Project and content management for Contemporary Authors volumes
WORK TITLE: Exquisite
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE: 1977
WEBSITE:
CITY: Northumberland
STATE:
COUNTRY: United Kingdom
NATIONALITY: British
Lives with her partner and two children. Agent: Hattie Grunewald, hattie@blakefriedmann.co.uk
RESEARCHER NOTES:
| LC control no.: | n 2008042003 |
|---|---|
| LCCN Permalink: | https://lccn.loc.gov/n2008042003 |
| HEADING: | Stovell, Sarah |
| 000 | 00352cz a2200133n 450 |
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| 005 | 20080702114138.0 |
| 008 | 080620n| acannaabn |n aaa |
| 010 | __ |a n 2008042003 |
| 040 | __ |a DLC |b eng |c DLC |d DLC |
| 053 | _0 |a PR6119.T696 |
| 100 | 1_ |a Stovell, Sarah |
| 670 | __ |a Stovell, Sarah. Mothernight, c2008: |b t.p. (Sarah Stovell) |
| 953 | __ |a lh38 |b lh36 |
PERSONAL
Born 1977; has a partner; children: two.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer and educator. Lincoln University, Lincoln, England, lecturer.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
Sarah Stovell is a British writer and educator. She works at Lincoln University, where she serves as a lecturer. In an interview with a contributor to the WriteWords website, Stovell discussed the beginnings of her interest in writing. She stated: “I was probably about six. I gave myself enough time to master letter formation, and then I was off. At the height of my infant school rebellion, I used to write stories while pretending to get on with my maths, and that pretty much set the tone for life.”
Mothernight
In 2008, Stovell released her first book, Mothernight. It tells the story of a complicated friendship between boarding-school classmates, Leila and Olivia.
Stovell discussed the writing process for Mothernight in an interview with a writer on the Vulpes Libris website. She stated: “I have always been interested in family relationships, particularly in those families that just seem so dysfunctional you wonder why they haven’t all shot each other. One of my major bugbears in life is the issue of maternal guilt, and how blame is always placed with the mother if their children go off the rails, even if the children are now in their forties. I also think guilt is a part of motherhood in a way that—dare I say it—it isn’t for fathers. So I initially wanted to explore all these issues.” She told the same writer that she had planned to retell the biblical story of Eve. She stated: “Initially, I wanted to tell her story—how this woman felt to have been such a useless specimen that her own son killed his brother. But as I went along, I found more and more Genesis myths, particularly the one of Lilith, where Adam is said to have had a previous who died and who spawned evil children, and so that, in the end was where Leila came in. And maternal guilt was lost along the way somewhere.”
Exquisite
Exquisite finds writers Alice and Bo in an intense mentor-mentee relationship that eventually becomes dangerous. In an interview with Lucia N. Davis on Davis’s self-titled website, Stovell commented on the themes of the book. She stated: “I am very drawn to female relationships. Partly, this is because I am a woman, but also because the most significant (by which I mean complicated, not necessarily fulfilling) relationships in my life have been with women. I am interested in the deep bonds of friendship that women often forge. I also interested in mother-daughter relationships, which can be the most fraught relationships around.”
John M. Murray, reviewer in ForeWord, asserted: “Sarah Stovell’s Exquisite is a dark, sensual, and twisted character study.” Murray added: “Exquisite is an engrossing story about two troubled people who connect despite having every reason not to. Tensions mount, making it hard to put down.” A Publishers Weekly critic described the book as a “dismal tale of obsession, cruelty, and betrayal” and noted: “Those expecting an unhappy ending won’t be disappointed.” A writer on the Crime Review website was particularly impress with the book’s “language. This is the aspect of the novel that makes you want it to continue on forever, if only to enjoy the lyrical, almost sensual way that Stovell describes the beautiful landscape around the village, the emotions of the characters, and the subtlety of the way she uses the language to actually manipulate you.” “Exquisite is a very competent debut from Sarah Stovell that highlights some very strong themes—obsession, narcissism, and manipulation,” asserted a contributor to the Writing.ie website. The same contributor added: “It would work very successfully on the big screen. The sizzling chemistry between Alice and Bo is palpable off the pages with very astute descriptions and characterisations. … Exquisite will be a book that will be among the top recommendations for many this year.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
ForeWord, August 27, 2017, John M. Murray, review of Exquisite.
