What kind of man am I? I wonder what I think about that now that I have spent a year here, watching the layers peel off, stripping myself back . . .

Beast plunges you into the world of Edward Buckmaster, a man living alone on a west-country moor. What he has left behind we don't quite know; what he faces is a battle with himself, the elements and with the animal he begins to see in the margins of his vision. A creature that will become an obsession . . .

Prizes

Short-listed for Encore Award 2017

Paul Kingsnorth's debut novel, The Wake, won the 2014 Gordon Burn Prize. His second, Beast, was described by Jay Griffiths as 'a portrait of the psyche in gaunt, glittering transcendence'. He is also the author of One No, Many Yeses and Real England, and a poetry collection, Kidland. He is the co-founder of The Dark Mountain Project.