The Edge of Solitude

Katie Hale, MLitt Creative Writing, 2013

A lone ship journeys south, heading for the furthest reaches of Antarctica. It belongs to Sky, the billionaire behind a groundbreaking project to salvage the region. On board is disgraced environmental activist Ivy Cunningham, lending her expertise in the hope that it might rescue her reputation - and perhaps even mend her broken relationship with her son. And yet, as the ship moves ever deeper into the breathtaking but eerie landscape, Ivy grows increasingly suspicious of her fellow passengers, and starts to question the project's motives. If she could leave, she would - but she knows there's no way home.

Exhilarating, terrifying and thought-provoking at once, The Edge of Solitude is a story of climate emergency and human fallibility, of the clash of ambition and principle, and of the choices we make when we know that time is running out.

-- This intelligent, tense eco-thriller made me shiver with creeping dread. Katie Hale's ice-cool exploration of guilt is also a total pleasure - CLARE POLLARD

Powerful, authoritative, atmospheric and wise - JOANNE HARRIS

Fascinating, immersive and brilliantly poised. Essential reading for all humans. We don't have enough books like it - MOLLY AITKEN

Set in a worryingly plausible future where the possibility of reversing climate change is reliant on the whims of billionaires, The Edge of Solitude is not a book to miss. Disgraced activist Ivy Cunningham is a monstrously human creation, testament to Hale's formidable ability to delve into complex and flawed psyches - CAILEAN STEED

Beautifully written and exquisitely tense, this is eco-fiction at its best. I loved it - C.J. COOKE 

Katie Hale is a novelist and poet, based in Cumbria. She won a Northern Debut Award for her poetry collection, White Ghosts, and is the author of two novels: The Edge of Solitude and My Name is Monster. She is a former MacDowell Fellow, and winner of the Palette Poetry Prize, Munster Chapbook Prize, and Aesthetica Creative Writing Prize. Her short fiction has been longlisted for the BBC National Short Story Award, and she has held Writer in Residence positions in numerous countries, including Australia, the US and Svalbard. Katie also mentors young writers through Writing Squad.

ISBN: 9781805301691