I read this during the first days of the pandemic lock down and it perfectly matched what was happening with the world.
This tells the stories of individuals taking a holiday on a camp in Scotland. It's raining and each section focusses on a different character.
They are all in turn interested and judgemental about the other families.
The book shows a post Brexit Britain where the non British family are regarded with suspicion and almost hate.
I enjoyed the book as I have travelled to this area of Scotland and found it very reminiscent of past holidays of I have taken.

There are echoes here of ‘Ghost Wall’, Sarah Moss’ previous novel, with a group of people of varying ages and backgrounds, family and relationships brought together in an isolated setting, with its tensions and claustrophobia heightening as the days go by. There is less action here, though, and the fairly insubstantial story is told in a series of inner narratives from each of the characters, holed up in a Scottish holiday park in the pouring rain. Each of them yearns to escape the others, to be on their own for a while, and the author has a great skill for writing the thought processes of a teenager or a child, for example, or the partners in a long marriage or a new sexually-charged relationship. I enjoyed all of this well enough, the different voices punctuated by short snapshots of the natural world outside, and it stopped just short of going on too long. There is an underlying sinister feel to their observations - you just know something terrible is going to happen but the pointers could lead in any number of directions. What does happen was not what I expected and, dare I say it, something of a disappointment given the alternative endings I had imagined.

A pale shadow of ‘Ghost Wall’ and other novels I have enjoyed by this author, not one I would particularly recommend to new readers of Sarah Moss’ work.

This was my second book by Sarah Moss after reading and thoroughly enjoying Ghost Wall last year. It’s established her as one of my favourite authors and I’m very much looking forward to reading her back catalogue, many of which are already sat on my tbr.

This book is set at a holiday park in Scotland during a wet summer. There is an undercurrent of prejudice running through the novel and each chapter is told from a different holidaymaker's perspective in a stream of consciousness style. The character construction is excellent and Moss writes convincingly from a diverse range of perspectives including a retired doctor irritated by his wife, a mother wondering what to do with a rare hour without her children and a teenage girl sneaking out to meet a man living in a tent by the loch.
From the beginning you know something dreadful is going to happen and this certainly makes for compulsive reading. Just when you think you’ve guessed what it is, the next character changes your mind!

The persistent rain is a character in itself, and as in Ghost Wall, the descriptions of nature are a real strong point of Moss’ writing.

It’s a short and perfectly formed novella with very clever and emotionally intelligent writing.

Thanks to #NetGalley and the publishers for an advance copy of this book.

I'd never read anything by Sarah Moss, although several of her books are on my TBR, and a novella set over 24 hours on the Highlands seemed like a great way to start. It took a few pages to get used to the style, at first I didn't quite understand what was going on, but once you get into the story, it's hard to put down.

The change in point of view not only makes it fast-paced, but also more entertaining, since you aren't stuck in someone's head long enough to get bored of them. The detailed description of nature, however, didn't really tell me anything; I felt like I could skip it and not miss anything.

The last half of the book had me biting my nails and I kept waiting and waiting for this tragedy to happen, thinking of what of the many dangers we'd seen during the day would trigger it... and then the ending happened, and frankly, it was disappointing. It's hard to feel bad about bad characters who do bad things when the predictable bad consequence happens.

I guess this is a case of "Maybe the real treasure was the friends we made along the way", and the joy is supposed to come from the characters' previous thoughts and not the ending. And I did immensely enjoy the style and the characters. But the 150 page build-up doesn't have that much of an impact without an equally exciting resolution.

I am a massive fan of Sarah Moss (particularly The Tidal Zone and Night Waking, although I also loved Ghost Wall) and I was devastated that I missed the boat on physical proofs of Summerwater. I was delighted to find the ebook on NetGalley!

Summerwater surpassed my high expectations and I read it in one intense sitting. Focusing on a few bored families suffering through their holidays in a rain-battered Scottish cabin park, this is a claustrophobic, well-observed and witty short novel. Incredibly atmospheric.

