I don't mind a book that others might describe as "slow" but this one was in fact too slow for me. I also didn't enjoy the very graphic descriptions of various bodily fluids.

I found this book to be an extremely intense, dark, haunting read, Edith is an artist of some renown where she lives and she is isolated with her lover, Halit due to a pandemic. It is definitely not a happy book in any way, however it takes the time we are living in and offers a voice to it in many ways, Edith expresses herself through delving into her relationship with her mother, discusses her artistic endeavors, and loses another in such a heartrending way that just tears at her soul. in this book. There are definitely highs and lows in the book, however I really felt that this was a valuable read for out time. Thanks for the ARC, NetGalley.

I really didn't know what to expect as I've never read Hall's writing before. I was drawn in by the cover and couldn't put the book down from start to finish. The story was compelling and the writing was fantastic. I've purchased a couple copies for our library because this is definitely going on the "Staff Recommends" display!

BURNTCOAT is one of the first attempts to deal with COVID through literature and it makes a powerful impact. Author Sarah Hall has created a protagonist, Edith, a middle-aged woman, alone, facing death from something like long COVID, reminiscing about her life and the relationships that mattered to her. It is a moving, heartfelt, painful exercise. At times, the book felt more like an accounting of the AIDS epidemic than it did of COVID, meaning it was so very awful health-wise. But, so what? The pandemic is unnamed; it is not really COVID. It is meant to shock and it does. It is almost dystopic, except it isn’t. The world really did shut down. If this is the beginning of COVID literature, we have much to anticipate. Sarah Hall’s contribution stands well on its own separate from any overarching theme. It is memorable and compelling. I received my copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Burntcoat by Sarah Hall is a recommended novel about art and relationships set in an unnamed British city during a global pandemic.

Sculptor Edith Harknes, 59, overcame her difficult childhood to become an artist. Now she has retreated inside her large studio named Burntcoat to isolate herself with her lover Halit while they wait out the virus that is devastating the population. Society collapses around them as they become closer and focused on each other. Then Halit becomes infected. This novel is partly a love letter to art, Naomi (Edith's mother), and Halit. It is about art, expression, life, love, relationships and endings.

The writing can be beautiful, lyrical, and compelling. Some of the descriptions about Edith's art and the Japanese art of Shou Sugi Ban, a process of charring wood to bring out the beauty, are love stories to the artistic process, which merges well with what is also Edith's love letter to her relationship with Halit. The closeness to the creative process is enchanting and mesmerizing. These are the parts of the novel that shine.

However, the format of the novel can be exasperating, disjointed, and challenging. The story is told as first person recollections and the narrative passages are presented in a nonlinear fashion, which left me feeling disconnected. Edith is writing to an unnamed "you" which becomes an increasingly discordant part of the novel since the "you" could be the reader or someone else. Both of these creative choices in the organization of the narrative prose increasingly became aggravating. Finally, while many reviewers appreciate the pandemic setting, it doesn't work for me.

In conclusion, this is a novel that features exquisite writing and descriptions but may put some readers off based on the format of the narrative.
Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of HarperCollins.
The review will be published on Barnes & Noble, Edelweiss, Google Books, and Amazon.

In an unnamed British city, there is virus that’s spreading (sounds familiar, right?). The main character (Edith) is a famous sculptor/artist and, like most people in her town (and beyond), she decides to isolate indoors. For her, this means her studio - Burntcoat. But she’s not alone…she has a lover with her, though they don’t know each other terribly well. Everything is changing outside Burntcoat and the two find themselves changing as well. They’re changed by their isolation and their fears and their pasts (Edith recalls her mother, who suffered a brain injury, along with a number of other moments/events in Edith’s life that are meaningful to her). And, of course, they’re changed by each other.

The story is haunting. The virus in the story seemed worse than ours in some ways but perhaps not (read and judge for yourself - I kept going back and forth whether it was worse or very similar). It was all eerily familiar though (masks, isolation, the death toll etc), though the story was haunting for other reasons as well. I think much of it was the writing itself, the way the characters remember things with such longing, with a hint of regret and loss and so many other things. I love how the author goes into detail about the sculptures and artwork. I love how Edith creates things, how her mind works when she’s creating and her passion for it all (it’s more a need than a desire). I love how there is an underlying tension to the whole story that makes every memory hold so much more importance than it might have otherwise.

The nonlinear format took some getting use to, but once I did (it didn’t take long), it was good. And I don’t think it would be the same story if it was told in a linear way (their lives are chaotic and jumbled and so the story kind of resists moving in a straightened/linear fashion).

Definitely a worthwhile read! Pub date is November 2nd!

Grateful to @Williammorrowbooks for the gifted copy!

I didn't think I'd like any of the inevitable art-as-a-response-to-covid but here we are. This book was, yes, grim, and also, yes, a bit slow, but at the same time it was also quick and in some ways bright. Nonlinear timelines don't always work for me but I thought it really worked here. Unforgettable prose.

Excellent story! Totally engrossing!. Looking forward to reading more by this author! Could not put this down!

