Night Visits - Softcover

Butlin, Ron

Softcover

ISBN 10: 184017000X ISBN 13: 9781840170009

Publisher: Scottish Cultural Press, 1997

Synopsis

Butlin's first acclaimed novel The Sound of My Voice descended into inner darkness few of us dare to acknowledge; in exploring it even further, Night Visits reaches towards the light. When Malcolm's father dies, he drifts into a fantasy world where there is no pain and no love . His aunt, with whom he goes to live in Edinburgh, has long been imprisoned in her own private rituals of fanaticism and terror. Together they enter a hell of love perverted into pain and desire. A powerful and compulsively readable novel.

About this title

Review:

My novel of the year (Edwin Morgan The Scotsman)

Beautifully structured ... Butlin empathises as well as any writer dealing with the pain of adolescent trauma I've read ... What makes the achievement special, however, is the way in which warped adolescent yearning is interwoven with a very different and repressed yearning, that of Malcolm's Aunt Fiona (who is) an archetype of inner corrosion and suffering ... Butlin handles the delicate savagery of her condition with a rare combination of sympathy and detachment, and its climax ... is as fine in its portrayal of psychological destruction and reconstruction as The Sound of My Voice. Both (novels) can be placed alongside work like Gray's 1982, Janine and Galloway's The Trick is to Keep Breathing (Douglas Gifford Books in Scotland)

. . .develops even more successfully (than The Sound of My Voice) the balance of real and surreal in human response to disappointed longings (The Scotsman)

Handled with Butlin's skill and compassion, the dark material in Night Visits is anything but sensationalised. He is ever seeking to acquire and encourage understanding of even the most wretched souls (Nicholas Royle Time Out)

spellbinding and compassionate (The Independent)

About the Author:

Before taking up writing full-time Ron Butlin was, at various times, a lyricist with a pop band, a barnacle scraper on Thames barges, a footman attending embassies and country houses, and a male model. His works include the novels The Sound of My Voice, Night Visits and most recently Belonging; two collections of stories, Vivaldi and the Number 3 and The Tilting Room, and six books of poetry. His fiction and poetry have been translated into over ten languages.

About this edition

• Publisher: Scottish Cultural Press
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 184017000X
• ISBN 13: 9781840170009
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 108