"An electrifying novel of passion, connection and transformation from 'a writer of show-stopping genius." —Guardian

'Extraordinary"—Sarah Perry

"A masterpiece."—Daisy Johnson

"A dark and brilliant novel about love, art and fragility in a time of crisis."—Sarah Moss

"Wonderful . . . The writing goes down smoking hot onto the page."—Andrew Miller

You were the last one here before I closed the door of Burntcoat, before we all shut our doors. 

In the bedroom above her immense studio at Burntcoat, the celebrated sculptor Edith Harkness is making her final preparations. Her life will draw to an end in the coming days.

Downstairs, the studio is a crucible glowing with memories and desire. It was here, when the first lockdown came, that she brought Halit. The lover she barely knew. A presence from another culture. A doorway into a new and feverish world.

Author Bio:

Sarah Hall was born in Cumbria in 1974. Twice nominated for the Man Booker prize, she is the award-winning author of five novels and two short story collections - The Beautiful Indifference, which won the Edge Hill and Portico prizes, and Madame Zero, winner of the East Anglian Book Award and the 2018 Edge Hill Readers' Choice Award, and a Guardian and Sunday Times book of the year 2017. She is currently the only author to be three times shortlisted for the BBC National Short Story Award, winning it in 2013 with 'Mrs Fox'.