Beyond the Horizon

There are artists that can visually bring a scene, a memory, to a canvas, through their talent, and their artistic vision, sharing a moment captured in such a way that can move the viewer, sharing their gift, and perhaps a bit of their heart and soul. There are authors who can do the same through their words on a page, bringing to life a place, a time, the heart and soul of people on pages, creating a connection that, in the best of stories, allows you to see and feel their joys and sorrows so completely, to know them so intimately that they become a part of you beyond the last page.

Eoin Lane is a talented Irish artist, his landscapes sharing his vision of the world around him. In this debut novel, he shares the story of a man’s life, beginning with his childhood in the 1950’s, when an event that will shape his life occurs. The family is enjoying a holiday by the sea, a brief escape from the daily routines of life.

”They stood for a moment as the foam licked their feet, then raced in.”

”There was sun on her eyelids and the tang of seaweed in a freshening breeze. She moved her hand slightly, spilling the tea, and opened her eyes and watched the colored tumblers rolling like tulips on the sand. The wave began to rise.”

After this event, Colin ceases to speak, preferring to hide inside his room and his thoughts. It is through art classes that he begins to share his feelings on canvas, and eventually his voice returns to him, but his connection to his voice on canvas, where he releases his thoughts and feelings that haunt or move him becomes his lifelong passion.

A hauntingly lovely story, I was pulled in from the first pages and completely swept away by the story and the lyrical prose, as well. A love story on several levels, this is an ode to those places and people to which we feel drawn, an ode to love, to art, and to life, itself.


Pub Date: 20 Jun 2020

Many thanks for the ARC provided by Blackstone Publishing

It is perhaps no surprise that as well as being being a writer, Eoin Lane is also an accomplished Irish landscape artist. Here he has produced a wonderful lyrical and haunting book that examines the very essence of being an artist and the effect that this calling will have on an artist's life and relationships The story begins by the sea in County Wicklow, Ireland in 1951 with a father and his son going swimming in the sea. A tragedy occurs and Colin, aged six. is the only one to return to the beech.

This incident will shape Colin's subsequent life and although he is initially mute he turns to painting to make sense of his life, inspired by the wonderful landscapes of Paul Henry. Now in old age and living alone and secluded on Inishbofin island off the west coast of Ireland with his faithful dog, we learn of Colin's life and the passion that the landscapes of sea and sky had always held for him. A wonderfully written book where one can visualise the paintings and the landscapes described. Strongly recommended.

BEYOND THE HORIZON - Eoin Lane
Perfect 10
Blackstone Publishing
ISBN-10: 1982641541
ISBN-13:978-1982641542
ASIN: B0842ZBH6M
June 23, 2020
Literary Fiction
Ireland, starting in 1951

Six-year Colin Larkin is playing on the ocean’s beach with his father, Jim. The waves surge and retreat on the shore. Eileen, Colin’s mother is there, too, watching them race into the water before she prepares a picnic lunch. Her three older children are climbing the hills behind them. She looks up at the water again. She can’t see her Jim or her son. Running to the water’s edge she finds Colin and saves him, but not Jim. His body washes to shore days later and miles down the shoreline. Colin doesn’t speak again for a long time. When he does, and goes back to school, he becomes interested in art, drawing water scenes and the effects of light.

Throughout art school, he is best friends with fellow student Michael. Their Instructor, Stanley Fitzgerald, is a tough and blunt advisor telling Colin painting is about more than what can be seen. It is “something spiritual, something intangible.” Colin meets another odd mentor in an older woman, Adeline Bell, who will also encourage his painting. At the end of the three-years of schooling, Colin’s paintings of light, water, and mist on the far northern island of Inishtrahull earn acclaim at the final exhibit. Michael shows up with his girlfriend Aisling. Throughout the years the relationship between the three of them will change in dramatic ways.

In BEYOND THE HORIZON, author Eoin Lane creates a very lyrical novel about life through ever-changing scenes switching from present to past and back, like waves of water flowing in and then receding. Colin’s paintings are like metaphors for this change throughout the story. Viewpoints shift between characters, but all are centered on Colin like waves crashing over an island.

I found the story a little difficult to follow at first, but the awful event of his father’s death kept me reading until I became enmeshed in Colin’s life. It is an unusual story filled with emotion and an excellent read.

Robin Lee

If you are at all in the mood for a beautifully written book evocative of the art and the artist it depicts, I would recommend you pick up a copy of this story. It is one where the words paint a picture of a picture of the life a person leads who is consumed with a passion that seems to blot out all other things. It's a story that's brooding, a tale of Ireland and its moodiness that at times descends on those who live there. It's a tale of a young man influenced by the sea and a loss that seems to propel his life forward.

What does lie beyond the horizon?

Expecting a day of happiness, Colin, his mom and dad go to the ocean, but then poor Colin is subjected to a tragedy. The drowning of his father, seemingly before his young eyes, occurs. It is a trauma so enormous that Colin becomes mute and this tragedy effects and runs through the rest of his life.

Colin's mother recognizes the inner turmoil her young boy is experiencing and so she shares with him his father's art and gives him a print of a Paul Henry landscape, awakening in Colin a wonderful desire to paint, to create, to capture the sea that took so much from him.

Years later, Colin meets a woman and through her he relates the story of his life. This is a story of love and loss, loss of the ones he loved, loss of friendship, loss of a way forward at times being so consumed by his art that he forgets about being human. It is a sad and brooding tale of a young boy grown to adulthood being drawn to the sea and its power over what he sees and wants to ultimately capture.

Colin seems always adrift and it is only the sea that seems in its way to bring comfort and solace. It is only through his art that Colin feels fulfilled and even though he finds love through the enigmatic Aisling, a troubled soul herself, it's just not enough. For Colin seeks the sea and the place where the sea meets the horizon. He wants to capture it, to paint it, to feel that there is more beyond that place. It is his ultimate goal, it will be the one painting that matters. His life will be dedicated to that destination.

Beautifully told with a keen eye on what it is like being someone who truly sees the world before him, Eoin Lane has created in his first book, a beautiful yet tragic look at what a passion in life can be. He creates a tragic figure in Colin and yet in the end we do see the hope that does come when one is able to see beyond the horizon.

Thank you to Eoin Lane, Blackstone Publishing, and NetGalley for a copy of the book due to be released in June of 2020