Join us

Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
Newsletter

Sarah Moss

Signs for Lost Children

Cover: Signs for Lost Children - Sarah Moss

Sarah Moss

Signs for Lost Children

2017, pp. 368, e-Book
ISBN: 9781609453800
Region: Britain
Paper edition Paper edition Paper edition
$ 9.99
READ NOW READ NOW READ NOW
Read an excerpt Read an excerpt Read an excerpt

The book

Shortlisted for the Wellcome Prize for Historical Fiction

Award-winning author Sarah Moss's most recent work of historical fiction is a portrait of a young couple's unconventional marriage as it's tested by separate quests for identity in work and life. Set in the Victorian Age, Signs for Lost Children grapples with central themes of early feminism, mental health reform, and marriage as an imposed institution.

Ally Moberly, a recently qualified doctor, never expected to marry until she met Tom Cavendish. Only weeks into their marriage, Tom sets out for Japan, leaving Ally as she begins work at the Truro Asylum in Cornwall. Horrified by the brutal attitudes of male doctors and nurses toward their female patients, Ally plunges into the institutional politics of women's mental health at a time when madness is only just being imagined as treatable. She has to contend with a longstanding tradition of permanently institutionalizing women who are deemed difficult, all the while fighting to to be taken seriously as a rare woman in a profession dominated by men. Tom, an architect, has been employed to oversee the building of Japanese lighthouses. He also has a commission from a wealthy collector to bring back embroideries and woodwork. As he travels Japan in search of these enchanting objects, he begins to question the value of the life he left in England. As Ally becomes increasingly absorbed in the moral importance of her work, and Tom pursues his intellectual interests on the other side of the world, they will return to each other as different people.

With her artful blend of emotional insight and narrative skill, Sarah Moss creates an entrancing novel sure to draw critical acclaim. From the blustery coast of Western England to the towns and cities of Japan, she constructs distinct but conjoined portraits of two remarkable people in a swiftly changing world.

The author

Sarah Moss
Sarah Moss is the award-winning author of three previous novels: Night Waking, selected for the Fiction Uncovered Award in 2011, Names for the Sea: Strangers in Iceland, shortlisted for the Royal Society of Literature Prize in 2013, and Bodies of Light, shortlisted for the prestigious Wellcome Prize. Signs for Lost Children was shortlisted for the Wellcome Prize and longlisted for the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction. Moss teaches Creative Writing at the University of Warwick in England.

Press

From the same country

  • Cover: Hourglass - Keiran Goddard

    Keiran Goddard

    Hourglass

    2023, pp. 208, $ 25.00
    A short, lyrical debut novel about love, loss, work, time, and the unquenchable desire for connection with others—for fans of Jenny Offill, Mieko...
  • Cover: My Father’s House - Joseph O’Connor

    Joseph O’Connor

    My Father’s House

    2023, pp. 440, $ 27.00
    From the acclaimed, bestselling author of Star of the Sea and winner of the 2021 Irish Book Awards Book of the Year for Shadowplay, comes...
  • Cover: The Slowworm’s Song - Andrew Miller

    Andrew Miller

    The Slowworm’s Song

    2022, pp. 320, $ 18.00
    A New Yorker Best Book of 2022 A Wall Street Journal Best Book of Fall 2022 From Costa Award-winning and Booker Prize-shortlisted...
  • Cover: Mr. Wilder and Me - Jonathan Coe

    Jonathan Coe

    Mr. Wilder and Me

    2022, pp. 256, $ 27.00
    A New York Times Editors’ Choice FROM THE AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR OF THE ROTTERS’ CLUB AND MIDDLE ENGLAND...
  • Cover: The Marvelous Land of Snergs - Veronica Cossanteli

    Veronica Cossanteli

    The Marvelous Land of Snergs

    2022, pp. 307, $ 17.99
    A funny, quirky, brand-new story based on E.A. Wyke-Smith’s classic, the inspiration for J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit, featuring...
  • Cover: Lambda - David Musgrave

    David Musgrave

    Lambda

    2022, pp. 256, $ 18.00
    Whoever the lambdas might be, and wherever they really come from, they’re already here among us.

More suggestions

  • Cover: Paradises Lost - Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt

    Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt

    Paradises Lost

    2023, pp. , $ 27.00
    The beginning of a unique adventure, the tremendous challenge of recounting the history of humanity.
  • Cover: The Postcard - Anne Berest

    Anne Berest

    The Postcard

    2023, pp. 464, $ 28.00
    Brilliantly told, Anne Berest’s luminous, moving, and unforgettable new book The Postcard is the most acclaimed and beloved French novel in...
  • Cover: Monument Maker - David Keenan

    David Keenan

    Monument Maker

    2023, pp. 784, $ 24.00
    David Keenand is one of today’s most exciting, fearless, and entertaining writers. Monument Maker is his most daring book to date.
  • Cover: Dying is Easier than Loving - Ahmet Altan

    Ahmet Altan

    Dying is Easier than Loving

    2023, pp. 496, $ 18.00
    The third volume of the internationally acclaimed Ottoman Quartet, written by Ahmet Altan while he was imprisoned by the Turkish regime
  • Cover: My Father’s House - Joseph O’Connor

    Joseph O’Connor

    My Father’s House

    2023, pp. 440, $ 27.00
    From the acclaimed, bestselling author of Star of the Sea and winner of the 2021 Irish Book Awards Book of the Year for Shadowplay, comes...
  • Cover: Shadowplay - Joseph O’Connor

    Joseph O’Connor

    Shadowplay

    2021, pp. 400, $ 16.95
    Shadowplay by New York Times best-selling author, Joseph O’Connor, is set during the golden age of West End theater in a London shaken by...

Join Our Newsletter and receive a FREE eBook!

Stay updated on Europa’s forthcoming releases, author tours and major news.

Are you a bookseller? Click here!

Are you a librarian? Click here!

X