Publishers Weekly, August 28, 2017, review of Exquisite, p. 106.
ONLINE
Crime Review, https://thecrimereview.com/ (April 4, 2017), review of Exquisite.
Lucia N. Davis Website, https://luciadavis.com/ (November 21, 2017), Lucia N. Davis, author interview.
Orenda Books Website, http://orendabooks.co.uk/ (March 25, 2018), author profile.
Vulpes Libris, https://vulpeslibris.wordpress.com/ (March 5, 2008), author interview.
Writes of Woman, https://thewritesofwoman.com/ (June 2, 2017), review of Exquisite.
WriteWords, http://writewords.org.uk/ (January 22, 2008), author interview.
Writing.ie, https://www.writing.ie/ (March 5, 2018), review of Exquisite.
Sarah Stovell was born in 1977 and spent most of her life in the Home Counties before a season working in a remote North Yorkshire youth hostel made her realise she was a northerner at heart. She now lives in Northumberland with her partner and two children and is a lecturer in Creative Writing at Lincoln University. Her debut psychological thriller, Exquisite, is set in the Lake District.
QUOTED: "I am very drawn to female relationships. Partly, this is because I am a woman, but also because the most significant (by which I mean complicated, not necessarily fulfilling) relationships in my life have been with women. I am interested in the deep bonds of friendship that women often forge. I also interested in mother-daughter relationships, which can be the most fraught relationships around."
AUTHOR INTERVIEW – SARAH STOVELL
November 21, 2017
This month I interviewed Sarah Stovell, the author of Exquisite, a psychological thriller. Exquisite was a great read. It was not too long, not too short, and had just the right amount of suspense. I can’t say too much about it—it would ruin the fun. The story is about two women; one is an aspiring writer, the other a happily married, well-known author. The book alternates between the two women, as they describe their life and their deepening relationship. But, as you’ll find out, something is clearly not right…
Welcome Sarah. Can you tell us a little about yourself?
I am about to get a puppy because I am that stereotype of a woman whose children are now at school and I clearly have a compulsion to keep on cleaning up shit. That’s all you need to know.
What made you go into writing?
I didn’t much fancy any of the other jobs.
Exquisite is a psychological thriller. Your other books aren’t. What made you change genre?
Money.
Where do you get your inspiration for your stories?
I’m not a fan of the word ‘inspiration’. I don’t think I’ve ever really felt inspired as such. I get ideas when I’m out walking. I try and walk at least four miles day, and that’s when I get small ideas that slowly, after a lot of thought, develop into bigger ideas.
Is there a genre you prefer, as a writer? As a reader?
As a reader, my tastes are fairly eclectic but veer towards women’s literary fiction. As a writer, I like to produce a page-turner.
Your descriptions of the Lake District in Exquisite are beautiful. Locations of your previous books The Night Flower and Heartwood include Tasmania and America. Did you do anything special for your research on all these places?
I set ‘Exquisite’ in the Lake District because it is a place I love. I really, really love it. I could wax lyrical about the Lake District for literally a million hours. I plan to live there one day with a Border Collie and he and I will tramp the fells for ten hours a day. I can’t wait… Anyway, what was the question? The other books … Well, I just read about the places and imagined them. I actually don’t think that is the best way to do setting. It makes a massive difference when you are psychologically connected to a place, as I am to the Lake District.
Your books seem to revolve primarily around women (who are often damaged in some way), and female-female relationships, like the mother-daughter bond, friendship or even obsession. What is the appeal for you about these female characters and their interaction with other women?
Yes, I am very drawn to female relationships. Partly, this is because I am a woman, but also because the most significant (by which I mean complicated, not necessarily fulfilling) relationships in my life have been with women. I am interested in the deep bonds of friendship that women often forge. I also interested in mother-daughter relationships, which can be the most fraught relationships around but can also, if you get it right as a mother, be incredible (so far, I have a great relationship with my daughter, but she is only eight, so there’s a long way to go). I am also interested in romantic relationships between women, how loving and nurturing they can be, but also how terrible. I wanted to look at female violence, which is often psychological in action, but no less wounding for that.
Are you working on a new book? (And if so, can you tell us about it?)
I am almost finished! It is about an eighteen-year-old woman named Annie, who is impoverished and desperate and who goes to work as a nanny for a very wealthy family because her mother has gone missing and Annie has been evicted for not paying the rent. While there, something happens to a child in her care…
I am looking forward to reading it. Thanks so much, Sarah!
