The Well

"There was so much that impressed me... The boldness with which Catherine depicts her characters in their bravery and emotional squalor was incredible... whilst she showed how we manipulate each other, she also focused on the harder, hidden truths about how in turn we want, or need, to be manipulated ourselves.... Set against the natural beauty of the Well, Catherine also paints an exquisitely painful portrait of a marriage under threat - not just from an unnerving meteorology, but the tempests of the mind.... The Well asks us where do we seek refuge, and why? And perhaps it shows us that what is left, after all is suffered, is love. Battered, weathered, at the end of the novel it comes cresting over the hill, a herald of relief. Bravo, that woman. I loved this book!"--Jessie Burton, author of The Miniaturist

"The Well is a revelation. It has a poetic, graceful, and emotionally vivid soul and the heart of a thriller. Catherine Chanter has done something remarkable here, she's written a profound meditation on belief and humanity and manages to tell a terrific story in the process."--Ivy Pochoda, author of Visitation Street

"The story has the pulse of a thriller combined with a futuristic evocation of a Big Brother society and an Ibsenite fable of humans faced with limited resources. The Well was so astoundingly assured that I wondered if AS Byatt had adopted a pseudonym... [Catherine Chanter is] a brilliant writer."--Allison Pearson, bestselling author of I Don't Know How She Does It, presenting the Lucy Cavendish Award

"The Well is an intense psychological thriller that frightened and entertained me for three straight nights. Catherine Chanter distills all of our terror-inducing what-ifs into an intimate story about one woman struggling to connect and hold onto something meaningful in a world turned dry and desperate. It's a powerful novel for our anxious times, and an exciting debut."--Edan Lepucki, New York Times bestselling author of California

In a modern-day Britain experiencing widespread drought, Ruth Ardingly becomes a target of suspicion as her farm remains green and lush, and when her seven-year-old grandson drowns in one of the few remaining ponds in the countryside, Ruth believes his death was no accident.