Idle Grounds

LONGLISTED FOR THE SCOTLAND'S NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR DEBUT FICTION 2025

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

'Magical, perplexing and funny in a wholly original way' RACHEL YODER

'Ambitious, wildly original . . . marches to its own beat' THE TIMES

'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 debut which marks the arrival of a singular new talent' IRISH TIMES

'Superb' THE TELEGRAPH

As always with these things it started with a birthday party.

On a bright summer day in 1989 New England, Abi, three years old, vanishes from her aunt’s secluded home. Upstairs, her young cousins are looking out of the window. Something is unfolding in the distance at the edge of the forest – something sinister that is watching them back.

The adults don’t seem to notice that the youngest of the group has disappeared. Too busy bickering over politics and reminiscing about the family’s domineering late matriarch, Beezy, they leave the children with no choice but to get Abi back themselves. As the cousins embark on a quest through their grandmother’s sprawling estate, buried family secrets come to light and long-awaited plans are set in motion. Will they lose themselves while trying to find her?

Idle Grounds is a chilling, evocative and darkly comic debut about childhood, legacy, and the burdens and privileges we carry with us.

'Haunting yet humorous, this is a debut to look out for' DAZED

'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' AMY TWIGG