Author Guinevere Glasfurd was born in Lancaster and lives near Cambridge with her husband and daughter. Her debut novel, The Words in My Hand, was shortlisted for the 2016 Costa First Novel Award and Authors' Club Best First Novel Award and was longlisted in France for the Prix du Roman FNAC. Her second novel, The Year Without Summer, written with support from the MacDowell Colony Foundation, publishes early 2020 and tells the story of the 1815 Mount Tambora eruption and the catastrophic events that followed. Awarded grants from the Arts Council England and the British Council for her novels, her writing has also appeared in the Scotsman, Mslexia and The National Galleries of Scotland. She is currently working on her third novel, a story of the Enlightenment, set in eighteenth century England and France.
Superb . . . a stay-up-all-night page-turner . . . a beautifully written, angry, unflinching and unforgettable novel. - Financial Times Glasfurd is a skilful writer and the book offers much to enjoy - Sunday Times Guinevere Glasfurd's follow-up to her 2016 Costa-shortlisted debut The Words in My Hand is another superb saga, rich in both historical detail and human interest . . . [Glasfurd] combines her intricate storyline with an impressively realised sense of a world being dragged into the modern age - Observer Guinevere Glasfurd's ingenious and absorbing storytelling brought both the very human and epic impact of the world's worst volcanic catastrophe to life in an indelible way that brings the past right into the present - Kirsty Wark, author of THE LEGACY OF ELIZABETH PRINGLE Vivid, vibrant, hard to put down. Who'd have thought a book about calamitous climate change could also be such a joy to read? - Hilary Spurling The Year Without Summer is an astonishing, riveting accomplishment. With a masterful grace and poetic beauty, Guinevere Glasfurd crafts a story that, although steeped in a particular historical moment, resonates profoundly for the times we live in now. A truly remarkable book about a remarkable year in history. - Emily Rapp, author of THE STILL POINT OF THE TURNING WORLD In 1815, a volcanic eruption in Indonesia brings ash and ice, ushering in strange storms and political turmoil. The old ways disappear and there is a hunger for justice and equality. The Year Without Summer is a worldwide canvas peopled by passionate individuals who long for a better future, each one brought to life in vivid, heartbreaking detail. - Marianne Kavanagh, author of FOR ONCE IN MY LIFE