Review
Julia Leigh's second
work is a beautiful, gothic tale and
an intimate examination of
psychological pain. The novella
opens with Olivia's return to her
childhood home after a twelve-year
absence. Her two children trail
behind her. A sense of foreboding
and displacement takes root in the
first scene when Olivia tries to
open the gate to her mother's
chateau via the electronic keypad.
The gate will not open. Undeterred,
she and the children veer off the
path to the lawn, and Olivia tries
to enter the chateau's grounds
through, presumably, her "secret"
childhood entrance. This is closed
to her, too, until her son, Andy,
bloodies his shoulder in...
Beyond the Book
Disquiet
is Julia Leigh's
second work of
fiction, and it
took her nine
years to write.
When asked why
it took her so
long
,
Leigh replies:
"There is a nice
quote I like
from poet
Elizabeth
Bishop,
something like
scientists and
artists are
alike in that
they are
prepared to
waste effort ...
When I am
exploring
things, when I
set out,...
