A New York Magazine and LitHub Most Anticipated Book of 2025
One of Oprah Daily's 5 New Books to Read in February

“A literary journey rich with magical realism, beautiful and eerie all at once…Idle Grounds is a gorgeous first offering by an author with prodigious skill.” —Booklist

“A chilling exploration of privilege, memory, and the unsettling weight of inherited history. It’s a spiraling tale that you’ll feel compelled to finish in one sitting, quick-moving and innovative. Bamford shines light into the inner lives of children – their strange fixations and values – and make you feel like a child yourself, immersed in a world where everything feels a bit scary and a bit magical.” —Oprah Daily

“Glimmering with foreboding, Bamford’s debut is an eerie consideration of family secrets in a sun-dappled setting…The novel casts an atmospheric spell with its surreal episodes and hints of unhappiness…Curious and original.” —Kirkus

“Arch and haunting...in barbed, poetic prose, Bamford captures the cousins' uneasy communal existence. It's a fresh spin on the well-worn trope of a family with secrets.” —Publishers Weekly

"Pensive and lush, yet sharp and funny, Idle Grounds is such a unique novel. Bamford’s style is bright and clever, and the book is easy to read and challenging in the way of great literature. It is weird, wonderful and highly recommended." —Bookreporter

“An eerie and powerful exploration of family and identity, Idle Grounds is truly a read like no other.” —TAG24

“Magical, perplexing and funny in a wholly original way.” —Rachel Yoder, author of Nightbitch

“Deliciously uncanny New England Gothic. In refreshingly idiosyncratic prose, Bamford captures all of childhood’s strangeness and cruelty. The landscapes of Idle Grounds are haunted not only by the old ghosts of family history but by the new ghosts that are born as each generation grows up.” —Allen Bratton, author of Henry Henry

“To read Krystelle Bamford’s astonishing debut is to be perpetually conflicted, like the child cousins it follows, between tearing at breakneck speed through the forest of its gorgeous pages to find out what will happen next, and deliberating with delirious languor, stopping to pick up, turn over, and marvel at each wryly glorious description, each exquisite joke. Idle Grounds left me like a kid with a dreadful yet delicious secret who tells everyone, I know something you don’t know!—but I can’t tell; you’ll have to find out for yourself.” —Rachel Lyon, author of Fruit of the Dead

“I knew I would like Idle Grounds very much, and it was doubly pleasant to realize I was right. Bamford writes from the shared consciousness of the junior branch of an entire family, and it felt as unnerving and delightful as when an eight-year-old takes you into their confidence for five minutes, in order to unload their pet likes and dislikes onto you…Reading this book expanded my memory and powers of retrieval and recall.” —Daniel Lavery, author of Women's Hotel

“Unsettling, puckish, and brilliantly written, this novel is an absolute one-off. I loved it.” —Claire Fuller, author of Bitter Orange

“Deviously subtle and intoxicatingly sinister, Idle Grounds conjures up a new language of nightmare symbolism to fill the reader's heart with dread. A deservedly assured debut!” —Leon Craig, author of Parallel Hells

“An acid trip of a novel. Weird, sinister and darkly funny. I can't wait to see what Bamford does nex.t” —Amy Twigg, author of Spoilt Creatures

“Every sentence positively bristles with unease. One of the most atmospheric novels I have read in a long time. Beautifully written.” —Jennie Godfrey, author of The List of Suspicious Things