Sarah Moss – författare

Traditional philosophical discussions of knowledge have focused on the epistemic status of full beliefs. Sarah Moss argues that in addition to full beliefs, credences can constitute knowledge. For instance, your 0.4 credence that it is raining outside can constitute knowledge, in just the same way that your full beliefs can. In addition, you can know that it might be raining, and that if it is raining then it is probably cloudy, where this knowledge is not knowledge of propositions, but of probabilistic contents. The notion of probabilistic content introduced in this book plays a central role not only in epistemology, but in the philosophy of mind and language as well. Just as tradition holds that you believe and assert propositions, you can believe and assert probabilistic contents. Accepting that we can believe, assert, and know probabilistic contents has significant consequences for many philosophical debates, including debates about the relationship between full belief and credence, the semantics of epistemic modals and conditionals, the contents of perceptual experience, peer disagreement, pragmatic encroachment, perceptual dogmatism, and transformative experience. In addition, accepting probabilistic knowledge can help us discredit negative evaluations of female speech, explain why merely statistical evidence is insufficient for legal proof, and identify epistemic norms violated by acts of racial profiling. Hence the central theses of this book not only help us better understand the nature of our own mental states, but also help us better understand the nature of our responsibilities to each other.

Traditional philosophical discussions of knowledge have focused on the epistemic status of full beliefs. Sarah Moss argues that in addition to full beliefs, credences can constitute knowledge. For instance, your 0.4 credence that it is raining outside can constitute knowledge, in just the same way that your full beliefs can. In addition, you can know that it might be raining, and that if it is raining then it is probably cloudy, where this knowledge is not knowledge of propositions, but of probabilistic contents. The notion of probabilistic content introduced in this book plays a central role not only in epistemology, but in the philosophy of mind and language as well. Just as tradition holds that you believe and assert propositions, you can believe and assert probabilistic contents. Accepting that we can believe, assert, and know probabilistic contents has significant consequences for many philosophical debates, including debates about the relationship between full belief and credence, the semantics of epistemic modals and conditionals, the contents of perceptual experience, peer disagreement, pragmatic encroachment, perceptual dogmatism, and transformative experience. In addition, accepting probabilistic knowledge can help us discredit negative evaluations of female speech, explain why merely statistical evidence is insufficient for legal proof, and identify epistemic norms violated by acts of racial profiling. Hence the central theses of this book not only help us better understand the nature of our own mental states, but also help us better understand the nature of our responsibilities to each other.

The study of food in literature complicates established critical positions. Both a libidinal pleasure and the ultimate commodity, food in fiction can represent sex as well as money and brings the body and the marketplace together in ways that are sometimes obvious and sometimes unsettling. Spilling the Beans explores these relations in the context of late eighteenth and early nineteenth century women’s fiction, where concerns about bodily, economic and intellectual productivity and consumption power decades of novels, conduct books and popular medicine.The introduction suggests ways in which attention to food in these texts might complicate recent developments in literary theory and criticism, while the body of the book is devoted to close readings of novels and children’s stories by Frances Burney, Mary Wollstonecraft, Maria Edgeworth and Susan Ferrier. This book will be of interest to scholars and students of eighteenth and nineteenth century literature, women’s studies and material culture.

The study of food in literature complicates established critical positions. Both a libidinal pleasure and the ultimate commodity, food in fiction can represent sex as well as money and brings the body and the marketplace together in ways that are sometimes obvious and sometimes unsettling. Spilling the Beans explores these relations in the context of late eighteenth and early nineteenth century women’s fiction, where concerns about bodily, economic and intellectual productivity and consumption power decades of novels, conduct books and popular medicine.The introduction suggests ways in which attention to food in these texts might complicate recent developments in literary theory and criticism, while the body of the book is devoted to close readings of novels and children’s stories by Frances Burney, Mary Wollstonecraft, Maria Edgeworth and Susan Ferrier. This book will be of interest to scholars and students of eighteenth and nineteenth century literature, women’s studies and material culture.

