Helm
A Novel

To say that Sarah Hall’s “Helm” blew me away would be too cute, but it is the first novel I’ve ever read about wind. I don’t mean that “Helm” involves wind like, say, the cyclone that kicks off “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.” No, this is a story in which wind is the central character.
 Stranger still, i......more

Shortlisted for the 2025 Goldsmiths Prize Longlisted for the 2025 Gordon Burn Prize Helm doesn't know when Helm was born. Or brewed. Conjured or conceived. First formed above the highest mountain. First blown into the valley. Long before humankind - that brief, busy interlude. Time happens all at once for H......more

"Helm" is the story of a mountain wind that watches the history of human civilization in its valley, mocking, loving, and occasionally destroying everything beneath it. It begins with the birth of the world and ends with data charts and satellites, yet the same wind blows through every page, ancient......more

In this miracle of imagination, Sarah Hall presents her argument against man's effect on the weather. The wind has been anthropomorphized in fable and song (They Call the Wind Maria, the Wayward Wind et al), but here it is given a distinct identity, and the respect granted through millenia is threat......more

Reminiscent of North Woods. Instead of a house being the main protagonist, in this case it’s a very strong wind. A wind that has become folkloric or studied scientifically. We learn so much about the wind and the people affected over the centuries. Through the wind’s perspective, we get insight into......more