In this lyrical novel a sculptor named Edith, delves deeply into her psyche – reflecting back on what made her an artist; moments from her childhood and experiences she’s had. All of this is happening during a pandemic, where Edith is holed up in her large studio, Burntcoat, with a lover she is quite unfamiliar with. The world outside changes as does their relationship inside Burntcoat. This is a novel about memory, art, relationships and the passage of time. This book is so beautifully written, I found myself reading sentences over again, just to re-experience the sharp writing. I look forward to more books from Sarah Hall. Thank you to Custom House and to Netgalley for the advanced review copy.

Hall's got lots of talent, and it shows here. This is an interesting tale with characters that are fun to watch. This author often deals with big themes, which is part of what I found interesting. Recommended.

Thanks very much for the free ARC for review!!

Sarah Hall is a brilliant writer an author who deserves writing awards.I was immediately drawn in to Burntcoat to the life of Edith from the opening pages I was completely absorbed .A-book set in the time of a pandemic an artist infected by a deadly virus.A book I willl be recommending a book I will not burden with a long review every reader will want the story to unfold for them.#netgalley#customhouse

Sometimes a book will not let you go, even when you aren't sure if you like it or not. Burntcoat by Sarah Hall is one of those books.

Beautifully written, a kind of fictional memoir, Burntcoat takes place in England and begins with the traumatic episode when young Edith Harkness's mother Naomi suffers a severe stroke. The mother Edith had known is gone and in her place a damaged woman who struggles with regaining sensible speech. Her father eventually leaves, and eight-year-old Edith becomes interpreter and caretaker for Naomi as she recovers.

As Edith, nearing sixty and terminally ill, looks back over her life she relates the close bond with her mother, her training and success as a sculptor of large creations of burnt wood using the Japanese shou sugi ban technique, and the arrival and aftermath of a Covid-like pandemic much worse than the Covid we know.

The novel moves back and forth in time as Edith reviews the events in her life. When the swift and deadly AG3 virus begins its catastrophic death toll on an unprepared England, Edith and her new lover Halit try to ride out the lockdown at Burntcoat, which is both home and studio for Edith.

There is much to like in Burntcoat, with the exception of the gratuitous sex scenes. Yes, sex would be a light in the darkness, the closeness people need when threatened by events beyond their control. There is a purpose for including the intimacy of Edith and Halit's relationship and of sex as a means of escape from the horror. But...no, the inclusion of the graphic sexual episodes did not work for me. Awkward, uncomfortable, and unnecessary.

The book is uncomfortable in several ways, but the discomfort is the kind that would be natural in the face of some of the events in Edith's life--her mother's stroke and long recovery, in the physical and emotional hardships of lockdown, and in the fear and horror experienced as people, locally and nationally, die in huge numbers--one million in England alone.

Not a book to easily forget, but one that is hard to evaluate. Even as Edith recounts the important events in her life, she remains distant, removed from her own story. The distance is understandable, and perhaps, inevitable.

read in August; blog review scheduled for Oct. 7, 2021
NetGalley/Custom House

Nov. 2, 2021. Print length: 304 pages.

To be honest, writing this review really intimidates me. I am absolutely in awe of Sarah Hall’s talent; I find her writing ethereal. Her short stories are beyond compare, evidenced by the fact she has been shortlisted for the annual BBC National Short Story Award four times, and is the only person to have won the award twice.

Where to start with Burntcoat? Our protagonist is Edith, and by the end of the novel it feels like we have lived a thousand lives with her. The titular Burntcoat is Edith’s sprawling studio, to which she becomes confined when a COVID-like pandemic sweeps England. She and her lover, Halit, navigate their relatively new relationship, and their cultural differences. Edith also reflects on the memory of her adoptive mother, Naomi, and her long-standing illness. It is the slight strangeness of these relationships that will stay with me for a very long time.

One of Hall’s many gifts is writing her way around horrific things. This is not a “COVID novel”; the seldom-named fictional illness provides a catalyst for parts of the story, but is ultimately inconsequential. How people deal with the brutal fallout of the disease provides the real tension.

I was utterly consumed by Burntcoat, just as I expected I would be. This brief, exquisite book is about so many things. Art, love, sex, family, death. You can’t help but get utterly entranced by the beauty of Sarah Hall’s prose. I would gladly read it multiple times over.

I really don’t think any review could do this book justice; anything I say pales in comparison to the wonder of this book. I can just recommend it, and hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

I had high hopes for this novel based on the description and other rave reviews I’d seen before I started. But the writing and the scenes left me cold and desperately wanting to escape. This is a look at how a pandemic can be worse - much worse - than what we are experiencing right now. But it is so unflinching in its examination of all that is ugly and devastating that it was just too much. I looked for glimpses of light but could not find them. That said, the author is widely respected in the literary world, so perhaps this is just a case of “this one wasn’t for me.” Give it a try, because it may be just what you need in this strange season.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing a copy of this book.

DNF - Did not finish. I decided not to keep reading this title because I did not connect with the writing or plot. Thank you, NetGalley and publisher for the early copy!