Overview

From the Costa Award-winning, Women's Prize-shortlisted author of Unsettled Ground- 'a stunning piece of speculative fiction' (The i) Humans are useless at learning from their mistakes. We just have to keep making new plans. When Neffy wakes up from an uneasy sleep in a hospital bed, nothing is as it should be. There is no food, and nobody to tend to her. The city streets outside her window have fallen silent. She doesn't know it yet, but a debilitating new virus is sweeping the globe, and the world will never be the same again. Feverish, confused, and wary of the strangers trapped inside with her, Neffy finds solace in her own memories of the past - even the memories of the mistakes that led her here. But as the days turn into weeks, it is clear that Neffy will have to make a choice. How do you choose between a past that has already disappeared forever, and a future you can't begin to imagine?

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Reviews

Following her award-winning novel Unsettled Ground, Fuller has returned with a piece of stunning speculative fiction * The i * A haunting novel about love, survival and everything in between ... one to get excited about * Stylist, Best Modern Dystopia * A thought-provoking and utterly compelling novel from a writer we always look forward to reading * Glamour * Haunting and unsettling, moving and thoughtful, with horror lurking at the edges, this is a subtle, elegant novel. Claire Fuller is a huge talent * Lucy Atkins, author of Magpie Lane * Claire Fuller is such an interesting and original writer and she has produced another literary page-turner ... Compulsive and thoroughly convincing. Terrific! * Clare Chambers, author of Small Pleasures * Fuller is an excellent writer and she neatly conveys boredom as well as dread (no mean feat) -- Anthony Cummings * Daily Mail * Stunning ... A page-turning, topical, edge-of-your-seat story that resonates with the reader on an emotional level, and leaves them thinking about it for a long time afterwards * Louise Morrish, author of Operation Moonlight * A gripping page-turner, this apocalyptic tale is given warmth and depth by the portrayal of Neffy, a young woman with a complicated past to which she returns to escape the horrors of the present * Woman and Home * A taut and atmospheric read, an exploration of captivity, sacrifice and survival in a post-apocalyptic world ... Asks important, resonant questions of life in extremis ... Fuller writes brilliantly ... The superb ending ties everything together with a moving, tragic cohesiveness * Irish Times * A woman once undone by empathy now finds that it could be her salvation in Claire Fuller's stunning postapocalyptic novel ... Sobering and evocative, The Memory of Animals is a novel about who we choose to be when the lights go out * Foreword * Wonderful, sorrowful, haunting, tender, elegiac * Barney Norris, author of The Undercurrent * Claire Fuller is my favourite story-teller. I read The Memory of Animals in one sitting, swept up by the thriller-like pace and the sheer joy of reading a great story. Yet, in the book's aftermath, I was haunted by Neffy's fumbling humanity in the face of loss and fear, and how courage isn't always obvious - even to those who find it. Fuller's books come in at the eyes, but they settle right behind the heart. * Melanie Finn, author of The Hare * A riveting exploration of agency, allegiance and choice * Marie Claire * Fuller's latest work is thought-provoking and unsettling, and somehow strikes a further warning note to a world already in crisis * Irish Independent * Claire Fuller is a fascinating writer, and The Memory of Animals is further evidence of her powers. Her story is one of survival, but her subject is humanity itself. With immense skill, she shines a light on the dark heart of our existence - the beauty and brutality of human behaviour. This is an unforgettable novel * Kathleen MacMahon, author of Nothing But Blue Sky * A story you'll both recognize from our collective recent past, and a thrilling departure from our reality * Good Housekeeping USA, The Best Books of 2023 so far * Full of jeopardy and strangeness but also laced with Fuller's trademark generosity and compassion. A startling and satisfying book * Julie Myerson, author of Nonfiction * Fuller excels in examining the everyday moments at the heart of a life ... A memorable meditation on how the human struggle to survive in captivity is not so different than that of our animal kin * Kirkus * A haunting novel of second chances set in a near-future pandemic ... Intricately structured ... The entwined pain and pleasure of memory is at the heart of Neffy's story, as is the hard work of establishing trust and finding forgiveness, particularly for oneself. This is a pandemic novel, yes, but one that radically transcends the label * Publishers Weekly, Starred Review * Brave, unflinching and beautiful * Beth Underdown, author of The Witchfinder's Sister * Claire Fuller strikes the perfect balance between beauty and melancholy * Clare Mackintosh, author of Hostage * The way she writes (with empathy but never sentimentality) moves my heart * Elizabeth Day, author of Magpie * A creeping tale of isolation and the dangerous allure of memory * Liz Earle Wellbeing * [A] post-Covid psychological thriller ... takes faintly distubing turns through grimly familiar territory to suggest that what makes us heroic, or not, hinges on unexpected things * Mail on Sunday * Compelling ... A riveting, don't-miss account of what some may see as the reality to come; long-time Fuller readers will relish this completely engrossing story, which questions what we value most * Library Journal * Compelling ... A timely read ... Fuller is on strong form in evoking the terrors faced by those who are not just marginalised but entirely forgotten by society * Daily Express * There's a haunted elegance to Fuller's vision of a fallen world ... Sensuous * Lit Hub, 28 Novels You Need To Read This Summer *

Author Information

Claire Fuller was born in Oxfordshire, England, in 1967. She gained a degree in sculpture from Winchester School of Art, but went on to have a long career in marketing and didn't start writing until she was forty. She has written four previous novels- Unsettled Ground, which in 2021 won the Costa Novel Award and was shortlisted for the Woemn's Prize for Fiction, Our Endless Numbered Days, which won the Desmond Elliott Prize, Swimming Lessons, which was shortlisted for the RSL Encore Award, and Bitter Orange. She has an MA in Creative and Critical Writing from the University of Winchester and lives in Hampshire with her husband.

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