Claire Fuller – författare

Tvillingarna Jeanie och Julius har alltid vetat att de är annorlunda. Femtioett år gamla bor de fortfarande med sin mamma, isolerade på landsbygden, och stugan de hyr är både deras fristad och deras försörjare. Innanför dess väggar spelar tvillingarna musik och i dess trädgård odlar de allt de behöver för att överleva. För en utomstående framstår det som ett fattigt liv, men för dem är det ett hem. När mamman oväntat dör blir tvillingarna varse alla skulder hon hade, vilket sätter hela deras tillvaro på spel, och när människor i bygden börjar göra det svårt för dem, börjar Jeanie ifrågasätta hur de egentligen ska klara sig i en värld som ter sig grym.

Ofri jord är ett porträtt av fattigdom på landsbygden under 2000-talet. En berättelse om motståndskraft och hopp, om hemlöshet och lidanden, om kärlek och överlevnad.  

CLAIRE FULLER, född i Oxfordshire 1967, är en prisbelönt engelsk författare som fick sitt internationella genombrott med Ofri jord. Hon har en masterexamen i kreativt skrivande från University of Winchester och bor i Hampshire med sin man.

"Redan några tiotal sidor in i Ofri jord är det fullt förståeligt varför det är just den av Claire Fullers romaner som blivit hennes genombrott utanför den engelskspråkiga världen." SVENSKA DAGBLADET

 "Claire Fuller skriver med visuell skärpa och kärv ömhet om ett medelålders tvillingpar som levt ett isolerat liv på familjens gård." YSTADS ALLEHANDA

FROM THE COSTA AWARD-WINNING, WOMEN S PRIZE-SHORTLISTED AUTHOR OF UNSETTLED GROUND

'An absolute masterpiece. Utterly absorbing, genuinely unsettling' JENNIE GODFREY, author of The List of Suspicious Things

'Atmospheric, psychologically vivid, and unputdownable' ALICE WINN, author of In Memoriam

1987: After a childhood trauma and years in and out of the care system, sixteen-year-old Ursula finds herself with a new job in the postroom of a local art school, a bed in a halfway house, and delightfully some new friends, including wild-child, Sue. When Ursula is invited to join a squat at The Underwood, a mysterious house whose owners met a terrible end, she can t resist the promise of a readymade, hodgepodge family.

But as Sue s behaviour and demands become more extreme, Ursula who has always been hungry for food and more importantly for love, acceptance and belonging, carries out her friend s terrible dare. It's a decision that will haunt her for decades.

Thirty-six years later, Ursula is a renowned, reclusive sculptor living under a pseudonym in London when her identity is exposed by true-crime documentary-maker who is digging into an unsolved disappearance. But it is not only the filmmaker who has discovered Ursula s whereabouts, and as her past catches up with her present, Ursula must work out whether the monsters are within her or without.

From critically acclaimed and award-winning author, Claire Fuller, Hunger and Thirst is a compelling and chilling tale of loneliness and female friendship, of the dangerous line between wanting and needing, and of how far a person will go to truly belong.

'Unremittingly unsettling, propulsive and tense. Fuller excels at depicting outsiders, and writes with such precision and economy. Truly terrifying' Sarah Vaughan

'Addictive, disturbing and suspenseful. It reminded me of Ruth Rendell/Barbara Vine at her most vivid. Ursula is a rare creation' Amanda Craig

Penguin presents the audiobook edition of Bitter Orange by Claire Fuller, read by Rachel Bavidge. From the attic of a dilapidated English country house, she sees them - Cara first: dark and beautiful, clinging to a marble fountain of Cupid, and Peter, an Apollo. It is 1969 and they are spending the summer in the rooms below hers while Frances writes a report on the follies in the garden for the absent American owner. But she is distracted. Beneath a floorboard in her bathroom, she discovers a peephole which gives her access to her neighbours'' private lives.To Frances'' surprise, Cara and Peter are keen to spend time with her. It is the first occasion that she has had anybody to call a friend, and before long they are spending every day together: eating lavish dinners, drinking bottle after bottle of wine, and smoking cigarettes till the ash piles up on the crumbling furniture. Frances is dazzled.But as the hot summer rolls lazily on, it becomes clear that not everything is right between Cara and Peter. The stories that Cara tells don''t quite add up - and as Frances becomes increasingly entangled in the lives of the glamorous, hedonistic couple, the boundaries between truth and lies, right and wrong, begin to blur. Amid the decadence of that summer, a small crime brings on a bigger one: a crime so terrible that it will brand all their lives forever.''A twisty, thorny, darkly atmospheric page turner about loneliness and belonging'' Gabriel Tallent, author of My Absolute Darling''Incredibly atmospheric, vivid and intriguing. I had to keep reminding myself that I wasn''t reading a forgotten classic'' Emma Healey

Neffy is a young woman running away from grief and guilt and the one big mistake that has cost her her career. When she answers the call to volunteer in a controlled vaccine trial, it offers her a way to pay off her many debts and, perhaps, to make up for the past.But when the London streets below her window fall silent, and all external communications cease, only Neffy and four other volunteers remain in the unit. With food running out, and a growing sense that the strangers she is with may be holding back secrets, Neffy has questions that no-one can answer. Does safety lie inside or beyond the unit? And who, or what is out there?While she weighs up her choices, she is introduced to a pioneering and controversial technology which allows her to revisit memories from her life before: a childhood divided between her enigmatic mother and her father in his small hotel in Greece. Intoxicated by the freedom of the past and the chance to reunite with those she loves, she increasingly turns away from her perilous present. But in this new world where survival rests on the bonds between strangers, is she jeopardising any chance of a future?The Memory of Animals is a taut and emotionally charged novel about freedom and captivity, survival and sacrifice and whether you can save anyone before you save yourself.

Brought to you by Penguin.From the Costa-Winning, Women''s Prize-shortlisted author of Unsettled Ground: a gripping, haunting novel about memory, love and survival, for readers of Never Let me Go and Leave the World BehindNeffy is a young woman running away from grief and guilt and the one big mistake that has derailed her career. When she answers the call to volunteer in a controlled vaccine trial, it offers her a way to pay off her many debts and, perhaps, to make up for the past.But when the London streets below her window fall silent, and all external communications cease, only Neffy and four other volunteers remain in the unit. With food running out, and a growing sense that the strangers she is with may be holding back secrets, Neffy has questions that no-one can answer. Does safety lie inside or beyond the unit? And who, or what is out there?While she weighs up her choices, she is introduced to a pioneering and controversial technology which allows her to revisit memories from her life before: a childhood divided between her enigmatic mother and her father in his small hotel in Greece. Intoxicated by the freedom of the past and the chance to reunite with those she loves, she increasingly turns away from her perilous present. But in this new world where survival rests on the bonds between strangers, is she jeopardising any chance of a future?The Memory of Animals is a taut and emotionally charged novel about freedom and captivity, survival and sacrifice and whether you can save anyone before you save yourself.©2023 Claire Fuller (P)2023 Penguin Audio