting, thoroughly thoughtful.' - The New York Times 

'A rich and sumptuous delight... Even the most glowing reviews of [Samantha Harvey's] work have tended to be accompanied by a rueful acknowledgement of how underrated she is. The Western Wind will surely mean that she's not underrated anymore.' - James Walton, The Daily Telegraph 

'A wonderful creation... less like reading a novel and more akin to time travel - something I've only previously encountered in the work of Hilary Mantel.' - Melissa Harrison, The Financial Times

'So ingenious in its plotting and characterisation that it begs to be read twice - the second reading a confirmation of what is slowly, tantalisingly revealed in the first.' - Eithne Farry, The Express