Ripeness

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 'Powerful and beautifully written' - The Guardian Just 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 unexpectedly free. But when her friend Méabh receives an email from a stranger claiming to be her brother, everything shifts. As Méabh confronts a history she never knew she had, Edith must finally face the truth of that long-ago summer, and the secret she has carried for a lifetime. ‘Tender and rueful’ - Emma Donoghue 'A deliciou's novel' - Literary Review 'Sublime . . . glorious' - Vogue 'Luminous' - Financial Times 'Beautifully crafted . . . absorbing and moving' - Daily Mail
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A story of sisterhood, forbidden desire, lost connection, and what it means to find a home among strangers. Edith, just out of school, has been sent from her quiet English life to rural Italy. It is the 1960s, and her mother has issued strict instructions: tend to her ballerina sister, Lydia, in the final weeks of her scandalous pregnancy; help at the birth; make a phone call that will summon the nuns who will spirit the child away to a new home. Decades later, happily divorced, recently moved, and full of new energy, Edith has fashioned a life of contentment and comfort in Ireland. Then her best friend, Méabh, receives a shocking phone call from an American man. He claims to be a brother she never knew existed: a child her mother gave up and never spoke of again. As Edith helps her friend reckon with this new idea of connection and how it might change her life, her thoughts turn back to Lydia and the fractured history of her own family. What did they give up when they sent the baby away? What kind of family has he been given? What kind of life? And how was hers changed by his arrival and departure? In Ripeness, Sarah Moss has again tapped into the questions that haunt us individually and as communities. This extraordinary novel explores familial love and the bonds we forge across time, migration and new beginnings, and what it means to find somewhere to belong.
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It is the 60s and, just out of school, Edith finds herself travelling to rural Italy. She has been sent by her mother with strict instructions: to see her sister, ballet dancer Lydia, through the final weeks of her pregnancy, help at the birth and then make a phone call which will seal this baby’s fate, and his mother’s. Decades later, happily divorced and newly energized, Edith is living a life of contentment and comfort in Ireland. When her best friend Maebh receives a call from an American man claiming to be her brother, Maebh must decide if she will meet him, and she asks Edith for help. Ripeness is an extraordinary novel about familial love and the communities we create, about migration and new beginnings, and about what it is to have somewhere to belong.