Death and the Seaside

By Alison Moore

With an abandoned degree behind her and a thirtieth birthday approaching, amateur writer Bonnie Falls moves out of her parents’ home into a nearby flat. Her landlady, Sylvia Slythe, takes an interest in Bonnie, encouraging her to finish one of her stories, in which a young woman moves to the seaside, where she comes under strange influences. As summer approaches, Sylvia suggests to Bonnie that, as neither of them has anyone else to go on holiday with, they should go away together – to the seaside, perhaps.

The new novel from the author of the Man Booker-shortlisted The Lighthouse is a tense and moreish confection of semiotics, suggestibility and creative writing with real psychological depth and, in Bonnie Falls and Sylvia Slythe, two unforgettable characters.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Salt
• Release date: Aug 1, 2016
• ISBN: 9781784630706

Alison Moore

Alison Moore was one of our Judges for the Solstice Shorts Short Story Competition, and her story for the Anthology is A Month of Sundays. Alison is a novelist and short story writer. Her first novel, The Lighthouse, won the McKitterick Prize 2013 and was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2012 and the National Book Awards 2012 (New Writer of the Year). Her second novel, He Wants, will be published on 15 August. Her debut collection, The Pre-War House and Other Stories, includes a prize-winning novella and stories published in Best British Short Stories anthologies and broadcast on BBC Radio 4 Extra.

Reviews for Death and the Seaside

[oldblack-1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I did finish this book, but at only 167 pages that's not a great testament to the story. In fact, I found the book rather silly and almost completely without interest. In some ways I found this story to be similar to Gaarder's "Sophie's World", but without the intrinsic interest of Gaarder's book. Alison Moore's characters were all entirely unbelievable and unattractive. Because she is clearly a talented writer (as evidenced by "The Lighthouse") I assume they are meant to be not believed. That situation may amuse some people but unfortunately I am not one of those. This 2nd hand book cost me USD1.98 - I think I paid too much.