Helm

Sarah Hall

This novel is about Helm, a strong north-easterly wind that blows down the south-west slope of the Cross Fell escarpment in Cumbria, England, and is the only named wind in the British Isles. This ferocious, mischievous wind - a subject of folklore and wonder - has blasted the sublime landscape of the Eden Valley since the very dawn of time.

This is Helm's life story, formed from the chronicles of those the wind enchanted: the Neolithic tribe who tried to placate it, the Dark Age wizard priest who wanted to banish it, the Victorian steam engineer who attempted to capture it - and the farmer's daughter who fell in love. But now Dr Selima Sutar, surrounded by measuring instruments, alone in her observation hut, fears the end is nigh.

Vital and audacious, Helm is the elemental tale of a unique life force - and of a relationship: between nature and people, neither of whom can weather life without the other. 368 pages.

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