Unsettled Ground
{{short description|2021 novel by Claire Fuller}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{infobox book
| image = Unsettled Ground.jpg
| author = Claire Fuller
| pub_date = May 18, 2021
| publisher = Tin House Books
| isbn_note = 9780241457443
}}
Unsettled Ground is a novel by Claire Fuller, published May 18, 2021 by Tin House Books.{{Cite book|last=Fuller|first=Claire|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t-4sEAAAQBAJ|title=Unsettled Ground|date=2021-05-18|publisher=Tin House Books|isbn=978-1-951142-49-0|language=en}}
Reception
Unsettled Ground received starred reviews from Library Journal{{Cite web|last=Bettencourt|first=Donna|title=Unsettled Ground|url=https://www.libraryjournal.com/review/unsettled-ground-2113743|access-date=2022-01-07|website=Library Journal}} and Booklist,{{Cite web|last=Apte|first=Poornima|date=2021-04-01|title=Unsettled Ground|url=https://www.booklistonline.com/Unsettled-Ground/pid=9744099|access-date=2022-01-07|website=Booklist}} as well as positive reviews from Publishers Weekly,{{Cite web|title=Fiction Book Review: Unsettled Ground by Claire Fuller. Tin House, $26 (336p) ISBN 978-1-951-14248-3|url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-951-14248-3|access-date=2022-01-07|website=PublishersWeekly.com|language=en}} NPR,{{Cite news|last=Masad|first=Ilana|date=2021-05-20|title='Unsettled Ground' Lets Its Oddballs Stay Defiantly Odd|language=en|work=NPR|url=https://www.npr.org/2021/05/20/998359898/unsettled-ground-lets-its-oddballs-stay-defiantly-odd|access-date=2022-01-07}} Los Angeles Times,{{Cite web|last=|last2=|last3=|first3=|last4=|last5=|last6=|last7=|last8=|first8=|last9=|date=2021-05-19|title=Review: In a year of loss, two novels help Susan Straight rethink family and home|url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/books/story/2021-05-19/what-happens-when-home-turns-out-to-be-a-lie|access-date=2022-01-07|website=Los Angeles Times|language=en-US}} The Times Literary Supplement,{{Cite web|last=McLoughlin|first=Kate|date=2021-03-19|title=Unsettled Ground by Claire Fuller review: How things fall apart|url=https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/unsettled-ground-claire-fuller-review-kate-mcloughlin/|access-date=2022-01-07|website=The Times Literary Supplement|language=en-GB}} The Wall Street Journal,{{Cite news|last=Sacks|first=Sam|date=2021-05-14|title=Fiction: Claire Fuller's 'Unsettled Ground' Review|language=en-US|work=Wall Street Journal|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/fiction-claire-fullers-unsettled-ground-review-11621001286|access-date=2022-01-07|issn=0099-9660}} The Guardian,{{Cite web|last=Kent|first=Christobel|date=2021-04-24|title=Unsettled Ground by Claire Fuller – fierce, angry energy|url=http://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/apr/24/unsettled-ground-by-claire-fuller-fierce-angry-energy|access-date=2022-01-07|website=the Guardian|language=en}} and Shelf Awareness.{{Cite web|last=Martin|first=Alice|date=2021-05-18|title=Unsettled Ground|url=https://www.shelf-awareness.com/readers-issue.html?issue=1022|access-date=2022-01-07|website=Shelf Awareness}}
Writing for Booklist, Poornima Apte wrote, "Fuller ... paints a devastatingly haunting picture of abject poverty, especially in her descriptions of the houses they dwell in, each of which becomes a character in its own right. This tale offers a remarkable peek into how the embrace of family can completely smother other aspects of life. Nevertheless, human ingenuity persists." Shelf Awareness
NPR's Ilana Masad called Unsettled Ground "a terribly beautiful book," noting that "although its premise may seem quiet, it is full of dramatic twists and turns right up until its moving, beautiful end."
Kirkus Reviews provided a mixed review, saying, "At once unsettling and hopeful, [Unsettled Ground] checks all the boxes of an engrossing mystery, but it falters in its pacing. And when the book's big dark secret is finally exhumed, the reader feels just as cheated as its protagonists do."{{Cite web|date=2021-01-27|title=Unsettled Ground|url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/claire-fuller/unsettled-ground/|access-date=2022-01-07|website=Kirkus Reviews}}
Good Housekeeping named Unsettled Ground one of the best novels of the year.{{Cite web|last=Schumer|first=Lizz|date=2021-12-01|title=These Are the Best Books of 2021|url=https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/life/entertainment/g34931305/best-books-2021/|access-date=2022-01-07|website=Good Housekeeping|language=en-US}}
= Awards =
| class="wikitable sortable"
!Year !Award !Category !Result !Ref. |
| rowspan="2" |2021
|{{Won}} |
|---|
| Women's Prize for Fiction
|— |{{Sho}} |