Short Synopsis
This short, shocking, and exhilarating novel is a vivid exploration of isolation, courage, and the search for truth that continues the story set one thousand years earlier in Paul Kingsnorth's bravura debut novel, The Wake.

Full Synopsis
Beast plunges you into the world of Edward Buckmaster, a man alone on an empty moor in the west of England. What he has left behind we don't yet know. What he faces is an existential battle with himself, the elements, and something he begins to see in the margins of his vision: some creature that is tracking him, the pursuit of which will become an obsession.

This short, shocking, and exhilarating novel is a vivid exploration of isolation, courage, and the search for truth that continues the story set one thousand years earlier in Paul Kingsnorth's bravura debut novel, The Wake. It extends that book's promise and confirms Kingsnorth as one of our most daring and rewarding contemporary writers.

"Daunting but rewarding, this dazzling work will burnish Kingsnorth’s already luminous reputation." ---Booklist Starred Review

"Simon Vance has made of this dark, lyrical Kafkaesque novel an utterly riveting listening experience." ---AudioFile

"This world . . . is . . . a place with limited punctuation, presumably part of Kingsnorth’s strategy to create language to match his narrator’s mental state. . . . Kingsnorth forces readers to ask some central questions: Is Buckmaster a visionary or a sad lunatic? Is his story one of salvation, or an indictment of the false promise of heaven in the face of worldly unhappiness? And is 'Beast,' like the 'thing that walks,' something less exotic than at first it seems?" ---New York Times

"A tour de force, reminiscent of the best of John Fowles and David Mitchell." ---Kirkus Starred Review

"This follow-up to The Wake does not disappoint. Kingsnorth's writing continues to mirror his protagonists, feral and unpredictable. Readers who enjoy the darkness of Cormac McCarthy's novels will find much to admire in this trilogy." ---Library Journal

“To read Beast is a joy. . . . Kingsnorth’s gaze is so intense it forces a similar intensity from the reader. . . . In the end, your gaze has become as minutely focused as his hermit’s. You feel alive.” ---The Guardian

Booklist Review

AudioFile Earphones Award Winner

Kirkus Review

Audie Finalist