Helm

'Hall makes language shimmer and burn.' - Damon Galgut
'Hall’s writing is alchemical, magnificent, divine, bodily.' - Daisy Johnson
'I can think of no other British writer whose talent so consistently thrills, surprises and staggers.' - Benjamin Myers

A wondrous, elemental novel from ‘a writer of show-stopping genius’ (Guardian).

Helm is a ferocious, mischievous wind — a subject of folklore and awe, who has blasted the sublime landscape of the Eden Valley since the very dawn of time.

Through the stories of those who’ve obsessed over this phenomenon, Helm’s extraordinary history is formed: the Neolithic tribe who tried to placate Helm, the Dark Age wizard priest who wanted to banish Helm, the Victorian steam engineer who attempted to capture Helm — and the farmer’s daughter who loved Helm. But now Dr Selima Sutar, surrounded by infinite clouds and measuring instruments in her observation hut, fears human pollution is killing Helm.

Rich, wild and vital, Helm is the story of a unique life force, and of a relationship: between nature and people, neither of whom can weather life without the other.