| *Starred Review* Young Scottish painter Elspeth Conroy creates a stir in the London world with work that is edgy, even frightening. But the paintings she subsequently produces for her first solo show are more dogged than inspired, no matter how hard she works. So she seeks rejuvenation at Portmantle, an isolated refuge for artists on an island off the coast of Turkey, where residents shed their worldly identities with new names and work to recapture their muses and sense of purpose. Elspeth, known as Knell, bonds with playwright MacKinney, novelist Quickman, and architect Pettifer, and the four of them are charged with welcoming 17-year-old Fullerton, the youngest person ever to be admitted to Portmantle. But when things go horribly wrong, Knell is compelled to act despite the jeopardy she will face. Elspeth is such a fully realized character that readers will share her struggles as she labors to regain her artistic vision and reaches out to her therapist and friend, Victor Yail, for help. In incisive prose, Wood (The Bellwether Revivals, 2012) explores how the human mind deals with the arduous work of creating art. A stunning novel, likely to linger long in the reader's memory. Copyright 2014 Booklist Reviews. |
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