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A would-be artist and an aspiring writer seek seclusion, in haunting but underdeveloped reflections on creativity and escapeAlison Moore’s debut novel, The Lighthouse, was published in 2012 by the valiant small press Salt and made it on to the Booker shortlist. Now, with her fifth novel, she returns to the isolated places by the sea that have so often inspired her work.In this new book, a would-be painter called Sandra joins an artists’ retreat on an island called Leiloh where “contentment is assured”. In a parallel story, Carol, an aspiring writer, travels to a deserted island so that she can finish her novel. Although the worlds of these characters are contemporary and largely realistic, this is a story laced with the tropes of fairytale and myth. Emblematic and intentionally flimsy, Sandra and Carol are often described in terms of adverts, plays and books. The atmosphere of the islands is eerie and unsettling, the writing imbued with a deliberate simplicity and distance. Continue reading...