Disquiet
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4.0 • 2 Ratings
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
When Olivia returns to the grand chateau in France she once called home, with her two children in tow, their arrival is unexpected. They have journeyed from Australia, escaping unspoken horrors, but home is not what it was . . .
' A powerful and disquieting novella, a work of fiction so infused with the practices of film that, while each scene is fully and even vividly realised in words, it also translates quite naturally into film, into a visually rich action taking place before the inner eye.' J. M. Coetzee, Nobel Prize-winning author of Disgrace
'Disquiet is the work of an artist who looks for truth in fear and trembling . . . It testifies to the power and seriousness of one of the most talented Australian writers to appear in ages.' Peter Craven, The Australian
'[Leigh] creates images which are new and memorable. She has a wonderful eye for details . . . Julia Leigh has written an extraordinary book.' Miranda France, Literary Review
'Hypnotic . . . It's difficult to imagine a reader who will not be electrified by this haunting, masterfully told story. Indeed, it's difficult to imagine a reader who will not be changed by it.' Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Leigh follows her internationally acclaimed The Hunter with a haunting family drama tightly packed into a tense novella. Olivia, referred to primarily (and somewhat affectedly) as "the woman," has fled her abusive husband with her two sharp-tongued young children. She seeks refuge at her mother's chateau in France, which she left on bad terms to get married 12 years earlier. Soon after Olivia's unexpected arrival, her brother shows up with his wife, Sophie, and the body of their stillborn child. Although the plot feels a bit slight, there is great emotional weight and disturbing imagery, as Sophie wanders aimlessly, still wearing her hospital ID bracelet and carrying her lifeless daughter in her arms as if the baby were a doll. The chateau is an ideal gothic setting for the morbid events that occur over the course of several days; indeed, there is only one scene that takes place off the chateau's grounds, infusing the novel with an unsettling atmosphere of claustrophobia. Death and impending death reign, but Leigh also paints a subtle portrait of a broken family trying to piece itself back together.