Winner of Scotland's Non-Fiction Book of the Year'Extraordinary . . . Moss is a towering figure in the contemporary literary landscape' - The Daily Telegraph‘Devastating, funny . . . a brave and important book’ - Melissa Harrison'Full of daring . . . revelatory' - The Observer'An observational masterpiece' - The iA memoir about thinking and reading, eating and denying your body food, about the relationships that form us and the long tentacles of childhood.In the household of Sarah Moss's childhood she learnt that the female body and mind were battlegrounds. 1970s austerity and second-wave feminism came together: she must keep herself slim but never be vain, she must be intelligent but never angry, she must be able to cook and sew and make do and mend, but know those skills were frivolous. Clever girls should be ambitious but women must restrain themselves. Women had to stay small.Years later, her self-control had become dangerous, and Sarah found herself in A&E. The return of her teenage anorexia had become a medical emergency, forcing her to reckon with all that she had denied her hard-working body and furiously turning mind.My Good Bright Wolf navigates contested memories of girlhood, the chorus of relentless and controlling voices that dogged Sarah’s every thought, and the writing and books in which she could run free. Beautiful, audacious, moving and very funny, this memoir is a remarkable exercise in the way a brain turns on itself, and then finds a way out.From Sarah Moss, the Sunday Times bestselling author of Summerwater, My Good Bright Wolf is a memoir like no other.'Without a doubt, one of our greatest living writers' - Katherine May'Compulsive and compelling' - Emilie Pine‘Confronts what it means to be a woman trying to find a way to be’ - Jan Carson'Moss writes so compassionately about human frailty while her own work is as close to perfect as a novelist’s can be' - The Times

Winner of Scotland's Non-Fiction Book of the YearA memoir about thinking and reading, eating and denying your body food, about the relationships that form us and the long tentacles of childhood.'Extraordinary . . . Moss is a towering figure in the contemporary literary landscape' - The Daily Telegraph‘Devastating, funny . . . a brave and important book’ - Melissa Harrison'Full of daring . . . revelatory' - The Observer'An observational masterpiece' - The iIn the household of Sarah Moss's childhood she learnt that the female body and mind were battlegrounds. 1970s austerity and second-wave feminism came together: she must keep herself slim but never be vain, she must be intelligent but never angry. Clever girls should be ambitious but women must restrain themselves. Women had to stay small.Years later, her self-control had become dangerous, and Sarah found herself in A&E. The return of her teenage anorexia had become a medical emergency, forcing her to reckon with all that she had denied her hard-working body and furiously turning mind.My Good Bright Wolf navigates contested memories of girlhood, the chorus of relentless and controlling voices that dogged Sarah’s every thought, and the writing and books in which she could run free. Beautiful, audacious, moving and very funny, this memoir is a remarkable exercise in the way a brain turns on itself, and then finds a way out.From Sarah Moss, the Sunday Times bestselling author of Summerwater, My Good Bright Wolf is a memoir like no other.'Compulsive and compelling' - Emilie Pine‘Confronts what it means to be a woman trying to find a way to be’ - Jan Carson'Moss writes so compassionately about human frailty while her own work is as close to perfect as a novelist’s can be' - The Times

Winner of Scotland's Non-Fiction Book of the YearMy Good Bright Wolf is a memoir about thinking and reading, eating and not eating, about privilege and scarcity, about the relationships that form us and the long tentacles of childhood.Sarah Moss, author of The Fell and Summerwater, confronts all of this in a book that pushes at the boundaries of memoir-writing. It narrates contested memories of girlhood at the hands of embattled, distracted parents in a time of disastrous attitudes towards eating and female discipline. By the time she was a teenager, Sarah had developed a dangerous and controlling relationship with food, and that illness returned in her adult life.Now the mother and teacher of young adults, in My Good Bright Wolf she explores a childhood caught in the trap of her parents’ post-war puritanism and second-wave feminism, interrogating what she thought and still thinks, what she read and still reads, and what she did – and still does – with her hard-working body and her furiously turning mind.Beautiful, audacious, moving and so very funny, Sarah Moss’s memoir is a remarkable exercise in the way a brain turns on itself, and then offers a way out: it is a blindingly brilliant experiment in and celebration of what a creative mind can do.

