The Painter's Friend
Published on 8. July 2021
Book
Hardback
288 pages
978-1-5290-3092-1 (ISBN)
Description
'One of the books of the year. Cunnell's style is matchless: intimate, dark, sincere, wry and exquisitely beautiful' - Irish Times
'A cracking, urgent page-turner of a novel' - Observer
The painter Terry Godden was on the brink of his first success. After a violent crisis, he finds himself outcast.
In his fifties, and with little money, he retreats to a small island. Arriving in the winter, the island at first seems a desolate and forgotten place. As the seasons turn, Terry begins to see the island's beauty, and discovers that he is only one of many people who have sought refuge here. These independent outsiders, all with their own considerable struggles, have made a precarious home.
The island is owned by the business man and art collector Alex Kaplan. His decision to enforce a rent increase as he seeks to improve his property looks set to destroy this community that cannot afford to lose the little they have left. As an artist, Terry believes making the invisible struggles of the island visible to the world will help - but will his interference save anybody other than himself?
The Painter's Friend shows the human cost of gentrification for those dispossessed. The novel also explores the role of art in protest, and asks who gets to be an artist and what they owe in return. Written with visual lyricism and driven clarity, Howard Cunnell's incendiary story about class and resistance builds to an unforgettable climax. It is an urgent novel for our unjust times.
'I loved it. Cunnell's writing has an unforgettable visual and moral clarity' - Melissa Harrison, author of All Among the Barley
'A cracking, urgent page-turner of a novel' - Observer
The painter Terry Godden was on the brink of his first success. After a violent crisis, he finds himself outcast.
In his fifties, and with little money, he retreats to a small island. Arriving in the winter, the island at first seems a desolate and forgotten place. As the seasons turn, Terry begins to see the island's beauty, and discovers that he is only one of many people who have sought refuge here. These independent outsiders, all with their own considerable struggles, have made a precarious home.
The island is owned by the business man and art collector Alex Kaplan. His decision to enforce a rent increase as he seeks to improve his property looks set to destroy this community that cannot afford to lose the little they have left. As an artist, Terry believes making the invisible struggles of the island visible to the world will help - but will his interference save anybody other than himself?
The Painter's Friend shows the human cost of gentrification for those dispossessed. The novel also explores the role of art in protest, and asks who gets to be an artist and what they owe in return. Written with visual lyricism and driven clarity, Howard Cunnell's incendiary story about class and resistance builds to an unforgettable climax. It is an urgent novel for our unjust times.
'I loved it. Cunnell's writing has an unforgettable visual and moral clarity' - Melissa Harrison, author of All Among the Barley
Reviews / Votes
One of the books of the year. Cunnell's style is matchless: intimate, dark, sincere, wry and exquisitely beautiful * Irish Times * What a fine book The Painter's Friend is. At times, a beautiful meditation, at other times the prose ripples with tension and foreboding. Howard Cunnell is a wonderful writer who should be read by everyone -- Sarah Winman, author of <i>Still Life</i> [A] powerful new novel . . . The creation and consumption of art are the novel's major themes . . . Cunnell's writing is sharp and vivid, the highly coloured verbal pictures perfectly suited to an artist narrator . . . The most sustained portrayal is that of Terry's adopted dog, Red: the finest canine characterisation that I can recall * Financial Times * I loved it. Cunnell's writing has an unforgettable visual and moral clarity -- Melissa Harrison, author of <i>All Among the Barley</i> A cracking, urgent page-turner of a novel -- Roy Williams * Observer * His finest and most important work to date -- Cathi Unsworth, author of <i>Weirdo</i> Cunnell's prose is elegantly punchy . . . The valour of his fight is revealed in a story of what can happen when truth is considered idealism and collides with the predatory designs of a property developer. A fine book -- John Healy, author of <i>The Grass Arena</i> Loving in its exploration of creative survival and loss of human habitat. Every fleck and dab of verbal pigment rewards the eye and enriches the design -- Adam Mars-Jones, author of <i>Box Hill</i> Brilliantly plotted and the final act knocked me sideways. Huge themes told through the personal stories of very real people. It was a delight and revelation to read -- David Morrissey, actor A novel of muscular, dark prose with more than a little compassion for damaged lives. I loved it -- Ned Boulting, author of <i>On the Road Bike</i> It's a timely novel, but it also seems to wear its big issues lightly. The particularity and peculiarity of the setting and cast really brought it to life and gripped me -- Sara Baume, author of <i>spill simmer falter wither</i> Beautifully written in painterly prose, this is an intense, moving meditation on the role of art in our increasingly profit-focused society * Mail on Sunday * A gripping piece of storytelling with a page-turning pace written in a painterly yet spare, clipped style . . . I found it both engrossing and deeply moving * A Life in Books * Such a fabulous page turner. Brilliant on the complexities of art, how political as well as important it should be and who decides? The Painter's Friend wins Howard Cunnell a place among the country's leading novelists -- Roy Williams, author of <i>Sing Yer Heart Out For the Lads</i>More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Pan Macmillan
Target group
Interest Age: From 18 years
Dimensions
Height: 223 mm
Width: 144 mm
Thickness: 31 mm
Weight
394 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-5290-3092-1 (9781529030921)
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Schweitzer Classification
Person
Howard Cunnell's acclaimed memoir Fathers and Sons was read on BBC Radio 4's Book of the Week, and described as 'unique, and uniquely beautiful' (Financial Times); it explores his experiences as a fatherless man raising a transgender son. His novel The Sea on Fire 'maps new noir territory in an incandescent underwater world' (Guardian), and draws from Cunnell's life as a dive guide and scuba instructor. He is the contributing editor of Jack Kerouac's On the Road: The Original Scroll, which the New York Times called 'the living version for our time'. He lives in Sussex.