Idle Grounds

Deviously subtle and intoxicatingly sinister, Idle Grounds conjures up a new language of nightmare symbolism to fill the reader's heart with dread. A deservedly assured debut!

Leon Craig, author of Parallel Hells

Unsettling, puckish, and brilliantly written, this novel is an absolute one-off. I loved it

Claire Fuller

To read Krystelle Bamford’s astonishing debut is to be perpetually conflicted, like the child cousins it follows, between tearing at breakneck speed through the forest of its gorgeous pages to find out what will happen next, and deliberating with delirious languor, stopping to pick up, turn over, and marvel at each wryly glorious description, each exquisite joke. IDLE GROUNDS left me like a kid with a dreadful yet delicious secret who tells everyone, I know something you don’t know!—but I can’t tell; you’ll have to find out for yourself

Rachel Lyon, author of Self-Portrait with Boy and Fruit of the Dead

Every sentence positively bristles with unease. One of the most atmospheric novels I have read in a long time. Beautifully written

Jennie Godfrey

An acid trip of a novel. Weird, sinister and darkly funny. I can't wait to see what Bamford does next

Amy Twigg

Haunting . . . In barbed, poetic prose, Bamford captures the cousins’ uneasy communal existence. It’s a fresh spin on the well-worn trope of a family with secrets

Publishers Weekly

This book is like nothing else I’ve ever read. Equal parts alluring and off-kilter, with moments of genuine poetry, Idle Grounds is a peculiar and beguiling novel with a fiendish core

Jane Flett

I knew I would like Idle Grounds very much, and it was doubly pleasant to realise I was right. Bamford writes from the shared consciousness of the junior branch of an entire family, and it felt as unnerving and delightful as when an eight-year-old takes you into their confidence for five minutes, in order to unload their pet likes and dislikes onto you . . . Reading this book expanded my memory and powers of retrieval and recall

Daniel Lavery

Idle Grounds is hypnotic and fierce, a darkly funny and sinister story shot through with a pervasive sense of dread. From the very beginning, Bamford deftly establishes a sense of unease, unsettling the reader and hooking us in. The ending is a true gut punch

Flora Carr

Magical, perplexing and funny in a wholly original way

Rachel Yoder

Deliciously uncanny New England Gothic. In refreshingly idiosyncratic prose, Bamford captures all of childhood’s strangeness and cruelty. The landscapes of Idle Grounds are haunted not only by the old ghosts of family history but by the new ghosts that are born as each generation grows up

Allen Bratton

An original stunner

LitHub

Glimmering with foreboding, Bamford’s debut is an eerie consideration of family secrets in a sun-dappled setting . . . The novel casts an atmospheric spell with its surreal episodes and hints of unhappiness . . . One family’s murky hinterland is evoked in modern gothic form. Curious and original

Kirkus Reviews

Told in poetic, semi-collective narration, Idle Grounds is a chilling exploration of privilege, memory, and the unsettling weight of inherited history. It’s a spiraling tale that you’ll feel compelled to finish in one sitting, quick-moving and innovative. Bamford shines light into the inner lives of children- their strange fixations and values—and makes you feel like a child yourself, immersed in a world where everything feels a bit scary and a bit magical

Oprah Daily

Idle Grounds is a masterclass in misdirection

Financial Times

[A] gorgeous, spirited debut. Absorbing ... the writing is so enthralling

Literary Review

This debut novel is superb

The Telegraph

Bamford conjures, in vivid, amplified language, how children fluidly and unpredictably make sense of the world … [Idle Grounds] is unsettlingly, sharply funny at times, with carefully built-up layers of dis-ease delivered in a comic deadpan

Guardian

Atmospheric . . . . captures an ambling quest that is by turns funny, lyrical and surreal . . . Bamford keeps us guessing until the very end

Mail on Sunday

Strangely beautiful . . . an incredibly vivid and fascinating debut [ . . . ] Bamford has written something really quite original and special

Irish News

Bewitching and immersive

The Herland

[An] extremely accomplished debut

Scotsman

This richly imagined, atmospheric novel marches to its own beat . . . It’s a novel that constantly wrongfoots the reader, switching seamlessly between moments of terror and hilarity. Idle Grounds will trick and tease you to the bitter end

The Times

Strangely beautiful … A fascinating debut. Bamford has written something special

Daily Express and Daily Mirror

A truly quirky debut … smart, unsettling … by a poet author with a gift for simile

Saga Magazine