Distant Hills

Leaving behind the familiar hills of England X makes for Europe with just her 75-litre backpack. Shes determined to find loneliness. And she does sublimely on a new hilltop or painfully in a tone of disconnection. But she also finds companionship and separations. It is by committing herself to new people new wilds and new homes that X explores inner expanses. This is reflected in Unsworths outward-looking prose which captures both fibrous detail and planetary speeds and motions. Unsworths debut novel is a testament to the versatility of language and of the human spirit.