I love a book about artists but am finding books about Covid/ lockdown quite frustrating. Hall avoids such pitfalls with this masterful novel, which contains a lot in such a slim volume. The story of the relationship between two artists which plays out while a deadly plague rages outside is thoughtful, thrilling and ultimately hopeful.

Beautifully written novel exploring different kinds of love (familial, sexual, abusive) and loss against the familiar backdrop of a pandemic.

Edith is a renowned sculptor who grew up caring for her mother after she suffered lasting effects from a large clot on her brain. She has already lived through one lockdown, during which her relatively new boyfriend stayed with her, leaving lots of time for sexual exploration.

There are similarities but this pandemic is not Coronavirus, The novel is set somewhere in Britain but the government actions are not the same, it affects the fit and healthiest the most, and once you catch it you will eventually die, straight away or years later.

Recognising her time is drawing near, Edith looks back over her life and the narrative moves back and forward through time as connected memories are triggered. The switching can be difficult to follow sometimes but adds to the bewildering atmosphere Edith is experiencing.

This book was just so messed up. The writing style was so confusing. It had no plan to it. I felt some of the language was unnecessary.

DNF'd at 30%. The disjointed narrative didn't work for me, unfortunately. I was waiting for something, anything, to make sense... *spoiler* it didn't. I wasn't even sure what Burntcoat was until I suddenly realised it was a house. The main protagonist was irking me, so I had to say "girl, bye" and move on from this one.

I’m the first to admit, I do not enjoy art that focuses on the pandemic. But Burntcoat hit me differently. Maybe it’s because it looked towards the future, a time beyond the pandemic. Maybe it’s because it wasn’t the sole focus of the book. Maybe it’s because it’s about a different virus. Maybe it’s just the beautiful and fierce and brutal way that Sarah Hall writes. Layered with meaning and considerate of all its characters and their histories, it weaves a portrait of an artists life as she cares for her mother in childhood and her partner during a pandemic, creates sculptures of witches and fables that sit roadside and in foyers of arts buildings, and details her relationships and formative experiences. I really adored this book, and I think in the future it will be considered a defining novel of the pandemic, how society copes with illness-but will also be remembered for the intense and candid way it depicts relationships and sex.

I honestly don't know if I enjoyed this or not - the narrator voice was in places grating to me but others might love that. The disjointed timeline confused me more than it intrigued me but I stuck with it to see if it resolved itself, but I am not sure that it did. An interesting read.

Burntcoat is an unusual novel set in several timelines all about Edith. She is a successful sculptor who produces large pieces using a technique involving burning wood. As a child her mother, a successful writer suffered a blood clot on the brain that completely changed her personality. At one point Edith is involved in a toxic relationship and in another a pandemic is sweeping the world.
I found the book incredibly interesting and almost like a series of interwoven short stories. It’s well researched and the characters are all incredibly interesting.

Suffused with a sensual passion, Hall’s deft novel finds a dying sculptor reflecting on love, lust and lockdown in limpid, impeccably crafted prose.
Hall has set a bar... Finely wrought, intellecutally brave and emotionally honest.

In an unnamed British city, the virus is spreading, and like everyone else, the celebrated sculptor Edith Harkness retreats inside with a lover she barely knows.

As life outside changes irreparably, they find themselves changed as well.

What a beautiful, beautiful book.

Even though the virus in the book is not Corona, there is so so much in there we can all identify with after the last two years.

The writing is absolutely haunting.

Hall creates scenes you practically feel part of - which is all well and good when reading her *chefskiss* sex scenes, but not so fun when she tells us as graphically what happens to the body after contracting the virus or how she looked after her mother after a serious illness when she was a teenager.

AND it has a beautiful shiny cover. I meeeaaaan, what else do you need? 🤷🏻‍♀️

I had a few download issues with the book and by the time it was sorted, the file had unfortunately been achieved. Happy to re-review if it becomes available again.

While slim, this is a novel to read slowly. Exquisitely written; I highlighted many lines and passages to return to later. Hall captures the uncertainty, monstrosity and despair of the pandemic.

This was completely heartbreaking. Hall's writing about the pandemic, the illness and the death that followed was difficult to read about - not to mention the mental illness and miscarriage suffered by the protagonist. An emotional read but one that I would recommend.

Very visceral and absolutely fascinating. There are some great pandemic novels being written currently and they'll be a valuable time capsule for us all.

A really beautifully written book full of depth and well drawn characters. I found her art so interesting to read about

I wasn’t sure that I was ready to read a pandemic novel but I’m very glad that I did. I’m a huge fan of Hall’s work and consider her to be one of our most criminally underrated authors. Burntcoat did not disappoint; at turns it is erotic, painful, tragic, even oddly hopeful. I loved it.

Unfortunately this book was not for me. Other readers may enjoy it more, but I could not get into it and ultimately did not finish it.

This novella really packs a punch - as all good novellas do!
It’s set in a world that we all know a little about. A Covid-19-type virus, except far more severe, breaks out and social panic ensues. Society goes ion to lockdown, hospitals are unable to cope with the sheer volume of cases, and the army is drafted in to keep order. Shops are looted, food is rationed, people die horrifically.

Edith Harkness looks back on her life as she prepares to enter the last stages of Long-Nonovirus. It’s a much more serious version of Long-Covid, where the affected person dies. Edith looks back on her life, from her childhood where she lives with her brain-damaged mother, to her years of study and consequent art prizes, and then her time in lockdown with her lover, a Bulgarian Turk.

It’s a book about love, sex, desire, illness, caring, family and grief. Those are some big topics for a slim book, but it’s beautifully told.
Now I need to read some more Sarah Hall books.

Sometimes novels let you escape fully and Burntcoat certainly whisked me away.
Set in the backdrop of a pandemic there was much to resonate with.
The themes for me included permanence, legacy, loss, grief, self-knowledge, independence, death (obviously) and the intoxication of love. At times poetic in feel, the novel created strong visuals of art works, all rising powerfully from the earth, all to make us stop, think, and question or reflect our quotidien existance.
As do the small shared episodes of the protagonist's life. Enough to share what made her, what created her, and to help understand her. Relationships bring both trauma and healing. We are alone, but we are alone together.
Recommended reading!

Beautifully written, and despite being set during a pandemic - not horrifying to read in current times. Very thought provoking and I will recommend onwards.

Unfortunately, this was very much not for me. I found the graphic sexual sections (although fairly well written if that is your thing) and depictions of sickness to be a little much for me.