A truly unique book, like nothing I’ve ever read before … a thoughtful and beautifully written story, which is simultaneously gripping. This is a must-read.’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Equally, if on any given day, I'm struggling or my anxiety is sparking or I'm just feeling grey and depressed and overwhelmed for whatever reason, then 10 or 20 minutes of running will not fix it, but it will make it better. You mentioned that while you are loving running, you aren't racing at the moment at all? Fray is a totally original novel and I loved it for that… A dangerous journey that throws up lots of surprises. The writing is awe-inspiring.’ - Alex Pine, bestselling author of the DI James Walker series

But, and this is crucial, this book isn’t really about me – it’s about the mental health experiences we all face, and the ways we may struggle to understand or communicate these.

A book by a keen runner who had long wanted to write about his mental health experiences but struggled to find a way to do so until he was caught in a mountainside storm will go on sale on Thursday.

Fray can be seen as an active process of working through its narrator’s deep feelings – and there’s cause to wonder how much of what’s narrated is happening in the external world, and how much in the narrator’s mind. Then again, for this narrator, there may not need be much difference. Whatever your interpretation, the experience of Fray’s narrator is vivid in Carse Wilson’s telling. Chris Carse Wilson running in Glen Coe Frame Focus Capture Photography And for you, it gives you that crucial space? Chris Carse Wilson began writing Fray in 2016 and kept it secret from everyone including his wife Elaine, 42, until it was finished. An abandoned cottage in the remote wilderness, filled with thousands of confusing, terrifying handwritten notes.

Emotional response

Their child, desperately searching the wild forests and dangerous mountains of the Scottish Highlands, not knowing what’s out there. My understanding of it is that it is about a son experiencing guilt followed closely by depression, after losing his parents, because he realises that he never really knew them. In particular his father, who is senses is geographically close by, yet more distant than ever. At its heart, Fray is a book about love and self-acceptance, while also taking the reader on a wild adventure through the Scottish Highlands.” Fray is a book about family, love, and overcoming grief, set against the beauty and the threat of the Scottish Highland wilderness,” he says.

I know running can be hard at first and it's a big commitment. But I think if, if at any point in our lives, we introduce some running to it, that's going to make things better. You could be 13 or you could be 65, it doesn't matter when you choose to do it. There's a wonderful community waiting to welcome you to parkrun or to clubs or whatever it might be. It's just there for any of us to to embrace at any point if you're physically able to. And I just think it's just the best. Finally, I have to ask, is it true that you wrote your novel on the bus to work? The novel, set in the remote wilderness of the Scottish Highlands, is due for publication in April and is being billed as the “most haunting and mysterious debut novel of 2023”. Fray is an exceptional and haunting debut, very reminiscent of the work of Max Porter … I absolutely loved it. Chris Carse Wilson is a highly talented writer and Fray is filled with passages that resonated deeply with me’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ So I guess running is for you both a tool for managing mental health but, in a way, it’s also a metaphor for it? Dark and atmospheric, Fray is chilling and very original. I couldn't put it down.' - Simon McCleave

Foregrounding atmosphere and psychological suspense for most of its length, Fray is a literary novel that probes the most sensitive recesses of its characters’ minds in a build-up to a charged and hallucinatory final act. An eerie and immersive depiction of the difficult process of grieving, it marks the emergence of a powerful new writer.