Meet Me at the Surface by Jodie Matthews

A haunting ode to Cornish folklore and the secrets of the places we call home.

EVERYTHING THAT COMES FROM THE GROUND HAS TO GO BACK DOWN, EVENTUALLY…

Merryn grew up on the wilds of Bodmin moor, raised by her mother and her aunt in an old farmhouse. Here, the locals never leave the decaying village, fear for the future of their farms and cling desperately to the folkloric tales that are woven into their history. Except Merryn, who has escaped to Manchester for university, briefly untethering herself from her past.

When Merryn returns home for the memorial service of her ex-girlfriend Claud, she finds her childhood home stranger and more secretive than ever. She’s sure that her mother is hiding something. The villagers are hunting on the moors at night, but for what? And then there’s a notebook, found in an old chest of drawers, full of long-forgotten folklore than seems to be linked somehow to Claud…

'An astonishing debut … Rhythmic, atmospheric and enduring' -- CHARLIE CARROLL

'A book where language feels like hands reaching into the soil, where landscapes feel alive, where sentences, houses and memory are suffused with the uncanny' -- TOM DE FRESTON