Madame Zero

*WINNER OF THE BBC NATIONAL SHORT STORY AWARD 2020*

SHORTLISTED FOR THE EDGE HILL SHORT STORY PRIZE 2018
LONGLISTED FOR THE GORDON BURN PRIZE 2018
WINNER OF THE EAST ANGLIAN BOOK AWARD FOR FICTION
WINNER OF AN O.HENRY PRIZE FOR SHORT FICTION

'A genius.' Jessie Burton

Madame Zero is a remarkable collection of dark, sensuous stories set in sometimes conflicting landscapes - rural, industrial, psychological - all of which are hauntingly resonant with dread. Whether set in an apocalyptic storm, a local swimming pool, or a surgical theatre, Sarah Hall's celebrated stories inhabit a hinterland between the natural and urban, the mundane and surreal, human and animal.


Astonishing: humane yet otherworldly, disturbing, sexy and strange. The woman is a genius. -- Jessie Burton, author of The Miniaturist, Observer Books of the Year

These stories leave the reader unsettled, thrilled, and changed. This is a marvellous piece of work. -- Jon McGregor

Exceptional, compelling, frightening and authentic., Guardian

So fearsomely excellent it almost hurt to read. Truly the best collection I've come across in a decade. -- Wells Tower, author of Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned

Slick, sharp, sexy and subversive stories from the extravagantly talented Sarah Hall that never quite do what you expect them to., Metro Fiction of the Year

I am currently reading Madame Zero, which I can't praise highly enough. -- David Mitchell, author of Cloud Atlas, Guardian