A short novel to gulp down in one sitting, The Winter Guest, from Sunday Times bestselling author, Sarah Moss, is an enthralling story about how the past will always come to find you in the end.Tell me the worst thing you’ve ever done.On Christmas Eve, in a hotel on Ireland’s west coast, a man and a woman meet for the first time. As a snowstorm gathers outside windows twinkling with fairy lights, they share a meal, pour wine, propose a toast.Janice and Gerry may be strangers to one another, but they each have a confession to make.As the blizzard howls, the night will take an unexpected turn, and their conversation will have consequences far beyond the candlelit table . . .Praise for Sarah Moss:'One of the best writers alive' – Jessie Burton'Sarah Moss is one of the best writers working today' – Bobby Palmer'Her work is as close to perfect as a novelist's can be' – The Times'Sarah Moss is a marvel of insight and eloquence' – Emma Donoghue'One of our very best contemporary novelists' – Independent'Throws much contemporary writing into the shade' – Hilary Mantel'Moss is the most brilliant writer' – Joanna Trollope'One of the finest contemporary writers working in Britain today' – Stylist

The Sunday Times Top Ten Bestseller'Superb' The Times'Sharp, searching . . . utterly of the moment' Hilary Mantel, author of Wolf Hall'So accomplished' Guardian'A masterpiece' Jessie Burton, author of The Miniaturist'One of her best' Irish Times'Beautifully written, intense, powerful' David Nicholls, author of Sweet SorrowFrom the acclaimed author of Ghost Wall, Summerwater is a devastating story told over twenty-four hours in the Scottish highlands, and a searing exploration of our capacity for both kinship and cruelty in these divided times.On the longest day of the summer, twelve people sit cooped up with their families in a faded Scottish cabin park. The endless rain leaves them with little to do but watch the other residents.A woman goes running up the Ben as if fleeing; a retired couple reminisce about neighbours long since moved on; a teenage boy braves the dark waters of the loch in his red kayak. Each person is wrapped in their own cares but increasingly alert to the makeshift community around them. One particular family, a mother and daughter without the right clothes or the right manners, starts to draw the attention of the others. Tensions rise and all watch on, unaware of the tragedy that lies ahead as night finally falls.Longlisted for the Orwell Prize for Political Fiction 2021.‘Nothing escapes her sly humour and brilliant touch. Deft and brimming with life, Summerwater is a novel of endless depth. A masterpiece.’ Jessie Burton, author of The Miniaturist'Summerwater may be her best so far.' The Times'This latest display of Moss’s imaginative versatility shine[s] with intelligence' Sunday Times

The Sunday Times Top Ten Bestseller, now a major TV series.From the acclaimed author of Ghost Wall, Sarah Moss, Summerwater is a simmering story told over twenty-four hours in the Scottish Highlands. 'Superb' - The Times'Sharp, searching . . . utterly of the moment' - Hilary Mantel, author of Wolf Hall'Beautifully written, intense, powerful' - David Nicholls, author of One DayIt is the summer solstice, but in a faded Scottish cabin park the rain is unrelenting. Twelve families look on as the skies remain resolutely grey.But there is one particular family, a mother and daughter, with the wrong clothes and the wrong manners. They start to draw the attention of the others. Who are they? Where are they from?Tensions are rising, something is unravelling, and as darkness finally falls, a match is lit . . .'A masterpiece' - Jessie Burton, author of The Miniaturist'One of her best' - Irish Times'So accomplished' - The Guardian

From 1960s Italy to present-day Ireland, Ripeness is the story of a family secret that rips a teenage girl's world apart, only for her to discover its true meaning decades later.From the Sunday Times bestselling author of Summerwater, Sarah Moss.'Moss makes every moment count' - The Sunday Times'A book of lasting pleasures' - Eleanor Catton'Powerful and beautifully written' - The GuardianJust out of school and teetering on the brink of adulthood, Edith is sent alone to rural Italy. Her task is simple: support her sister Lydia, a brilliant but brittle ballet dancer, through the final weeks of her pregnancy. Once the baby is born, she is to make a phone call that will change all of their lives forever.Decades later, Edith is living a contented life in Ireland, happily divorced and finally free. But with the arrival of an unexpected message, Edith must face the truth of that long-ago summer, and the secret she has carried for a lifetime.‘Tender and rueful’ - Emma Donoghue'A delicious novel' - Literary Review'Sublime . . . glorious' - Vogue'Luminous' - Financial Times'Beautifully crafted . . . absorbing and moving' - Daily Mail