QUOTED: "I was probably about six. I gave myself enough time to master letter formation, and then I was off. At the height of my infant school rebellion, I used to write stories while pretending to get on with my maths, and that pretty much set the tone for life."
WriteWords talks to Sarah Stovell, aka Sappholit
How, when and why did you first start writing?
I was probably about six. I gave myself enough time to master letter formation, and then I was off. At the height of my infant school rebellion, I used to write stories while pretending to get on with my maths, and that pretty much set the tone for life. It just became a habit – an addiction – I never gave up. When we were teenagers, everyone else took drugs. I knocked out a couple of angsty novels. I probably wasn’t that cool, thinking about it. Oh, well.
Who are your favourite writers and why?
Joyce Carol Oates, Margaret Atwood, Ian McEwan (sometimes), Emily Bronte, Raymond Carver, Toni Morrison, George Eliot, Sylvia Plath, John Keats, John Donne, Shakespeare.
Jeepers. No one outside the canon, it would seem. I’m too straight. Erm . . . . Luisa Plaja. There.
How did you get your first agent/ commission?
I went the standard route of buying the Writers’ and Artists’ Handbook and then sitting around on slush piles for a few months. I sent my first three chapters and synopsis to about fifteen agents. Although I had quite a good response – about 8 full ms requests – only one took me on.
What's the worst thing about writing?
If you want to look at it as a job, there’s not much money in it and no security. I have no idea whether anyone will still want to publish me two years from now.
And the best?
It’s all I want to do, and I can do it without getting dressed.
Tell us what kind of responses you get from audiences\ readers.
So far, not very many people have read my work, and those who have are good friends, who only say good stuff. I mostly just file the positive comments away somewhere to keep me going during the rough patches, and take them with a pinch of salt. I don’t know yet how I’ll deal with criticism. I’ll probably just be irritating and flippant about it and carry on.
What was your breakthrough moment?
Oddly, my biggest breakthrough wasn’t to do with finding an agent or being offered a publishing contract (though obviously those were great moments). My major one was when I gave myself permission to become a writer. I’d always known I wanted to write, but after graduating at 21, I spent far too much time succumbing to conventional pressures to ‘get a steady job.’ And then I found I couldn’t hold down a steady job cos I was too frustrated by my desire to write (and the jobs were deathly boring and, to be honest, I would rather starve than do half of them). Eventually in 2003, when I was 26, I took a course in Advanced Fiction at the Arvon Foundation. It was then that I thought, ‘This is what I’m going to do.’ And so I did.
QUOTED: "I have always been interested in family relationships, particularly in those families that just seem so dysfunctional you wonder why they haven’t all shot each other. One of my major bugbears in life is the issue of maternal guilt, and how blame is always placed with the mother if their children go off the rails, even if the children are now in their forties. I also think guilt is a part of motherhood in a way that—dare I say it—it isn’t for fathers. So I initially wanted to explore all these issues."
"Initially, I wanted to tell her story – how this woman felt to have been such a useless specimen that her own son killed his brother. But as I went along, I found more and more Genesis myths, particularly the one of Lilith, where Adam is said to have had a previous who died and who spawned evil children, and so that, in the end was where Leila came in. And maternal guilt was lost along the way somewhere."
Talking to Sarah Stovell
Part of Mother’s Day Week on Vulpes: a week of items on the themes of mothers and motherhood
Sarah Stovell‘s debut novel, Mothernight, has just been published by Snowbooks. Eve and Emily were delighted to interview her recently on Skype, and this is a potted version of a great virtual evening, minus the rude bits.
Sarah Stovell: Hi! I’m here. Am I very late? Only just got in.
EG: You are one minute early.
EH: We’ve been killing time.
Sarah Stovell: Phew!
EH: OK, I’ll start. Sarah, can you tell us why you became a writer? What gave you the bug?
Sarah Stovell: Weirdly, I didn’t see it so much as a deliberate choice as just something I had to do. I’ve always written, all my life, and just didn’t stop, although I suppose I had a creative writing pause while I was at university so I could write all those essays instead, but as soon as I graduated, I was back again. I was very lucky, because the first thing I wrote when I decided to take it a bit seriously in my early twenties was shortlisted in a competition, and that validation was all I needed to keep going.
