Gaining Ground

'A joyful and generative novel about running away to make a new home for a new self.' Sarah Moss

'I didn't know how badly I needed it. Barfoot shows us the beauty and terror of being alone.' Amy Key

'This is what the best writing does: makes you think, think again, think better.' Claire Kilroy

'A modern masterpiece.' Doireann ní Ghríofa

'An outstanding sense of place and inner space: unsettling as well as memorable.' Margaret Drabble

'Beneath the radical disquiet is a beautiful hymn to the hearts and minds of women.' Sarah Hall

I swear I loved them all, and I did the best I could. And then I left them, left all of it.


Abra has a perfect-seeming life as a wife and mother: until one day, she walks away, leaving only a note asking her family not to look for her.

In a woodland cabin, her new life alone begins. There are no mirrors, no clocks, no memories: just the squirrels breathing in the forest, and silence of vegetables growing.

Years later, a young woman arrives, and the past-flashes begin. Daughter? A strange word. Is this her? And what will this mean?


Joan Barfoot's Gaining Ground is a both a provocative meditation on living on your own terms and an exquisite work of art. It calls to anybody who has ever wanted to escape - who has asked what it costs to be wild, to be sane, to be free.

What readers are saying:
So damn extraordinary.
This book meant everything to me.
An instant all-time favorite.
I loved reading this book . . . A story of impossible bravery, survival and reconciliation.
A beautiful story about a woman who puts her own happiness in life above her maternal duties.
One of the most influential novels I have ever read.
Wonderful. So much food for thought. I never re-read books, but this is one of the first I'll make an exception for.
A quiet masterpiece.