Our Endless Numbered Days

by Claire Fuller

WINNER OF THE DESMOND ELLIOTT PRIZE

An imaginative, mysterious modern fairytale from the Women's Prize-shortlisted author of Unsettled Ground

1976: Peggy Hillcoat is eight. She spends her summer camping with her father, playing her beloved record of The Railway Children and listening to her mother's grand piano, but her pretty life is about to change.

Her survivalist father, who has been stockpiling provisions for the end which is surely coming soon, takes her from London to a cabin in a remote European forest. There he tells Peggy the rest of the world has disappeared.

Her life is reduced to a piano which makes music but no sound, a forest where all that grows is a means of survival. And a tiny wooden hut that is Everything.

'Fuller handles the tension masterfully in this grown-up thriller of a fairytale, full of clues, questions and intrigue' The Times

'Bewitching . . . a rivetingly dark tale' Sunday Express

'Extraordinary . . . From the opening sentence it is gripping' Sunday Times

• ISBN10: 0241003946
• ISBN13: 9780241003947
• Publish Date: 31 December 2015 (first published 1 January 2015)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Imprint: Penguin Books Ltd
• Format: Paperback (B-Format (198x129 mm))
• Pages: 304
• Language: English

Reviews

[lovelybookshelf]

Good God. This book. You know, it starts off fine. The family is a little odd. Survivalist father who takes his hobby more seriously than most of his buddies. Concert pianist mom who suddenly decides to go back on tour. And then…the situation gets worse and worse from there. Downright harrowing in many places. It gives a strangely quiet portrayal of the way a child might deal with terrifying circumstances. I’m not sure “quiet” is the exact word I want, but there are so many times when Fuller leaves details unsaid and to be honest, it’s a blessing. The reader is left to trust her gut to fill in the blanks, and is thankful that this child narrator is offering a somewhat vague memory. This is the kind of book you need to talk about with others.

More of my thoughts on this title can be found on my blog at Lovely Bookshelf.