EG: You began Mothernight as part of your MA at Lancaster – did you complete the novel during the course, and how do you think the course contributed to the book Mothernight is today?
Sarah Stovell: I started the MA in September 2004. I spent the whole time between then and September 2005 working on a chunk of messy pages that did eventually become Mothernight. I think MA’s can be very valuable spaces in which to devote time to writing, perhaps especially if you are a poet or short story writer. The trouble with writing longer fiction in that environment is that, at such an early stage of writing process – when even you don’t know what the book is really about – people are reading odd chunks of your work and making suggestions, and it can be hard to decipher which are ‘good’ suggestions and which aren’t. My experience on the MA was fantastic and I would always recommend it, but for me, I only began to really find my way with Mothernight once the course was over and I was working in solitude. Only 6,000 words of the 30,000 I handed in that year are in the finished book. But what I did learn on the MA was how to be my own editor, how to listen to my instincts, how not to write rubbish . . . all of which are invaluable tools when you are just left alone with a laptop.
EH: What inspired Mothernight?
Sarah Stovell: I have always been interested in family relationships, particularly in those families that just seem so dysfunctional you wonder why they haven’t all shot each other. One of my major bugbears in life is the issue of maternal guilt, and how blame is always placed with the mother if their children go off the rails, even if the children are now in their forties. I also think guilt is a part of motherhood in a way that – dare I say it – it isn’t for fathers. So I initially wanted to explore all these issues. Back when I started writing on the MA, the idea of writing a novel was completely daunting, and I had no trust in my own imagination, so I hunted out plots in other places. An obvious place to start was the Bible, and the book I aimed to write – and started writing – was a re-telling of Genesis from the viewpoint of Eve. I felt that – as she is blamed for the imperfection of the whole of mankind because of that bloody apple – it was a classic example of the sort of guilt I’m on about, and yet nowhere in the Bible is her story told, other than as the sinner who succumbed to temptation. So initially, I wanted to tell her story – how this woman felt to have been such a useless specimen that her own son killed his brother. But as I went along, I found more and more Genesis myths, particularly the one of Lilith, where Adam is said to have had a previous who died and who spawned evil children, and so that, in the end was where Leila came in. And maternal guilt was lost along the way somewhere. . . . So I ended up writing a completely different book to the one I set out to write.
EG: The concepts of blame and guilt are the overwhelming messages in Mothernight. While I was reading I wanted to blame anyone but the person I thought might have actually killed the baby. Did you wrestle with who would commit the act itself?
Sarah Stovell: Yes, in the end I made the decision based on what I thought would make the best story. When you’ve grown attached to someone, you refuse to believe that they could do something so dreadful. I wanted to put the reader through that. But I was at pains all the way through to maintain moral ambiguity. I suppose my philosophy in life is simply, ‘Most of us are just well-meaning people doing our well-meaning best, and sometimes, it just goes wrong.’ And that was the message I wanted to put in Mothernight.
EG: Did you feel more emotionally attached to Leila, more than Katherine who lost her baby? And Olivia, who gets tangled up in the whole mess?
Sarah Stovell: Katherine is defined completely by her loss and by what she has left – her surviving children. I can’t imagine how life can be any other way for someone who has suffered such a profound loss. But I suppose, of all the characters, Katherine is the one I had to imagine hardest – she is older than me, a mother, a bereaved mother. So yes, I suppose I was more attached to Leila and Olivia than Katherine, because I have more in common with them.
EH: Did you learn anything about yourself through writing this book?
Sarah Stovell: Only that I never want to stop writing.
EG: Can you tell us a little about how you write? And has your way of writing changed at all now that you’re nearing the completion of your second novel?
Sarah Stovell: I’m not one of those people who do first drafts. I am a dreadful perfectionist. I don’t move on to the next sentence until the one I’m on is perfect. With Mothernight, I wrote until I had the beginnings of a story. Then I went back to the beginning and re-wrote. I kept doing that for a year until I’d written 84 pages about six times. Then it just took off and I wrote the rest in four months. It was a very organic process. I took out main characters and replaced them with others, changed the plot, did all sorts of things as I went along because I was just learning how to tell a story.Now, with my second, I know how to tell a story and I plan far more meticulously. There have still been a couple of surprises along the way, but it has been far less chaotic and taken half the time.I only write in the mornings because that’s when I’m most alert – when my head is clear and the world hasn’t yet invaded. And I can’t be doing with longhand.
