The Ecliptic

Shortlisted for The Sunday Times/ Peters Fraser and Dunlop Young Writer of the Year award

On a forestedisland off the coast of Istanbul stands Portmantle, a gated refuge for beleaguered artists. There, a curious assembly of painters, architects, writers and musicians strive to restore their faded talents.Elspeth 'Knell' Conroy is a celebrated painterwho has lost faith in her abilityand fled the dizzying art scene of 1960s London. On the island, she spends her nightslocked in her blacked-out studio, testing a strangenewpigmentfor her elusive masterpiece.

But whenadisaffected teenager named Fullerton arrives at the refuge, hedisrupts its established routines. He is plagued by a recurring nightmare that steers him into danger, and Knell is left to pick apart the chilling mystery. Where did the boy come from, what is 'The Ecliptic', and how does itrelate to their abandoned lives in England?