The perfect book club spring read from the Sunday Times bestselling author.In 1960s Italy, a family secret rips a teenage girl's world apart, only for her to discover its true meaning decades later.'Moss makes every moment count' – The Sunday Times'A book of lasting pleasures' – Eleanor Catton, Booker Prize-winning author of The Luminaries'Powerful and beautifully written' – The GuardianJust out of school and teetering on the brink of adulthood, Edith is sent alone to rural Italy. Her task is simple: support her sister Lydia, a brilliant but brittle ballet dancer, through the final weeks of her pregnancy. Once the baby is born, she is to make a phone call that will change all of their lives forever.Decades later, Edith is living a contented life in Ireland, happily divorced and finally free. But with the arrival of an unexpected message, Edith must face the truth of that long-ago summer, and the secret she has carried for a lifetime.'Tender and rueful’ – Emma Donoghue, Booker Prize-shortlisted author of Room'A delicious novel' – Literary Review'Sublime . . . glorious' – Vogue'Luminous' – Financial Times'Beautifully crafted . . . absorbing and moving' – Daily Mail

Acclaimed author of Summerwater and Ghost Wall, Sarah Moss is back with a sharply observed and darkly funny novel for our times.'A tense page turner . . . I gulped The Fell down in one sitting' - Emma Donoghue'Gripping, thoughtful and revelatory' – Paula Hawkins'This slim, intense masterpiece is one of my best books of the year' - Rachel Joyce'Her work is as close to perfect as a novelist’s can be' The TimesAt dusk on a November evening in 2020 a woman slips out of her garden gate and turns up the hill. Kate is in the middle of a two-week quarantine period, but she just can’t take it any more – the closeness of the air in her small house, the confinement. And anyway, the moor will be deserted at this time. Nobody need ever know.But Kate’s neighbour Alice sees her leaving and Matt, Kate’s son, soon realizes she’s missing. And Kate, who planned only a quick solitary walk – a breath of open air – falls and badly injures herself. What began as a furtive walk has turned into a mountain rescue operation . . .Unbearably suspenseful, witty and wise, The Fell asks probing questions about the place the world has become since March 2020, and the place it was before. This novel is a story about compassion and kindness and what we must do to survive, and it will move you to tears.‘One of our very best contemporary novelists’ – Independent

From Sarah Moss, the Sunday Times bestselling author of Summerwater and Ghost Wall, comes a story about the circumstances and the consequences of isolation.‘A tense page-turner . . . I gulped The Fell down in one sitting’ - Emma Donoghue‘Her work is as close to perfect as a novelist’s can be’ - The TimesAt dusk on a November evening in 2020 a woman slips out of her garden gate and turns up the hill. Kate is in the middle of two weeks of Covid isolation, but she just can’t take it any more – the closeness of the air in her small house, the confinement. And anyway, the moor will be deserted at this time. Nobody need ever know.But Kate’s neighbour Alice sees her leaving and Matt, Kate’s son, soon realizes she’s missing. And Kate, who planned only a quick solitary walk – a breath of open air – falls and badly injures herself. What began as a furtive walk has turned into a mountain-rescue operation . . .Unbearably suspenseful, witty and wise, The Fell asks probing questions about the place the world has become since the first Covid lockdown in March 2020, and the place it was before. This novel is a story about compassion and kindness and what we must do to survive.‘Gripping, thoughtful and revelatory’ - Paula Hawkins‘This slim, intense masterpiece is one of my best books of the year’ - Rachel Joyce‘One of our very best contemporary novelists’ - Independent

Sisters Ally and May Moberley grow up in Victorian Manchester, surrounded by their father's decadent paintings and dominated by their austere, evangelical mother. While May poses for the artists in her father's circle, Ally devotes herself to her mother's ambitions, working hard to join the first generation of female doctors. But soon bitterness and tragedy divide the family, and Ally leaves home to escape the subtle terrors of her childhood and begin a new life in London.Bodies of Light is a profound and provocative book about family. It is a gripping story told with rare precision and tenderness.

'Humorous, sad and clever... A passionately written meditation on motherhood' Sunday TimesAnna Bennett hasn't slept in months. She also has an insomniac toddler, a precocious, death-obsessed seven-year-old, and a frequently-absent ecologist husband who has brought them all to a desolate island in the Hebrides so he can count the puffins. When her son finds a baby's skeleton buried in the garden, Anna must confront the island's troubled past, while finding a way to live with the complex demands of motherhood. Night Waking is a deeply moving and blackly funny tale from one of the great feminist observers of modern family life.'Sarah Moss writes the kind of books that are difficult to put down' Louise Welch, Financial Times'Moss writes marvellously (and often hilariously)' The Times

In this companion novel to Bodies of Light, Ally's husband Tom leaves, only weeks into their marriage, to build lighthouses in Japan. Ally, one of Britain's first female doctors, takes work at an asylum in Truro. With only letters sent across the ocean to sustain them, and with Ally now battling her old demons alone, will their marriage survive?