EH: Pink laptop, right?
Sarah Stovell: Yes, I love it.
EG: You are writing about a very different time and place in your second novel, but are you dealing with the same gigantic themes of blame and punishment etc?
Sarah Stovell: My second novel is set between 1845 and 1854. The main character is a female slave, taken from Africa when she was twelve and sold to a Missouri farmer. So yes, the time and place are very different, but I am still dealing with the issues of familial loss and also of blame. At the beginning of the novel, my main character is in prison awaiting the death sentence, as she has been convicted of murdering her master. The main issue I’m covering is whether murder can be justified, and who, actually, was the most morally wrong – the slave-owner, the society that sanctioned slavery, or the slave who finally went crazy?
EG: What can you tell us about being published by a hip indie outfit like Snowbooks? Is it nice being part of a small team rather than getting lost in a huge corporation, do you think?
Sarah Stovell: I love being published by Snowbooks. I don’t have anything to compare it to, as I don’t know what it is like to be published by a major publisher, but at Snowbooks one person takes your book and sees it from initial acceptance to life on the bookshelf – they have to love it, as they have to devote nine months of their life to it. They edit, design the cover, market it, get the booksellers fired up about it, etc etc. It’s very, very genuine, which might be something you get less of at a major publisher when the time comes for the sales team to push it top the buyer at Waterstone’s. Also, Snowbooks is very informal and friendly, which suits my personality exactly, and they do mad stuff like email me the cover design for my novel on a Saturday. A Saturday! I’m proud to be a part of Snowbooks. They have been passionate about Mothernight from start to finish and I can’t imagine the book being more effectively sold by a major publisher.
EH: Which book do you wish you had written?
Sarah Stovell: I wish I’d written Wuthering Heights, because it’s about eternal love and about people feeling so passionate about each other that they’ll starve themselves to death and bite the bark off tree trunks.
EG: Apart from Wuthering Heights, what would be your three Desert Island books?
Sarah Stovell: King Lear – one of my all-time favourites. I love tragedy, and I think this is the tragediest of all. In the final scene, where you think it cannot possibly be worse or more heartbreaking, Shakespeare pushes you to your limits and makes it worse, and more heartbreaking. Erm . . . I love that sort of thing. Beloved – This is one of the finest novels I’ve ever read. It’s brilliantly structured – a story told in fragments. You could say, I suppose, that it’s ‘broken’, in the way Morrison’s characters are. I also love the poetry, the stream-of-consciousness. It staggers me every time I read it. Crime and Punishment, because I haven’t read it yet and I feel I really should.
EH: Time to lighten up the proceedings. What’s your favourite flavour of ice-cream?
Sarah Stovell: Coffee.
EG: If you had to give up tea or cheese, which would you choose?
Sarah Stovell: Cheese. No, tea. That’s the hardest question yet. Tea. I think. Cheese.
Mothernight, published by Snowbooks 2008, PB, 300pp, ISBN 978-1905005
QUOTED: "Sarah Stovell's Exquisite is a dark, sensual, and twisted character study."
"Exquisite is an engrossing story about two troubled people who connect despite having every reason not to. Tensions mount, making it hard to put down."
Exquisite
John M. Murray
ForeWord.
(Aug. 27, 2017): From Book Review Index Plus. COPYRIGHT 2017 ForeWord http://www.forewordmagazine.com
Full Text:
Sarah Stovell; EXQUISITE; Orenda Books (Fiction: Thriller) 12.95 ISBN: 9781910633748
Byline: John M. Murray
Mounting tensions make this psychological thriller hard to put down.
Sarah Stovell's Exquisite is a dark, sensual, and twisted character study, rife with murky motivations and sinister revelations.
Best-selling author Bo Luxton has everything she could ever want: two beautiful daughters, a loving husband, and a peaceful home. She decides to reach out and nurture young writers at a weeklong retreat. There, she meets the vibrant Alice Dark. Alice floats through life with little direction, but the attention from a beautiful, intelligent older woman ignites a spark within her.
When their relationship takes a turn, the story begins in full force and spans a disastrous attempt to break things off. After an explosive affair, Bo claims that Alice is a crazed stalker. With little evidence available to counter Bo's claims, Alice fears that she is a psychological mastermind.
