Reviews
The Lighthouse
‘A haunting and accomplished novel’
Katy Guest, The Independent on Sunday
'No surprise that this quietly startling novel won column inches when it landed a spot on the Man Booker Prize longlist... Though sparely told, the novel's simple-seeming narrative has the density of a far longer work... It all stokes a sense of ominousness that makes the denouement not a bit less shocking.'
Hephzibah Anderson, The Daily Mail
'It is this accumulation of the quotidian, in prose as tight as Magnus Mills’s, which lends Moore’s book its standout nature, and brings the novel to its ambiguous, thrilling end.'
Philip Womack, The Telegraph
'Ultimately, what drew me into this bleak tale of sorrow and abandonment was the quality of the writing – so taut and economical it even looked different on the page somehow – and so effective in creating a mounting sense of menace and unease. It never flinches... For such a small volume, The Lighthouse actually has a deceptively clever structure which I didn’t fully appreciate until the ending, and what an ending it is. I had to think about it, and I like that.'
Isabel Costello, The Literary Sofa
'This is powerful writing likely to shine in your memory for a long time.'
Emily Cleaver, Litro Magazine
'Alison Moore has created an unsettling, seemingly becalmed but oddly sensual, and entirely excellent novel... a discomforting and moving portrait of intense loss.'
Alan Bowden, Words of Mercury
'Every word feels earned and precise and right. It all builds wonderfully... It is the quiet exactitude of this novel that makes it such a powerful work'
Ben Dutton, A Literary Life
'a kind of heartbreaking farce... Moore’s touch has the sharp penetration of a hypodermic needle.'
Adam Roberts
'As soon as I had finished it I wanted to re-read it'
stillnotfussed
'Just superbly written'
Literary Hoarders
'deliciously unsettling... our sense of inevitable disaster becomes almost unbearable'
Jenn Ashworth, The Guardian
'Moore's writing has a superb sense of the weight of memory.'
Kate Saunders, The Times
'Small wonder that it stood up to the crash-testing of a prize jury's reading and rereading. One of the year's 12 best novels? I can believe it.'
Anthony Cummins, The Observer
'It really is an excellent debut'
Heavenali
'precise, evocative prose. The Lighthouse is a fine first novel'
David Hebblethwaite
'beautiful and compelling... Moore's storytelling is masterful'
Nuala Ní Chonchúir, Women Rule Writer
'brilliant craftmanship. A haunting, lingering read.'
Victoria Cooper, Red
'queasy brilliance... It deserves to be read, and reread.'
Isabel Berwick, Financial Times
'Alison Moore's writing is sublime... The Lighthouse is sad, atmospheric and wonderfully creepy.'
Page Plucker
'Disquieting, deceptive, crafted with a sly and measured expertise, Alison Moore's story could certainly deliver a masterclass in slow-burn storytelling'
Boyd Tonkin, The Independent
'a short, bleak, atmospheric book full of such strange symbols that ... suddenly come aglow with meaning.'
Sam Sacks, The Wall Street Journal
'Moore constructs a precise and perfectly paced psychological drama in which all our senses are on constant alert.'
Susan Wyndham, The New York Times
'a haunting novel that manages to be both a stunning look at memory and a bona fide thriller.'
Noah Cruickshank, Shelf Awareness
'a skillfully written, unsettling story of inescapable fate. The haunting sense of inevitability makes this a page-turner not easily forgotten.'
Rae Padilla Francoeur, Northwest Florida Daily News
'I am impressed that such depth of plot and character development can be achieved in a novel of less than two hundred pages. This is a fantastic read and one that lingers well beyond the final page.'
Jackie Law, Never Imitate