In my opinion, this is up there with her best.

This is the first of Sarah Moss’s books I’ve read but I knew within a few pages it won’t be the last. Certainly by the time Justine wondered if someone might die or at least dislocate a shoulder wrestling a sports bra, I felt this was for me.
All the characters appear to have in common is spending a wet summer holiday on an isolated cabin park next to a loch. Their inner monologues are dense, thoughts coming tripping one after the other. Each is interesting enough (and some funny enough – Millie’s failure to keep her mind on the job springs to mind) that I was slightly disappointed to leave them. Until I was gripped by the next.
You could say that Summerwater is about nothing, there being little plot. On the other hand, it’s about everything: life, love, family, health, the world. I became used to the rhythm of each person telling their story. Then in a whoosh it was all over and the rain had stopped. And my head was left in the Trossachs and my heart sank like lead.

Honestly, Sarah Moss could re-write the phone book and I would love it. Summerwater is brilliant; simultaneously taut with growing tension and free-flowing like thoughts and, well, water.

The inhabitants of a holiday park in the Trossachs, temporary and permanent, human and fauna, are followed through one day of torrential rain. While we never see the cabins' residents directly interact, we see and hear them at a remove. Everyone has secrets. Everyone has grievances. We discover them piece by piece, the tension growing until the climax that night.

Moss is an unbelievably clever writer. She makes it look easy, when her forensic attention to tiny detail means it's anything but. A prize-winner, surely?

Sarah Moss writes so beautifully that I can't imagine not loving anything she does. Summerwater is no exception.

It consists of a wide range of POVs of a group of holidaymakers in the same sodden clutch of cabins at the end of a ten-mile track in Scotland. They don't know each other - and yet they are all watching each other from behind twitching curtains in the driving rain. As is the way of these places, the children's lives intersect more directly, while the parents stay mainly indoors.

Partly due to the weather, partly due to the mindsets they've brought along with them, many of the characters are bored and wishing something - anything - would happen. But the insides of their heads are so interesting that the reader doesn't feel the same. Not least because of the all-encompassing feeling of dread which hangs so thickly in the air that you can smell it. Something awful is going to happen. You just know it is. Something that will draw them all together and make this a holiday they'll always remember yet long to forget. But what is it? And whom will it befall? This is the cat and mouse game that Sarah Moss invites you to join her by this dreich and apparently unremarkable loch to play.

Every time I *thought* I knew what was about to happen, I was wrong. Then, when it did finally happen, I was astonished.

Personally, I felt it ended a bit sooner than I wanted, but I suspect when I've had a bit more time to process it I'll decide it ended at the perfect point. It's definitely left me wanting to read something else by her right now.

Oh, and it has one of the best sex scenes I've ever read. So funny and warm and true.

With thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for letting me see an advanced copy.

In ‘Summerwater’ Sarah Moss gives us twenty-four hours in the lives and minds of a disparate group of families holidaying far away from anywhere else in a cabin park in the Scottish Highlands. No one is having a good time. The weather is appalling; the cabins are damp and chilly; the neighbours are nosy and the boredom is palpable. Alex risks his life kayaking rather than sitting one moment longer in his cramped family cabin. Lola devises ways of bullying the patent-shoed Violetta. The doctor and his wife drive miles to sit in separate cafés, relieved to have some time apart. Justine runs her daily miles ludicrously early and Becky simulates pleasure in bed, rather more desirous of bacon butties than her fiancé’s attentions! This is a moving, funny, truthful examination of why people behave as they do, what they tolerate, and what they long for.
Moss’s characters always feel real. In this novel, she is particularly good at capturing the awkward teenage years: the inner fury, the exasperation at one’s family, the internal conversations during which parents are annihilated. We are also reminded of another common ‘holidays’ trait: the setting may be grim but the paying adults feel duty bound to stick it out even as they dream of a warm and welcoming home just a few hours away.
Whilst this novel does not have the narrative drive of Moss’s previous work, and may not be enjoyed by those who insist on a traditional story, it is a wonderful observation of familial relationships. In contrast to the human discontent, the surrounding natural world – both above and below ground – is portrayed as wonderfully adaptive and fully functioning, and serves the narrative as welcome interludes between the voices at the park. The reference to ‘The Ballad of Semmerwater’ by Sir William Watson, a poem learnt by Mary as a child, may appear relatively arbitrary other than to link with her mistake of ‘Summerwater’ as she kept on calling it all those years ago. However, it is not too far a stretch to suggest that the mean-spiritedness referenced in the poem also plays out through some Brexit attitudes in the camp. By the end of the novel the reader recognises that the rundown holiday cabins will likely enter folklore too, and for anything other than magical reasons.
My thanks to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for a copy of this novel in exchange for a fair review.

