A NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE NOMINEE
"An extraordinary work that will stand as blazing witness to the age that bore it.” -- Sarah Perry
A "masterpiece" (Daisy Johnson) of mortality, passion, and human connection, set against the backdrop of a deadly global virus—from the Booker–nominated writer
You were the last one here, before I closed the door of Burntcoat. Before we all closed our doors . . .
In an unnamed British city, the virus is spreading, and like everyone else, the celebrated sculptor Edith Harkness retreats inside. She isolates herself in her immense studio, Burntcoat, with Halit, the lover she barely knows. As life outside changes irreparably, inside Burntcoat, Edith and Halit find themselves changed as well: by the histories and responsibilities each carries and bears, by the fears and dangers of the world outside, and by the progressions of their new relationship. And Burntcoat will be transformed, too, into a new and feverish world, a place in which Edith comes to an understanding of how we survive the impossible—and what is left after we have.
A sharp and stunning novel of art and ambition, mortality and connection, Burntcoat is a major work from “one of our most influential short story writers” (TheGuardian). It is an intimate and vital examination of how and why we create—make art, form relationships, build a life—and an urgent exploration of an unprecedented crisis, the repercussions of which are still years in the learning.
Genre: Literary Fiction
"An extraordinary work that will stand as blazing witness to the age that bore it.” -- Sarah Perry
A "masterpiece" (Daisy Johnson) of mortality, passion, and human connection, set against the backdrop of a deadly global virus—from the Booker–nominated writer
You were the last one here, before I closed the door of Burntcoat. Before we all closed our doors . . .
In an unnamed British city, the virus is spreading, and like everyone else, the celebrated sculptor Edith Harkness retreats inside. She isolates herself in her immense studio, Burntcoat, with Halit, the lover she barely knows. As life outside changes irreparably, inside Burntcoat, Edith and Halit find themselves changed as well: by the histories and responsibilities each carries and bears, by the fears and dangers of the world outside, and by the progressions of their new relationship. And Burntcoat will be transformed, too, into a new and feverish world, a place in which Edith comes to an understanding of how we survive the impossible—and what is left after we have.
A sharp and stunning novel of art and ambition, mortality and connection, Burntcoat is a major work from “one of our most influential short story writers” (TheGuardian). It is an intimate and vital examination of how and why we create—make art, form relationships, build a life—and an urgent exploration of an unprecedented crisis, the repercussions of which are still years in the learning.
Genre: Literary Fiction
Praise for this book
"Sarah Hall makes language shimmer and burn. She's not afraid of big themes and has the talent to back up her ambition, but she's just as good at the intimate and domestic... One of the finest writers at work today." - Damon Galgut
"Hall's writing is alchemical, magnificent, divine, bodily. Here are new ways to understand what it feels like to be human. Here are books to cherish. Burntcoat is a masterpiece. I lay myself at the altar of everything Hall writes." - Daisy Johnson
"Wonderful. Sarah Hall manages to infuse a whole novel with the intensity of one of her stories. The writing goes down smoking hot onto the page. Above all, it is the feeling of all this coming out of the writer's depths that makes it so compelling. This will be among the very best of pandemic books." - Andrew Miller
"Burntcoat is a dark and brilliant novel about love, art and fragility in a time of crisis." - Sarah Moss
"I can think of no other British writer whose talent so consistently thrills, surprises and staggers. Sarah Hall's work has everything: drama, poetry, tension, sensuality, dark magic and that undefinable otherness that is unique to her. She is the best there is. 'Writer's writer' can often be seen as a backhanded compliment, but Sarah Hall is this - and so much more. With Burntcoat she has solidified her status as the literary shining light we lesser souls aspire to." - Benjamin Myers
"I loved and needed this full-throated yell of a novel about female desire, resilience, strangeness and artistic power, about the amplification of that power through suffering, and about the terror and beauty of bodies in extremis. Nobody writes like Sarah Hall, and here her lucid, vital, extraordinary style is matched perfectly to its subject - it's an extraordinary work that will stand as a blazing witness to the age that bore it." - Sarah Perry
"Hall's writing is alchemical, magnificent, divine, bodily. Here are new ways to understand what it feels like to be human. Here are books to cherish. Burntcoat is a masterpiece. I lay myself at the altar of everything Hall writes." - Daisy Johnson
"Wonderful. Sarah Hall manages to infuse a whole novel with the intensity of one of her stories. The writing goes down smoking hot onto the page. Above all, it is the feeling of all this coming out of the writer's depths that makes it so compelling. This will be among the very best of pandemic books." - Andrew Miller
"Burntcoat is a dark and brilliant novel about love, art and fragility in a time of crisis." - Sarah Moss
"I can think of no other British writer whose talent so consistently thrills, surprises and staggers. Sarah Hall's work has everything: drama, poetry, tension, sensuality, dark magic and that undefinable otherness that is unique to her. She is the best there is. 'Writer's writer' can often be seen as a backhanded compliment, but Sarah Hall is this - and so much more. With Burntcoat she has solidified her status as the literary shining light we lesser souls aspire to." - Benjamin Myers
"I loved and needed this full-throated yell of a novel about female desire, resilience, strangeness and artistic power, about the amplification of that power through suffering, and about the terror and beauty of bodies in extremis. Nobody writes like Sarah Hall, and here her lucid, vital, extraordinary style is matched perfectly to its subject - it's an extraordinary work that will stand as a blazing witness to the age that bore it." - Sarah Perry
Visitors also looked at these books
Used availability for Sarah Hall's Burntcoat