Book description
A lyrical and beautifully realised novel about a blind man's
experiences of the world around him, from the acclaimed author of Ghost MacIndoe.
Edward Morton, a blind translator, arrives at the Oak, an ailing spa
hotel in the west of England, intending to stay for a few days to visit
his family and to work. The manager of the Oak, Malcolm Caldecott, is
preparing for the closure of the hotel, and for the visit of Stephanie,
the daughter he has not seen for eight years. Eloni Dobra, a chambermaid
at the Oak, is striving to establish a life in England, and to free
herself of a burden that is crucial to her relationship both with her
employer and with Edward Morton. As the nature of that burden becomes
clearer, each of these four protagonists and the absent fifth - Morton's
lover - move towards a crisis and, like the Oak itself, towards an
uncertain future.
Spanning the last three weeks of the Oak's existence, Invisible
explores multiple voices - voices in conversation, voices in writing, on
tape, in memory. It's an investigation of our perception of the world
and our place in it, of the pleasures and deceptions of the senses, of
the uses of language, of the lure of nostalgia and the difficulties of
living in the present.
Above all, like Buckley's previous novel, Ghost MacIndoe, it's a
lyrical celebration of the transient, and an original study of love.
'Invisible is a wise and subtly balanced exploration of human
relationships, a compassionate tale in which love, if not exactly
triumphant, nevertheless contrives to have the last word.'
Guardian
'A novel full of subtle, emotional dramas … thoughtful, accomplished
and beautifully written.'
Mail on Sunday
'Invisible explores a number of themes - isolation, exile, the
treacherous brevity of the present, the sweet irretrievability of the
past - handling them so lightly that they scarcely seem like themes at
all. It is a deceptively simple novel, so patient in its observations
and so natural in its rhythm and texture, that it makes many more
dramatic novels look needlessly contrived.'
Time Literary Supplement Jonathan Buckley lives in Greenwich, London.
He is the author of three previous novels, The Biography of Thomas Lang
(1997), Xerxes (1999) and Ghost MacIndoe (2001).