Location-Scotland, a holiday lodge park in The Trossachs. It’s raining like there’s no tomorrow, some cabin fever setting in as the holiday makers are trapped indoors though a few decide to ‘make the best of it’. The story is told from the perspectives of the occupants of some of the lodges, all in their own little world but also hyper aware of possible prying eyes in the close proximity. They are unknowingly united in their grumbling about the nightly loud music and partying from a cabin of Ukrainians/Romanians/ Polish/ etc, etc which reveals so much about them and their judgemental thoughts.

The characters are vividly depicted and I love the thoughts of some of them such as runner Justine with her dark thinking especially about her husband and Milly fantasising about Don Draper - mmmmm! They are especially funny with their humour tending towards the dark side! There’s an older mum who takes forever to choose a tea bag flavour to the fury of her teenage daughter and a young mum given the gift of a free hour with no clue how to spend it. I love the randomness of their thoughts, some are off the wall but who hasn’t been there??? Between each characters narration there are some beautiful depictions of the natural world such as a deer and a fawn, ants, bats, flora and fauna and this heightens your awareness and you become watchful like the deer and it makes you observe the occupants with a closer eye. It also highlights the isolation of the setting beside a large loch (I imagine Loch Lomond or Loch Katrine) and it adds to the ambience. With separate story the atmosphere intensifies and you realise you are building to a dramatic conclusion. The end is shocking partly because of the peaceful, idyllic setting but you also realise that all the signs are there that something dramatic is about to happen.

Overall, a beautifully written and atmospheric piece if work from the talented Sarah Moss.

Thanks to NetGalley and Pan MacMillan for the ARC.

I thought Ghost Wall, Sarah Moss’s last novel really good and was looking forward to reading Summerwater. Taking place in a Highlands holiday park over a course of one long rainy summer day, the novel focuses on the holidaymakers, couples and families passing the time, waiting for the weather to improve. The blurb promised tensions and I thought it an intriguing premise.

The narrative moves from one holidaymaker to another: wives, husbands, girlfriends, boyfriends, children. A woman in her forties obsessed with running, a retired doctor reminiscing about the past, a sixteen year old boy kayaking on the loch, a young woman fantasising about Don Draper while having sex with her fiancé. To be honest, to me they all sounded the same, self-absorbed, bored, written in the same stream of consciousness style and tone. It felt as if I was reading about a hive mind rather than individual characters with their own individual voices and yet Moss indicates that they come from different social backgrounds and are clearly of different ages and sexes. Interspersed with these narratives are the voices of the local wildlife – a fox looking for food for her cubs, an anthill. The animals feel tension in the air although when something eventually happens, it is rushed.

Unfortunately, I found Summerwater underwhelming. I thought the concept was interesting and there were good thoughts about prejudice, small mindedness, class and privilege - somewhat lost in the repetitive narrative tone. Sadly, not for me.

My thanks to Pan Macmillan, Picador and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review Summerwater.