THE EXCEPTIONAL DEBUT FROM THE AUTHOR OF THE FELL'I revelled in Cold Earth. Brilliant' Penelope Lively 'Chilling and remarkable... Moss is a master at evoking suspense' GuardianOn the west coast of Greenland, a team of archaeologists searching for traces of lost Viking settlements receives news from back home: a deadly pandemic has swept across the world. As the Arctic winter approaches and their communications with the outside world fail, the six abandoned souls are left fighting for survival, writing letters to loved ones they may never receive.Cold Earth is a chilling, haunting and scarily prescient tale of grief, isolation and the will to survive. 'Unnerving, ambitious... utterly absorbing and - appropriately enough - very chilling' Daily Mail

'I love this book. Put your life on hold while you finish it' Maggie O'FarrellA suspenseful and chilling novel of haunted landscapes and a teenage girl in danger...Seventeen-year-old Silvie is camping in rural Northumberland with her father and a group of archaeologists, who are attempting to uncover evidence of human sacrifice. As Silvie glimpses the possibility of freedom with the students - new female friendships and a sexual awakening - her difficult relationship with her overbearing father begins to deteriorate. As the feelings of dread build the haunting rites of the past begin to bleed into the present...'This book ratcheted the breath out of me so skilfully, that as soon as I'd finished, the only thing I wanted was to read it again' Jessie Burton 'An instant classic' Emma Donoghue 'I loved it' Bernardine Evaristo

SHORTLISTED FOR THE WELLCOME PRIZE'She writes better than anyone I know about the way we live now... I loved this book... She is also very funny' Margaret Drabble On a day like any other, stay-at-home father Adam receives a call from his daughter's school. Miriam, his brilliant fifteen-year-old, has collapsed and stopped breathing; her heart has inexplicably stopped. The Tidal Zone shows the familiar world of a modern family turned inside out. From the complicated lives of teenagers to the complexities of marriage this is a moving, funny and instantly recognisable tale of 21st century domestic life. It confirms Sarah Moss as a unique voice in modern fiction and a writer of luminous intelligence. A poignant, engrossing and beautifully observed exploration of family life, from the acclaimed author of Summerwater and Ghost Wall. 'This is grown-up writing for grown-up readers, the kind of story that makes you think about your own life choices and close relationships.' Sunday Herald 'A novel for our times... An excellent read' Penelope Lively, Guardian 'A remarkable, passionate, funny and beautifully furious book' AL Kennedy

'I love this book. Put your life on hold while you finish it' Maggie O'FarrellA suspenseful and chilling novel of haunted landscapes and a teenage girl in danger.Seventeen-year-old Silvie is camping in rural Northumberland with her father and a group of archaeologists, who are attempting to uncover evidence of human sacrifice. As Silvie glimpses the possibility of freedom with the students - new female friendships and a sexual awakening - her difficult relationship with her overbearing father begins to deteriorate. As the feelings of dread build the haunting rites of the past begin to bleed into the present...'This book ratcheted the breath out of me so skilfully, that as soon as I'd finished, the only thing I wanted was to read it again' Jessie Burton 'An instant classic' Emma Donoghue 'I loved it' Bernadine Evaristo

'One of the most enjoyable travel books I've read' The TimesAcclaimed novelist Sarah Moss's compelling account of living in Iceland with two small children in the year the volcano eruptedAt the height of the financial crisis in 2009, Sarah Moss and her husband moved with their two small children to Iceland. From their makeshift home among the half-finished skyscrapers of Reykjavik, Moss travels to hillsides of boiling mud and volcanic craters, and the remote farms and fishing villages of the far north. She watches the northern lights and the comings and goings of migratory birds, and as the weeks and months go by, she and her family find new ways to live. By turns meditative and wickedly observant, Sarah Moss's account of her time in Iceland is the adventure of a lifetime with the baggage of a lifetime too.'Moss is a wry and a very good companion...and her book is as perceptive of the southern English middle-classes, as it is of Icelanders' Kathleen Jamie, Guardian 'A wry, intimate and beautifully-observed portrait of a culture both alien and familiar. Sarah Moss's account of her Icelandic sojourn is a vicarious treat' Philip Marsden