In the bedroom above her immense studio at Burntcoat, the celebrated sculptor Edith Harkness is making her final preparations. The symptoms are well known: her life will draw to an end in the coming days.
Downstairs, the studio is a crucible glowing with memories and desire. It was here, when the first lockdown came, that she brought Halit. The lover she barely knew. A presence from another culture. A doorway into a new and feverish world.
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Those who tell stories to survive.
(@FaberBooks, 5 October 2021, ebook, 224 pages, borrowed from @GlasgowLib via @OverDriveInc)
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I've enjoyed other books by the author so wanted to read Burntcoat as soon as I heard about it. I really loved this book. It's a short book, more of a novella but so much is packed into the scant pages it felt like a book 400 or 500 pages long. I read it in one sitting because I was so submerged in Edith and her world. The book uses a stream of consciousness style which doesn't always work for me but fits this book perfectly. We are taken deep into Edith's psyche as she recalls her life and moves between different memories. Its clear Edith's illness is inspired by the current pandemic but this is just a side-line to the story, a springboard for events that unfold. This is a terrific read.
