Published by Goldsmiths Press
on 1st September 2026
From the publisher:
In an epic novel set on the North Pennine Moors, Elizabeth has abandoned avalanche science to restore desolate peatlands. She treks in the footsteps of Isabel who, five centuries earlier, herds her cattle to remote summering grounds.
Both are reeling from the overwhelming crises of their day. In 1548, Isabel and her father, together with the priest in this poorest of parishes, grapple with the chaos of the Protestant Reformation. Today, a grieving Elizabeth fights to save an invaluable ecosystem, one that is threatened by wilful fire-raising and arson.
The entwined stories are told through multiple voices creating a rich portrait of England’s most remote landscape. At its heart, this deeply moving novel interrogates how society confronts crisis whether through science, faith or superstition.
Early praise for Alston Moor:
“Alston Moor has a quiet brilliance and wise humanity that kept me spellbound. Charnock has a remarkable gift for making her characters living, breathing people; we feel them as ourselves. It’s especially remarkable in the historical chapters, which may be the best depiction I’ve ever read of the lives of ordinary people of the past. The treatment of scientific endeavour in the present-day sections is equally impressive and intimately real… and the writing is just gorgeous.”
– Sandra Newman, author of Julia and The Heavens
“Alston Moor is fiction of the highest order. It moves between its two periods with authority and grace, offering generous parallels and harmonies. The medieval setting is richly imagined and uncommonly convincing, while the contemporary story is captivating and urgent. Charnock writes with elegance and wisdom and a seriousness of purpose, and showing at all times respect and compassion for her characters caught up in the turbulence of history.”
– Martin MacInnes, author of In Ascension longlisted for the Booker Prize
“How easy it is to destroy ourselves, and how difficult to mend. Alston Moor is a deeply skilful piece of writing, weaving the contemporary and the historical. It suggests how, throughout hard times, we can look to the world around us, and strive to be part of a community that hopes, and heals.”
– Aliya Whiteley, author of The Beauty and Three Eight One.
Rights enquiries
NOTE: Goldsmiths Press has acquired World English Language rights. All foreign rights and film & tv requests to assistant at sarah-such dot com at the Sarah Such Literary Agency, UK.