Trade Paperback
Meet Me at the Surface
By Jodie Matthews
A haunting ode to Cornish folklore and the secrets of the places we call home
‘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
‘A beautifully written lament that creeps under the skin’ JADE ANGELES FITTON
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 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 that seems to be linked somehow to Claud…
‘A strange and beautiful novel from a first-time author who skillfully wields mystery and unease… Nothing is as it seems in Meet Me at the Surface, which is reminiscent of Evie Wyld’s All the Birds, Singing, but with a flair that is unusual in a first book. Matthews’s writing is brilliantly assured. Skipping effortlessly between past and present, she wields language powerfully and brutally, yet with a lightness of touch that is deceptively seductive. It’s hard to believe it’s the work of a first-time novelist' Observer -
”'Meet Me At The Surface is 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. It manages to do the magic trick of containing a propulsive narrative whilst being formally inventive, weaving complex narrative strands into a compelling, beguiling tapestry. It is an astonishing book by a special writer, who I have no doubt has a hugely successful career ahead of her” - Tom De Freston, author of Wreck
‘Assured and beautifully written, Jodie Matthews’ novel is an astonishing debut. It’s rare to find the Cornwall which most of us Cornish recognise in modern literature, but it’s here in all its vivid and magical glory. Rhythmic, atmospheric and endearing’ Charlie Carroll, author of The Lip -
'A brilliantly modern take on the Celtic folkloric tradition, Meet Me At The Surface is a beautifully written lament that creeps under the skin long after you have finished reading. An affecting and deeply absorbing read' Jade Angeles Fitton, author of Hermit -