The mesmerising secondnovel from the acclaimed author of The Bellwether Revivals: a rich and immersive story of love, obsession, creativity and disintegration.
On a forested island off the coast of Istanbul stands Portmantle, a refuge for beleaguered artists. There, a curious assembly of painters, architects, writers and musicians strive to restore their faded talents. Elspeth 'Knell' Conroy is a celebrated painter who has fled the dizzying art scene of 1960s London; on the island, she spends her nights wrestling with her elusive masterpiece. Then a disaffected teenager named Fullerton arrives at the refuge and disrupts its routines. He is plagued by nightmares that steer him into danger, and Knell is left to pick apart the chilling mystery: where did the boy come from, what is 'The Ecliptic', and how does it relate to their abandoned lives in England?
Benjamin Wood was born in 1981 and grew up in Merseyside. He is the author of five acclaimed novels, including the 2025 Booker-longlisted Seascraper. His works have been shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award, the Commonwealth Book Prize, the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award, the RSL Encore Award ,the CWA Gold Dagger Award and the European Union Prize for Literature. In 2014, he won France's Prix du Roman Fnac. He is a Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing at King's College, London, and lives in Surrey with his wife and sons. 'A flawless meditation on creativity and the psychic toll it takes. Not only is it beautifully written, but there's a bloody good twister of a plot that rewards you well beyond the final page' 'Stunning … Wood has created one of the most moving and human characters in recent fiction' 'A curious, bewitching and beguiling book that manages to be both profoundly moving and as gripping and unputdownable as a thriller. Outstanding' 'An intelligent examination of creativity, psychology, and a riveting mystery … this ambitious novel will haunt the imagination long after the final page' 'A resounding achievement … Absorbing, rich, beautiful' 'Exhilarating. A masterfully paced and suspenseful read' 'Wood has lost none of his ability to combine suspense with striking images. His fiction is playfully experimental, but never loses sight of its primary purpose: to entertain'