Summerwater is a short novel exploring the people at a Scottish cabin park on a single day, with simmering tensions amidst the wet weather. There's various families and children, cooped up indoors; an old couple thinking about the past; a young couple unaware of how each other are feeling; and, as noticed by everyone else, a woman and her daughter who some of the others don't think fits in. As the narrative moves between the perspective of different people and the day goes on, the question is, what will happen by nighttime?

This is an easily immersive novel, that moves quickly between each character, only giving you each person's perspective once. It paints a picture of the similarities and differences between people's mindsets and the way that they all watch each other out of their patio doors, like nosy neighbours but temporary. There's sharp moments of exposure about modern Britain, from xenophobia to environmental concerns, and a sense of privilege amongst the less-than-ideal holidays the characters are having.

Summerwater is a kind of study of the contemporary moment from within a Scottish holiday park, showing lingering judgement and prejudice under the surface. Similarly to Moss' previous novel Ghost Wall, it takes a group of people outside of their usual setting, with a distinct nature backdrop, and observes what happens when they come together.

A holiday park on the edge of a loch in the Trossachs, with 12 different holiday makers from early in the morning one wet day, to the late night ending. The perspectives include a mother of young children, unsure what to do with a free hour, a teenager kayaking round the loch, a woman addicted to running, an elderly doctor caring for his wife, the recollections of the wife, and some of the children.

It's sometimes hard to see where Summerwater is going, the plot is a fairly loose one right up until the end. Every character is fully realised though, and the sense of place throughout the whole novel is incredible. I can visualise the holiday park, the loch, the other nearby loch with the cafe - partly perhaps because I've been to similar places, but also the descriptions given are rich and evocative without being over-done. The rain is almost its own character, pervasive throughout the whole novel. I'm pining for Scotland, even if it would be wet when I got there!

The events at the end of the novel were a genuine shock, something was obviously coming but I found the fact that it was from the perspective of one of the children made it all the more resonant. I've found it hard to forget it since. The first Sarah Moss novel I read was The Tidal Zone, and I've been a fan ever since, but Summerwater has really stuck with me since I finished it a few days ago.

I first came across Sarah Moss’ writing after her novel ‘Ghost Wall’ was longlisted by the Women’s Prize for Fiction in 2019. I absolutely loved how Moss was able to create such an atmospheric and haunting setting in such a short space of time. Summerwater, too, is a short novel but is equally vivid in terms of its sense of place and the characters that inhabit that world.
Set over the course of one dismal and rainy day in a Scottish holiday park, the narrative perspectives switch between several individuals all caught up in their own troubles and conflicts whilst being aware of the prying eyes of the other occupants within the other cabins staring at them as there is little else to do.
Whilst intensely atmospheric and dark there were moments that were hilariously empathetic such as when the mother of two young children is given respite for an hour and does not quite know what to do to utilise every precious second or the young teenage girl who becomes frustrated over her mother deliberating about which flavoured tea bag to choose. Despite these moments of humour, you are aware as a reader of an increasing sense of claustrophobia as the night draws in as well as an increasing sense of proximity to the other characters.
At the end of each chapter Moss switches to a focus on events occurring in the natural world: ants locking themselves in underground or a vixen feeding her young and then hunting. These moments are a sharp juxtaposition and serve to remind us of the proximity of the natural world but also our insignificance within it. Many of the individual characters who we share insights from are consumed with themselves, oblivious to others and at worst racist and ignorant reminding us of the pettiness and selfishness of human beings. The ending, although a sense of anticipation had been building, is shocking and serves to remind us of just how fragile all life is. A wonderfully written and evocative piece that I will no doubt return to again.

Little slices of life,from the inhabitants of a caravan park one rainy day in Scotland.
As always when you have a set of shorter connected stories,you'll enjoy some more than others.
There's humour here,I smiled to myself several times.

For me,it added to the idea that Moss is an author worth taking time to read,but it's not my favourite of her books.

