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A review by andrew61
Cold Earth by Sarah Moss
4.0
Over the last few years I have really enjoyed discovering Sarah moss's writing beginning with the brilliant Tidal zone and then the trilogy beginning with Night waking so I decided to try this one of earliest novels which set in 2009 someone presciently envisages a global pandemic.
the story is of 5 very different individuals who meet for different reasons on an archaeological dig in Greenland. Told from each individual's perspective we learn that as they start to unearth an ancient burial site a global pandemic is spreading rapidly around the world. In the opening chapter Nina's tale is also interspersed with accounts of how the Greenlanders on the site died and as Nina becomes increasingly unnerved by the bodies, by hunger, fear for her loved ones , and paranoia we don't know if she is haunted by real ghosts or is becoming unwell.
The remaining chapters show the camp's slow descent as they becoming increasingly cold and hungry and fear that the scheduled plane to remove them may never arrive.
With all the style points that will form part of her later writing Sarah Moss evokes history and the isolated landscape and an unusual setting of the archaeological dig to create a perfect picture of how character can rapidly disintegrate in tense situations.
the story is of 5 very different individuals who meet for different reasons on an archaeological dig in Greenland. Told from each individual's perspective we learn that as they start to unearth an ancient burial site a global pandemic is spreading rapidly around the world. In the opening chapter Nina's tale is also interspersed with accounts of how the Greenlanders on the site died and as Nina becomes increasingly unnerved by the bodies, by hunger, fear for her loved ones , and paranoia we don't know if she is haunted by real ghosts or is becoming unwell.
The remaining chapters show the camp's slow descent as they becoming increasingly cold and hungry and fear that the scheduled plane to remove them may never arrive.
With all the style points that will form part of her later writing Sarah Moss evokes history and the isolated landscape and an unusual setting of the archaeological dig to create a perfect picture of how character can rapidly disintegrate in tense situations.