Books
by John Burnside
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A Summer of Drowning |
A haunting story set mainly in the white light of summer on a small island in the Arctic Circle. Liv looks back on a particular summer. She is living with her artistic mother almost in isolation with no sense of her future. Two boys and a man drown and another disappears mysteriously. Fascinated by myths she fears that something supernatural is happening but perhaps she is simply losing touch with reality.
Ed's note: John Burnside was winner of the 2011 T S Eliot Prize for Poetry with Black Cat Bone
(Christine Miller - bwl 64 Spring 2012) |
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A Summer of Drowning |
During the surreal midsummer nights on an Arctic island, the daughter of an enigmatic painter recounts the strange events of a decade before which seem to have shaped her life forever. Thought-provoking, touching on suspicions stemming from contemporary taboos as well as mystic folk tales, the reader is left to contemplate the real nature and impact of the tragedies which unfold. Elegantly written (Burnside is a poet) but nevertheless a page-turner.
Ed's Note: See also review in bwl 64
(Rebecca Howell - bwl 66 Autumn 2012) |
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Glister |
Innertown: isolated, forgotten, its chemical factory - which has poisoned the landscape and the inhabitants - is decommissioned; teenagers play and hunt in its expanses; boys disappear, the authorities, without any evidence, claim they have run away; the town policeman knows otherwise; then there is the mysterious Glister. Narrated through the eyes of teenager, Leonard - clever, sensitive and frightened - Burnside, with his poet's voice, creates in the strange landscape a dark and haunting beauty.
(Christine Miller - bwl 49 January 2009) |
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