Sue Rainsford Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Sue Rainsford is a noteworthy Irish author of fiction, fantasy, and arts; and a researcher hailing from Dublin. She made her writing debut in 2018 with the novel called Follow Me to Ground. Rainsford’s work is generally concerned with the lyric, embodied, and hybrid texts, questions related to transcription and otherness, and with an explicit combination of corporeal and critical inquiry. She completed her graduation from Trinity College and later from IADT. In 2017, she obtained her MFA from Bennington College, Vermont in the subject of Writing & Literature. Author Rainsford is a recipient of the MacDowell Colony Fellowship in New Hampshire and the VAI/DCC Award for Critical Writing. She is also the winner of the Arts Council Literature Bursary Award, which she won on three occasions in 2013, 2018, 2019 respectively. For the year 2018-2019, Rainsford served as a writer in residence for visual arts at the Roscommon Arts Center. Recently, she was appointed as Maynooth University’s writer in residence.

Rainsford’s debut novel helped her win the Kate O’Brien Award. The book was also longlisted for the Republic of Consciousness Award and the Desmond Elliott Prize. It was originally released in Ireland under the banner of New Island Books. The Double Day Books published it in the United Kingdom. Also, the book is set to be published in the United States by Scribner in the first quarter of 2020. Author Rainsford is represented at the C&W Literary Agency by a literary agent named Lucy Luck. The Arts Council is generously supporting her to work on her second book. She has named it Redder Days and is expected to publish in 2021. As of now, Rainsford is looking forward to the completion of her second novel. She is hopeful of getting great reviews for it, just like she had received for her debut work. Even the critics are looking forward to reading her second work as they were quite amazed by her previous book. They hope that this book also does justice to Rainsford’s talent as a writer.

With just one book to her name so far, Rainsford has already found a large fan-following and all her fans are desperately waiting to get more from her in the coming years. Author Rainsford intends to increase her fan-following to a larger extent and become much more popular than she already is. With the 2019 Consciousness Prize nomination, Rainsford was labeled as a writer, who tends to achieve something uncanny with her work, and that is, believability. The characters created by her are not conceived as humans in the normal sense. But, they seem quite believable and trustworthy. Rainsford’s stories are often based on desire, intimacy’s hidden cost, the behavior of the society towards female bodies, and their outcomes. She takes great pride in knowing that her stories are liked by readers for their originality and feels motivated to write more such stories in the times to come. Until her next novel comes out, she hopes that readers across the globe will continue to read her first book and help to make it much more successful.

The debut book written by author Sue Rainsford is entitled ‘Follow Me to Ground’. It was released in 2018 by the New Island publication. The book features the lead characters in the roles of Ada, Samson, Ada’s father, Olivia, and several others. This novel describes a surreal, haunted story that revolves around an otherworldly young lady, her lover, and her father. It starts as a simple story of a father and daughter trying to make ends meet and then culminates into a shocking revelation. This revelation is sure to upend the readers’ understanding of predation, agency, and power. The book opens by mentioning that Ada lives with her father in a small village. Both of them possess a power that allows them to help in the healing of illnesses.

The sick locals often approach them with their problems and they use their power to cure them. Ada’s father likes to call the sick ones as ‘Cures’. The daughter and father adopt the procedure of cracking open the damaged bodies of the patients. Sometimes, they even temporarily bury them in the nearby dangerous area called the Ground. This procedure often helps in the patients’ healing and, thereby, revives them from their illness. Ada appears to be more or less a human. She does not show any interest in the Cures except for helping them get rid of their illnesses. But, things begin to change when she comes across a Cure named Samson. Soon after their first interaction, Samson and Ada indulge in an affair.

However, this affair is neither approved by Samson’s pregnant sister, Olivia, nor Ada’s father, who urges her to focus on making the best use of her special power rather than indulging in a love affair with an unknown man. Due to this, Ada finds herself torn between the old ways of living her life and the opportunity to explore new possibilities with the loving Samson. Eventually, she ends up making a decision that goes on to change the lives of Samson and her own forever. The decision also brings about unimaginable changes in the town and the Ground. Overall, the book offers a frightening, fascinating, propulsive, and urgent story. Rainsford has described a bewitching heroine in the form of Ada, who fights against the conventional ideas relating to womanhood.

The story lingers long enough to pull the readers into a dream between desire & delusion, fairytale & nightmare, and folktale & warning. Many readers have found this novel to be stunning, unconventional, different, shocking, and surprising. Several others have said that the story is spooky, disturbing, witchy, and medically graphic. Many critics have praised author Rainsford’s narration and her tension-filled style of writing. They have even liked her character descriptions and plot setting. Rainsford’s debut book also amazed a number of her fellow writers, who gave rave reviews in many literary magazines and journals. Numerous fellow writers and critics found the story to be as unsettling as it is intriguing. They liked the way author Rainsford mixed the story with legend and folklore, particularly with the mistrust shown towards the abilities and powers of women and the long history where females have been labeled either as witches or as predatory and untrustworthy.