From 1960s Italy to present-day Ireland, Ripeness is a haunting, luminous tale of love, grief, and the lifelong search for where we truly belong, from Sarah Moss, bestselling author of Summerwater.

'Moss makes every moment count' - The Sunday Times
'The achievement of a lifetime' - Jessie Burton
'A book of lasting pleasures' - Eleanor Catton
'A powerful and beautifully written story of family, friendship and identity' - Guardian

Just out of school and teetering on the brink of adulthood, Edith is sent alone to rural Italy. Her task is simple: support her sister Lydia, a brilliant but brittle ballet dancer, through the final weeks of her pregnancy. Once the child is born, she is to make a phone call that will change all of their lives forever.

Decades later, Edith is living a contented life in Ireland, happily divorced and unexpectedly free. But when her friend Méabh receives a call from a stranger claiming to be her brother, everything shifts. As Méabh confronts a history she never knew she had, Edith is pulled back into the long-buried story of the baby she once held, and lost.

'Tender and rueful . . . Sarah Moss is a marvel of insight and eloquence' - Emma Donoghue
'One of our greatest living writers' - Katherine May, author of Wintering

'Throws much contemporary writing into the shade' - Hilary Mantel
‘One of our very best contemporary novelists’ - Independent
'A brilliant mind' - The Guardian
'Moss has quietly been putting out some of the most interesting and carefully sculpted novels of recent years' - Financial Times
'One of the finest contemporary writers working in Britain today' - Stylist
'Is Sarah Moss the best British writer never nominated for the Booker?' - Daily Mail
'Nothing escapes her sly humour and brilliant touch' - Jessie Burton
'The most brilliant writer. She deserves to win all the prizes' - Joanna Trollope