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'There's folk and fairy tale in this, some whimsy, some Angela Carter-style sensuality, combined with an earthy realism, and a thriller-style plot... Thompson's writing is, as ever, the kind that demands full attention - important details are embedded in lyrical description or insinuated into an apparently innocuous observation. This is not a book that is kind to readers - you have to buy into the world its author has created, accept its own very special laws - and that requires effort. But it's effort that is ultimately rewarded: I doubt you'll read another book quite like it this year.' The Scotsman '...The world she creates is claustrophobic and hypnotic, recognisably a dream but also rational on its own, admittedly skewed, terms... Many novelists bore readers to sleep. Wake up to The Falconer.' The Sunday Herald 'Thompson's writing is, as ever, the kind that demands full attention - important details are embedded in lyrical description or insinuated into an apparently innocuous observation ... I doubt you'll read another book quite like it this year.' THE SCOTSMAN Praise for Alice Thompson's previous novels:'Cunning, clever, unbelievably casually complex - this is it: the intellectual future of British writing.' Ali Smith, The Scotsman 'Elegantly spare ... radically different in plot, style and language ... Thompson is one of the more original and idiosyncratic new voices in fiction.' Patricia Nicol, Sunday Times 'Thompson writes with a detached clarity that is liquid and sensual.' Rosemary Goring, Scotland on Sunday '...the elegance and accuracy with which Thompson uses language is formidable.' THE INDEPENDENT
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It is 1936. Iris Tennant applies to become personal assistant to Lord Melfort, the Under-Secretary of War, at his private estate in the Scottish Highlands. Her secret plan is to find out why her younger sister Daphne committed suicide there a year previously. As Iris gradually falls under the spell of Glen Almain, she starts to see the apparition of Daphne haunting its glades and begins to wonder about the manner of her death. Is there really a beast that inhabits the woods? Who is the mysterious falconer? What actually happened to Daphne, and is Iris destined for the same fate? A backdrop of impending war and the spectre of Nazi Germany loom over this strange, dark tale. What ensues is a battle between instinct and reason, fantasy and history. Award-winning writer Alice Thompson's compelling new novel is a story of transformation; an exploration of the shifting borderlands between imagination and reality.
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Although a short novella, it's packed to bursting point with evocative narrative. I was reminded of Henry James' `Turn of the Screw' when I was reading this purely for the creepiness of the gothic genre and the way I felt when I read that. You can see references to Angela Carter coming through in this with the way that mystical and fantastical blur the edges of reality. I'd expected a novella to be a breeze to read, a quick short interlude between other books, yet I found myself unable to race through it. Instead I was slowed down by Iris, our narrator. There was something about the prose that meant I couldn't just read it, I had to savour it.
As the synopsis says, it really is compelling. Glen Almain is beautiful in the imagery used by Thompson, with its mysterious beast. We never get to know what the beast is and that is the beauty of this novella, a lot is left to you to decide, or has it been decided for you and you just aren't aware of it? Confusion abounds as Iris becomes sucked into woods and wanders around the petrified stone. War is impending both literally and metaphorically and it's 1936. Iris is trying to uncover the causes of her younger sister's suicide; Daphne worked there previously as personal assistant for the Under-Secretary of War. Everything is strange and Iris begins to lose control as imagination and reality shift. Very clever, intriguing and unusual.
As the synopsis says, it really is compelling. Glen Almain is beautiful in the imagery used by Thompson, with its mysterious beast. We never get to know what the beast is and that is the beauty of this novella, a lot is left to you to decide, or has it been decided for you and you just aren't aware of it? Confusion abounds as Iris becomes sucked into woods and wanders around the petrified stone. War is impending both literally and metaphorically and it's 1936. Iris is trying to uncover the causes of her younger sister's suicide; Daphne worked there previously as personal assistant for the Under-Secretary of War. Everything is strange and Iris begins to lose control as imagination and reality shift. Very clever, intriguing and unusual.
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