Idle Grounds - by Krystelle Bamford (Hardcover)

About the Book

"On a New England morning in the late 1980s, a group of young cousins wander deep into the woods on their family's property, drawn in by uncanny visions and the disappearance of one of their own--[and] the farther they go, the stranger their surroundings become"--

Book Synopsis

One morning in the late 1980s, a group of young cousins wander deep into the woods on their family's property, drawn in by uncanny visions and the disappearance of one of their own--finding, in this thrilling New England gothic, that the farther they go, the stranger their surroundings become.

Lingering at the edge of a family party, a troop of cousins loses track of the youngest child among them. With their parents preoccupied with bickering about decades-old crises, the children decide they must set out to investigate themselves--to the rickety chicken coop, the barn and its two troublesome horses, and into the woods that once comprised their late grandmother's property. The more the children search, and the deeper they walk, the more threatening the woods become and the more lost they are, caught between their aunt's home in the present day, their parents' childhood home just through the trees, and the memory of the house their grandmother grew up in. Soon, what began as a quest for answers gives way to a journey that undermines everything they've been told about who they are, where they came from, and what they deserve.

Disquieting and delightful, Idle Grounds is a rich exploration of the interior lives of children and a gripping meditation on birthright, decline, and weight of family history. A fable of the distortions of privilege and the impossibility of keeping secrets hidden, this is a novel about straying from home--only to come back unraveled, unsettled, and irrevocably changed.

Review Quotes

"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 make you feel like a child yourself, immersed in a world where everything feels a bit scary and a bit magical." --Oprah Daily

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

"A masterclass in misdirection." --Financial Times

"A remarkable, preternatural study of a family reckoning with its own history ... It's rare to see children in fiction inhabited so fully.
Bamford's are decisive and autonomous, and deeply weird. She's masterful at showing the preoccupations one has, briefly, in childhood." --The Telegraph

"A terrifically written, atmospheric debut." --iNews

"[A] gorgeous spirited debut. Absorbing ... the writing is so enthralling." --LIterary Review

"Haunting yet humorous ... a debut to look out for." --DAZED, A Most Anticipated Novel for 2025

"Enigmatic and dreamlike ... steeped in symbolism, it's open ended, trippy, inconclusive, captures all the strangeness of childhood.
Bewitching and immersive, like a dream that nags away for days afterwards." --The Herald Scotland

An NPR Book of the Day

One of Town & Country's Best Books of February

A Lit Hub, TAG24, Dazed Digital, and Cosmopolitan UK Most Anticipated Book

"A literary journey rich with magical realism, beautiful and eerie all at once...Idle Grounds is a gorgeous first offering by an author with prodigious skill."
--Booklist

"An eerie and powerful exploration of family and identity, Idle Grounds is truly a read like no other."
--TAG24

"Arch and 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

"Darkly comedic...an unsettling and atmospheric journey."
--Town & Country

"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...Curious and original."
--Kirkus

"Magical, perplexing and funny in a wholly original way."
--Rachel Yoder, author of Nightbitch

"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, author of Henry Henry

"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 Fruit of the Dead

"I knew I would like Idle Grounds very much, and it was doubly pleasant to realize 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, author of Women's Hotel

"Unsettling, puckish, and brilliantly written, this novel is an absolute one-off. I loved it."
--Claire Fuller, author of Bitter Orange

"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

"An acid trip of a novel. Weird, sinister and darkly funny. I can't wait to see what Bamford does next."
--Amy Twigg, author of Spoilt Creatures

"Every sentence positively bristles with unease. One of the most atmospheric novels I have read in a long time. Beautifully written."
--Jennie Godfrey, author of The List of Suspicious Things

"Pensive and lush, yet sharp and funny, Idle Grounds is such a unique novel. Bamford's style is bright and clever, and the book is easy to read and challenging in the way of great literature. It is weird, wonderful and highly recommended."
--Bookreporter