Book review: Irish author and critic Sinéad Gleeson’s 2019 collection of essays, Constellations, was an unflinching and generous look at trauma, illness, pain, faith, pregnancy and motherhood, with thunderbolt flashes of art criticism and political commentary.
Her debut novel, Hagstone, covers some of the same ground, being an intensely atmospheric look at art, solitude, community, human nature, the mysteries of faith and the magic of the natural world.
Living on an unforgivingly wild and remote island off Ireland’s rugged west coast, Nell is an artist whose visual works – sand sculptures, statues – and sonic installations are inspired by the landscape around her.
The island is a place with “quiet roads full of blame” where everyone in the small community knows each blade of grass and stone.
But the island’s main mystery is a commune of women known as the Inions, who have withdrawn from society for an egalitarian life of simplicity and peace high on the cliffs in Rathglas, an old convent.
When Nell receives a letter from the Inions commissioning her to create an artwork to celebrate their 30th anniversary and to show what they have strived to create as a modern self-sufficient community, she becomes the first outsider invited to Rathglas. Gossip from the mainland suggests it’s a cult.
There are murmurings about Nell, too. That her interest in gardening, making healing tinctures and cooking elaborate meals with interesting ingredients instead of bland bangers and mash means she’s a witch.
When Nell becomes romantically involved with mainlander Cleary, he’s mindful of what the villagers say about her but feels a magnetic pull, impressed that Nell has a strong sense of self and dedication to her art.
The island is plagued by a mysterious phenomenon known as “the sound”. It comes on with no warning or pattern, not everyone can hear it, and climatologists and paranormal types alike have been unable to explain it. But it triggers unexplained happenings. It has driven some people mad.
Rathglas begins to close in on Nell. It becomes apparent that even this utopian enclave isn’t immune to corruption and factions. If the Inions don’t stick together, the structure will fall apart. There’s a sense of Nell being torn between keeping her distance to maintain a clear-sighted eye for her work and intervening.
Gleeson is an allusive writer with a lushly evocative style similar to Sarah Moss. An expert world-builder, finely tuned into the natural world, she describes “a roux of metallic frost smeared on the grass”, the “blue of mussel shells, butterflied and spent”, a ladder “measled with rust”, the “oily stink” of a compost heap.
The island’s flora and fauna come to life, its seaweed foremost: pepper dulse is “known as the truffle of the sea” and Nell forages for tooth wrack for soothing baths. Ancient hedgerows, bloody cranesbill, clover, clematis and honeysuckle bloom on the harsh landscape.
Hagstone is charged with an eeriness, and the romance of wild landscapes and art. There are details of Nell’s artworks throughout the novel and at the end, Gleeson has included a note on the real artists whose works have influenced Nell from Marina Abramović to Louise Bourgeois, which further enriches the already intoxicating reading experience.
Sinéad Gleeson will appear at the Auckland Writers Festival, Aotea Centre, on May 15 and May 17: see writersfestival.co.nz To book tickets go here
