Set in a near-future fraught with ecological collapse, Christine Lai's mesmerising and prismatic debut novel Landscapes is a brilliant exploration of memory, empathy, preservation, and art as an instrument for recollection and renewal.

In the English countryside-decimated by heat and drought-Penelope archives what remains of an estate's once notable collection. As she catalogues the library's contents, she keeps a diary of her final months in the dilapidated country house that has been her home for two decades and a refuge for those who have been displaced by disasters. Out of necessity, Penelope and her partner, Aidan, have sold the house and its scheduled demolition marks the pressing deadline for completing the archive. But with it also comes the impending return of Aidan's brother, Julian, at whose hands Penelope suffered during a brief but violent relationship twenty-two years before. As Julian's visit looms, Penelope finds herself unable to suppress the past, clinging to art as a means of understanding, of survival, and of reckoning.

Recalling the works of Rachel Cusk and Kazuo Ishiguro, Landscapes is an elegiac and spellbinding blend of narrative, essay, and diary that reinvents the country-house novel for our age of catastrophe, announcing the arrival of an extraordinarily gifted new writer.

About the Author
Christine Lai holds a PhD in English literature from University College London. Landscapes has been longlisted for the Republic of Consciousness Prize (US and Canada) and the CLMP Firecracker Awards for Independently Published Literature. Christine currently lives in Canada.

Reviews

'Lai debuts with an intelligent narrative of an archivist living and working in the English countryside in a near future wracked by climate change... Alongside Penelope's trauma, thoughtfully developed ekphrases show how violence against women has not only been banalized, but positively coded in the tradition of Western painting. The text is an elegant assembly of such descriptions, along with catalogue entries, excerpts from Penelope's journal, and sections written from Julian's perspective. Sebald fans should take note.'
- Publishers Weekly

'[Landscapes] builds an electric undercurrent of doom. In cool, sinewy prose, this astute and timely novel explores the roles of beauty, art, and passion in a time of survival.'
- Kirkus Reviews

Book Information
ISBN 9781914391521
Author Christine Lai
Format Paperback
Imprint Influx Press
Publisher Influx Press