Exquisite is a taut psychological thriller that benefits from dueling unreliable narrators. Neither Bo nor Alice can be trusted, but for vastly different reasons. Bo's side of the narrative seems to be the more accurate, but Alice's haunting point of view paints a picture of a dastardly psychopath. Between their narratives, an unnamed narrator pens a starkly terrifying journal about seeking revenge once they get out of prison.
The first-person narrative shines, reinforcing the unreliable natures of both Bo and Alice. Even though their thoughts and actions are laid bare, the disparity between their sides of the story makes the tension mount incredibly well. Snappy dialogue and minimal scene setting sets off the
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prose, allowing the story to focus on characterization, all of which lends a voyeuristic thrill.
The language is dark and charged with eroticism, though sex scenes are minimal. Instead, the focus is on Bo and Alice's emotional connection and their reactions. Details come with explorations of the fallout from the affair, of Bo's dramatic childhood and previous relationships, and of the slow buildup to the couple's first encounter. The clever use of texts, e-mails, and voice- mail messages keeps the plot flitting ahead.
Exquisite is an engrossing story about two troubled people who connect despite having every reason not to. Tensions mount, making it hard to put down.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Murray, John M. "Exquisite." ForeWord, 27 Aug. 2017. Book Review Index Plus,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A502036122/GPS?u=schlager&sid=GPS& xid=ca1f5be2. Accessed 5 Mar. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A502036122
QUOTED: "dismal tale of obsession, cruelty, and betrayal."
"Those expecting an unhappy ending won't be disappointed."
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Exquisite
Publishers Weekly.
264.35 (Aug. 28, 2017): p106. From Book Review Index Plus. COPYRIGHT 2017 PWxyz, LLC http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
Exquisite
Sarah Stovell. Orenda (IPG, dist.), $12.95 trade paper (300p) ISBN 978-1-910633-74-8
This dismal tale of obsession, cruelty, and betrayal from Stovell (Mothernight) charts the intense and lustful relationship that develops between Bo Luxton, a successful writer, and Alice Dark, a talented writing student. At a writers' conference in England's Lake District, Bo, who's happily married with two daughters, agrees to serve as a mentor to Alice, who lives with a freeloading boyfriend and has survived a horrendous childhood. As the bond between the two women grows, it becomes clear that Bo and Alice have the power to destroy more than their own two lives. Less clear is just who the victim is. Bo, the stronger personality, is manipulative and cunning, feeding Alice's obsession with her even as she tries to sever the connection. At one point, Bo muses, "She was so uncontainable, so open and so fragile. I knew she would never last." Alice does indeed pay a price, but so does Bo. Those expecting an unhappy ending won't be disappointed. Agent: Blake Friedmann, Blake Friedmann Literary Agency (U. K.). (Oct.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Exquisite." Publishers Weekly, 28 Aug. 2017, p. 106. Book Review Index Plus,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A502652608/GPS?u=schlager&sid=GPS& xid=4cdeb132. Accessed 5 Mar. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A502652608
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QUOTED: "language. This is the aspect of the novel that makes you want it to continue on forever, if only to enjoy the lyrical, almost sensual way that Stovell describes the beautiful landscape around the village, the emotions of the characters, and the subtlety of the way she uses the language to actually manipulate you."
REVIEW: Exquisite by Sarah Stovell
July 4, 2017 thecrimereviewadmin Leave a comment
Series: N/A
Book Number: N/A
Read this book for: psychological thriller, romance, manipulation, unreliable narrator, keeps you guessing
Quick Review: Beautifully written, gripping and utterly believable, EXQUISITE is truly a piece you want to both savor and find out how it ends. A must-read.
***
Bo Luxton has it all–a loving family, a beautiful home in the Lake District, and a clutch of bestselling books to her name. Enter Alice Dark, an aspiring writer who is drifting through life, with a series of dead-end jobs and a freeloading boyfriend. When they meet at a writers’ retreat, the chemistry is instant, and a sinister relationship develops. Or does it?
EXQUISITE is a psychological thriller told from the perspectives of both main characters – Bo, a famous author, and Alice, an aspiring writer – who experience a powerful romantic attraction to each other… before it all goes wrong. It was truly a joy to read; ‘exquisite’ is a fitting word for this novel.