Summerwater is a beautifully structured - almost plotless - story that follows the lives of 12 people in a holiday park in Scotland. Whilst the plot is very minimal, the introduction of a new narrator for each chapter carries the story beautifully and allows the reader to get a real feel for each of the characters and the environment. Moss' writing is feels almost effortless and allows for Summerwater to be both authentic and a treat to read.

Thank you to Picador/Pan Mac for an early copy of Summerwater.

Another tension building, wonderful novel from Sarah Moss.
Set over the course of a single summer day, in a Scottish cabin park by the side of a Loch, where families are cooped up inside due to the bad weather. Narratives flip between the residents starting with the mother of two young children out for her early morning run. During the day families squabble, struggle with grudges and try to over come the claustrophobia of being stuck inside their cabins. Each person and family are wrapped up in their own problems but tensions begin to rise and animosity grows towards one particular family. Simmering tensions increase until at nightfall tragedy strikes.
This is an excellent books, which I read in only a couple of sittings.

This short novel is based inside the heads of twelve people who find themselves on a wet, dreary holiday in a group of cabins on the shore of a Scottish loch. The writing style is ‘stream of consciousness’ and the problem at times is that what is going on inside someone’s head is often of less interest to others than to the thinker - it comes across sometimes as rather aimless meandering. The book is clearly building up to some sort of dramatic conclusion, but the pacing is not quite right, with the buildup too long and slow and the drama too late and too short. Having said all that, I did find much of the writing mesmerising once au fait with the style, and Moss has the skill to clearly describe the thoughts and feelings of a very disparate group of people with skill and empathy, making this a book worth reading, but not one of my all time favourites.

It's no secret that I'm a big fan of Sarah Moss; I own all of her books and recommend them at any given opportunity. I think my friends are getting a bit bored of hearing about her! Naturally, when I found out that she had a new book coming out this year, I was clamouring for a copy - so massive thanks to Pan Mac and NetGalley for the ARC.

Summerwater is a swift 200-odd-pager, set during a single rainy day in a Scottish holiday camp. Each chapter sits inside the head of one of the cooped-up holiday makers, who are all trying to make the best of a glum getaway without killing their loved ones. Having been on a number of agonising cottage holidays in my time, this brought back some painful memories! Although the different points of view could be strong stand-alone pieces, they connect together as everyone spies on everyone else, culminating in shared tragedy at the close of the day.

As in her other books - Night Waking and The Tidal Zone particularly come to mind - Moss writes fantastically about the claustrophobia of family, touched with sly social commentary and a dark sense of humour. If you've been a fan of her past work, you'll certainly be a fan of Summerwater.

Actual rating 4.5/5 stars.

Continual rain keeps those vacationing in one of Scotland's loch-edged holiday parks largely indoors. With little to do, tempers fray and force some out to face the misery of the sodden landscape instead. Some run, some kayak, some visit those they shouldn't. Those inside clean, contemplate, make love, eat too much, drink too much. All watch. All wait. Something, something they can not name or even begin to understand, is descending on them all, along with the expanse of clouds above.

This was such a well-constructed novel. Twelve perspectives were each given free reign to provide an account of their day. The trivialities for some were major incidents for others. The quiet joy for one was the sole reason for distemper in another. All differed, but all were also to share in a fate that would bond them, forever. They were unaware of it and so too was the reader, but a curious and ominous air coated all actions and events, leading the tension to rise as the pages were turned.

Despite the diverse differences in all of these characters, Moss made each feel like an authentic and distinct voice, with a small child's innocence conveyed just as well as an elderly lady's onset dementia. I loved exploring each of their characters, as well as the families they belonged to.

The limited page length made this a quick read, but also one's whose focus was anything but. Pages loitered over evocative depictions of landscape and the seeming individual trivialities of each perspective. I just enjoyed just being in the presence of these twelve individuals, as they narrated the petty incidents of their day.

The majority of the novel received nothing but adoration from me but I found the concluding event a little rushed, which stunted this love a little. All came as a surprise and was dealt with just as well as everything preceding it, but I longed for a few additional pages for the full extent of the occurrences to really hit me.