FEATHERSTONE is a poetic, ethereal novel of love, loss and rediscovery in a small country town.
Unfortunately it is precisely this airy quality that made my interest float off into the ether after about 20 pages.
The author, a New Zealander now settled in Edinburgh, has been praised for her "profoundly beautiful" prose and for her "uncompromising integrity". No one, however, has mentioned her ability to cure insomnia with a single stroke of her pen.
She obviously chooses her words with great care and constructs her sentences with a poet's eye for detail, but the end product is oddly unengaging.
Has Francie Johanssen really returned to her roots to wreak havoc amongst the strange inhabitants of the sleepy backwater of Featherstone? Or is her vague presence just a figment of their fevered minds? At the start of the book, I didn't know, and by the end, I didn't care. But at least I felt well rested.
Updated: 08:53 Wednesday, April 02, 2003
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article