The plot, to begin with, is one of those simple setups that put a seemingly innocuous everyday situation under the microscope to show in fine detail all the dangerous little pits, traps and dark places that lurk under the surface. The premise of an infatuation, affair and regret, are items that are so common in fiction that they are almost glossed over – but Stovell peels back the layers on such a moment to expose the consequences of such a situation mixed with a manipulative personality. It’s utterly believable, and that makes it even more powerful. The fact that this novel is also about a pair of authors and features their own writing as part of the story also really helps to showcase the utterly lovely command of language that Stovell has.
I want to spend a moment to admire the way Stovell has crafted this novel, just in terms of use of language. This is the aspect of the novel that makes you want it to continue on forever, if only to enjoy the lyrical, almost sensual way that Stovell describes the beautiful landscape around the village, the emotions of the characters, and the subtlety of the way she uses the language to actually manipulate you. You absolutely understand how the characters can second-guess and misread their relationships, because as the reader of both tellings of the story, you aren’t completely sure whose version is the truth.
This adds to the believability of the novel – many psychological thrillers are hard to get into because it is difficult to believe a person can be manipulated in such a way to have a completely different understanding of the situation than it actually is… but when you also experience it along with the characters, you believe it completely. Stovell also does a very subtle and excellent job of constructing Bo and Alice so that you can empathize with them both. There’s no clear ‘villain’ in this novel, which adds to the suspense and draws you deeper into engaging with the story, desperately trying to find out what really happened.
EXQUISITE has been one of my favourite novels of 2017 so far; I absolutely recommend you pick this one up – but set aside a few hours because you will lose yourself in it!
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QUOTED: "Exquisite is a very competent debut from Sarah Stovell that highlights some very strong themes ~ obsession, narcissism, and manipulation."
"It would work very successfully on the big screen. The sizzling chemistry between Alice and Bo is palpable off the pages with very astute descriptions and characterisations. ... Exquisite will be a book that will be among the top recommendations for many this year."
Exquisite by Sarah Stovell
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Article by swirlandthread ©.
Posted in Book Reviews | Crime/Thriller.
Exquisite, the debut novel by Sarah Stovell, is described as ‘breathlessly pacey, taut and terrifying…an unbalancing psychological thriller…… ‘
It is a story about love. It is a story about obsession.
The cover of Exquisite is as dark and mysterious as is what’s between the pages. There is a very sensuous and alluring image of what appears to be the arch of a naked female back. In the shadows, a house stands with a bright light shining out of one single window. What secrets are being hidden behind that window? What story does this house have to reveal?
The house is the home of Bo Luxton, a bestselling writer who appears to have it all, having moved to the Lake District with her older husband Gus and her two little girls, Maggie and Lola. After swapping the hectic lifestyle of London for the more relaxed approach of the countryside, Bo could not be happier. She gets excited every single day with the simple pleasure of walking her kids to school. The joy and delight in their faces, as they skip and hop along beside her, confirms her belief that this move was the correct decision.
‘That was the purpose of a Lake District childhood, to my mind: to know the slow movement of the seasons; to breathe beneath clean skies and hear the ice-cold motion of a stream; to run wild until the landscape wore their shoes out’
But Bo’s relationship with her husband is the only smear on this idyllic life. Their relationship is rather stale as they pass each other by like ships in the night. Yet Bo is very accepting of this way of life, as it allows her to focus all her energies on her two girls and her writing.
One of Bo’s many passions is discovering new writers and assisting them where possible. On a writing retreat she makes the acquaintance of a very promising young writer, Alice Dark. Bo sees in Alice a raw potential just waiting to be discovered.
Alice is an aspiring writer. Having given up her job to facilitate her writing career, Alice is a little lost. Her own childhood was one of heartache and loneliness and through her written words she is able to express her frustration at the world, at her mother.
Alice and Bo have an immediate connection with an underlying sexual chemistry that is almost instantaneous on both sides.
What follows is a story of a twisted obsession, a story of a fevered passion that soon turns very ominous and very, very dark.
Sarah Stovell has written a novel on a theme that now even has it’s own slot in the Urban Dictionary and that is the notion of ‘Single White Femaling’
The idea of two women obsessively sexually attracted to each other is not a new theme in literature, but for me it was my first time reading a novel that focuses in on it. Described as domestic noir, Exquisite is a very well written novel. The shift in the chapters between Bo and Alice is seamless, as we see the relationship building in intensity. The early warning signs are there for the reader to see and, as Bo and Alice get more deeply involved, we see the narrative develop through both their eyes. The manner in which perspectives are interpreted and illustrated flows as the characters changing personalities metamorphose with each page.
