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STELLA'S REVIEW:
Reading the premise of this book on the back cover immediately brought to mind the Maysles brothers’ documentary, Grey Gardens, about an eccentric mother and daughter living in a decaying manor and their increasingly perilous financial situation. In Claire Fuller’s Unsettled Ground, the relationship is focused on twins Jeanie and Julius. The sudden death of their mother Dot throws their lives into chaos. The story of their lives — the one told to them and by them — is a fabrication, one which can only harm even while it could be seen as a notion of a romantic idyll: living off the land in a rent-free cottage without the distractions and pressures, nor convenience, of the modern world — no internet or computers (although Julius does have a cell), very little focus on money, no car nor useful appliances. Dot has cared for her children alone, managing to scrape together just enough from the sale of produce from the abundant garden to the village deli, since a fatal accident killed her husband, an accident that the landowner, Rawson, seems to take responsibility for. ‘The Arrangement’ — to live rent-free at the cottage — is often referred to in the children’s lives, but has never been fully explained. It’s a given. And here’s the kicker, the twins are 51, never left home, let alone ventured far from the village or their small plot of land. Julius does odd jobs and labouring on the surrounding farms, while Jeanie, who must take care due to her weak heart, has helped Dot in the garden and house. They have few friends, yet the village knows more about the twins and their history than the twins themselves. Why were there secrets, and what was Dot trying to hide? The twins are a strange mix of naive and resourceful, but Dot’s choices have left them with few options for managing without her. When Dot dies, the true state of her finances come to light — the power has been cut off, she is in debt rather than credit to her deli supplier, having borrowed against her future produce, and she owes a large sum of money to her friend’s husband. Why she needed the cash no one knows. and the money isn’t anywhere to be found. Add to their financial peril, a knock on the cottage door from Mrs Rawson saying they owe thousands of pounds in rent arrears, and the monies are due in a week or they face eviction. A stunned Julius and Jeanie are reeling from their mother’s death, completely unprepared for a life without her, let alone the immediate need to bury her and deal with the various bureaucratic arrangements, and confront the different emotional responses they endure as the true nature of their relationship with their mother surfaces. For Julius, his desire for a relationship, increasingly begrudging responsibility for his sister and delusional actions are taking a toll on his ability to cope. For Jeanie, her lack of schooling (she is unable to read or write), nervousness and fear of her weak heart, paired with her naivety and contempt for contemporary society, creates a perfect storm for further isolation. Yet it is Jeanie who has a tough core — one which may save or suffocate them both. Fuller writes evocatively — as some things are buried, others rise from their beds, their voices loud. The land is alive with rot and renewal, and the past will not be held down. Lush, tense and angry — a portrait of poverty, love and remarkable lies. Shortlisted for the 2021 Women's Prize, and winner of the Costa Novel Award.