Idle Grounds

The riveting debut novel LONGLISTED FOR THE SCOTLAND'S NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR DEBUT FICTION 2025 '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 'A debut which marks the arrival of a singular new talent' IRISH 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

About the Author :
Krystelle Bamford's work has appeared in The American Poetry Review, The Kenyon Review, bath magg, PANK, Under the Radar and a number of anthologies including the Best New British and Irish Poets 2019-2021 (Eyewear). She is a 2019 Primers (Nine Arches Press) poet and was awarded a Scottish Book Trust New Writers Award. Born in France and raised in a haunted little corner of Massachusetts, she now lives with her partner and two kids in Edinburgh. Idle Grounds is her debut novel.

Review :
This debut novel is superb [An] extremely accomplished debut Bamford conjures, in vivid, amplified language, how children fluidly and unpredictably make sense of the world … [Idle Grounds] is unsettlingly, sharply funny at times, with carefully built-up layers of dis-ease delivered in a comic deadpan Atmospheric . . . . captures an ambling quest that is by turns funny, lyrical and surreal . . . Bamford keeps us guessing until the very end Idle Grounds is a masterclass in misdirection Unsettling, puckish, and brilliantly written, this novel is an absolute one-off. I loved it Magical, perplexing and funny in a wholly original way Every sentence positively bristles with unease. One of the most atmospheric novels I have read in a long time. Beautifully written [A] gorgeous, spirited debut. Absorbing ... the writing is so enthralling An acid trip of a novel. Weird, sinister and darkly funny. I can't wait to see what Bamford does next 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! 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 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 This book is like nothing else I’ve ever read. Equal parts alluring and off-kilter, with moments of genuine poetry, Idle Grounds is a peculiar and beguiling novel with a fiendish core Haunting . . . In barbed, poetic prose, Bamford captures the cousins’ uneasy communal existence. It’s a fresh spin on the well-worn trope of a family with secrets I knew I would like Idle Grounds very much, and it was doubly pleasant to realise 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 Idle Grounds is hypnotic and fierce, a darkly funny and sinister story shot through with a pervasive sense of dread. From the very beginning, Bamford deftly establishes a sense of unease, unsettling the reader and hooking us in. The ending is a true gut punch An original stunner Glimmering with foreboding, Bamford’s debut is an eerie consideration of family secrets in a sun-dappled setting . . . The novel casts an atmospheric spell with its surreal episodes and hints of unhappiness . . . One family’s murky hinterland is evoked in modern gothic form. Curious and original Told in poetic, semi-collective narration, Idle Grounds is a chilling exploration of privilege, memory, and the unsettling weight of inherited history. It’s a spiraling tale that you’ll feel compelled to finish in one sitting, quick-moving and innovative. Bamford shines light into the inner lives of children- their strange fixations and values—and makes you feel like a child yourself, immersed in a world where everything feels a bit scary and a bit magical Strangely beautiful . . . an incredibly vivid and fascinating debut [ . . . ] Bamford has written something really quite original and special Bewitching and immersive This richly imagined, atmospheric novel marches to its own beat . . . It’s a novel that constantly wrongfoots the reader, switching seamlessly between moments of terror and hilarity. Idle Grounds will trick and tease you to the bitter end Strangely beautiful … A fascinating debut. Bamford has written something special A truly quirky debut … smart, unsettling … by a poet author with a gift for simile With an unrelenting, formidable energy, Bamford has a style characterised by a startling vividness and valiant humour … this is a debut which marks the arrival of a singular new talent