Exquisite is a book that falls into the genre of psychological thriller but certainly it is very different to any book I have read in this genre to date. I have to put my hands up and admit that at times the script of the emails between the two was a little irritating for me, the terminology used just a little too ‘lovey dovey’ (I know not exactly the most literary term!!) We get an overview of the background history of both characters but personally I would have liked to see Bo’s back-story fleshed out a little more.
Minor quibbles….
Exquisite is a very competent debut from Sarah Stovell that highlights some very strong themes ~ obsession, narcissism, and manipulation. I do think it would work very successfully on the big screen. The sizzling chemistry between Alice and Bo is palpable off the pages with very astute descriptions and characterisations. I have no doubt Exquisite will be a book that will be among the top recommendations for many this year so if you want to read it before Hollywood gets to it, you better read it soon…
(c) swirlandthread
Order your copy online here.
QUOTED: "Exquisite is a cracking debut. An interesting premise, well-structured with some sharp writing and a gripping plot. There are a couple of missteps—a well-timed inheritance, Alice having a friend who’s a policewoman, and the odd bit of clunky dialogue—but these are minor quibbles."
Exquisite – Sarah Stovell
Posted on June 2, 2017 by thewritesofwoman@gmail.com
Successful writer Bo Luxton has moved her family – older husband, Gus, and two young children, Maggie and Lola – to the Lake District. There she’s researching the women who surrounded the Romantic poets, writing novelised versions of their lives. To supplement her income, she teaches a week on a writers’ retreat, a course for those who want to take their writing more seriously. The course provides some financial assistance for students the tutor believes is worthy of it. After reading through the work sent to her, Bo selects Alice Dark for a free place.
Oh, the words were brutal, the language sharply controlled, but I caught the vulnerability beneath: the longing, that endless, endless longing for the elusive love of the mother.
Alice, twenty-five, is living in Brighton with her artist boyfriend, Jake, and some of his friends. None of them have a job, despite Alice having a first-class English Literature degree from The University of York.
I knew where I was headed if I kept this up. It was a one-way street to blankness – the endless treadmill of boredom that sucked everything out of you until your eyes clouded over and the spark of intelligence left your face, and you spent your days longing for five o’clock and your evenings watching people behave badly on television because they were desperate, so desperate not to live tiny, insignificant lives like yours that they would actually do this: They would actually suck someone’s cock in front of the nation because they had to be remembered for something, and it was better to be remembered for sucking someone’s cock on Channel 4 than nothing at all…And I knew, as clearly as I knew night from day, that this life would destroy me, and I couldn’t live it.
The two women meet on the course. Alice is in awe of Bo, Bo is drawn to Alice: she reminds her of herself when she was younger. Bo takes Alice under her wing and strikes up a mentoring/nurturing relationship with her. But then the relationship takes on further significance, is it a mutual love affair or is Alice deeply deluded?
Stovell uses a few tricks to keep the reader guessing. Three embedded in the themes and ideas of the novel: Bo has previously had a stalker, a young man, as a result of which Gus opens her post and reads her emails; is she just a victim of people with an obsessive nature because she has a certain level of fame? Both women had a troubled childhood in some way, has this affected their ability to form successful, mutual relationships? And both women are writers, are they just making things up or embellishing facts because they write fiction?
The other is in the structure: Stovell begins the novel with a piece narrated from inside Her Majesty’s Prison for Women, Yorkshire, several more of which come before each section of the book. The reader doesn’t know who the narrator is; I changed my mind several times before the reveal. The narration of the main body of the book also moves between the two women. Initially they take a section each. What’s most interesting about this is the point where the alleged affair begins and we get both takes on it; who’s leaving details out? Who’s exaggerating? As the pace ramps up, Stovell alternates between Bo and Alice as we discover who’s lying and who’s the smarter of the two.
Exquisite is a cracking debut. An interesting premise, well-structured with some sharp writing and a gripping plot. There are a couple of missteps – a well-timed inheritance, Alice having a friend who’s a policewoman, and the odd bit of clunky dialogue – but these are minor quibbles in a book I devoured.
You can buy Exquisite from Amazon or support your local independent bookshop. If, like me, there isn’t one near you, I recommend Big Green Bookshop.
This post is part of a blog tour, if you’re interested in what other bloggers think of the book, you can find out on the sites below: