#BookReview of #HopeNeverKnewHorizon by Douglas Bruton | @PressTaproot

‘I had written just one word – there was not space for more. I had written only ‘hope’‘
– Hope Never Knew Horizon

[ About Hope Never Knew Horizon]

Wexford County, 1891. The unlikely discovery of a beached blue whale sets in motion a series of events leading to the present-day re-installation of a fundamental piece of the Natural History Museum.

Amherst, circa. 1850. Margaret O’Brien, domestic help for the Dickinson family, finds a letter revealing an intimate secret between the reclusive Miss Emily and her brother’s fiancé Susan Huntington.

London, circa. 1880. A young working-class woman named Ada Alice Pullen meets the esteemed painter Frederic Leighton, beginning a relationship that will transform her and the world of art forever.

Three cultural objects associated with hope, their stories told from the perspective of those marginalised from history: the model, the maid, and the coxswain’s girlfriend.

[ My Review ]

Hope Never Knew Horizon by Douglas Bruton published April 30th 2024 with Taproot Press and is described as an ‘original and inventive‘ novel. I was not familiar with the work of Douglas Bruton but, when the offer of a copy for review came my way I was intrigued, so I immersed myself in it over the recent bank holiday weekend and slowly savoured every word.

“Douglas Bruton is an original talent. On one level Hope Never Knew Horizon is a novel about love, art and that most powerful force that drives us – hope. On another level it is about history, and how often the most significant individuals are marginalised within the world of art and culture. Bruton is a novelist of sensitivity and intellect with a fine attunement to voice, and we can’t wait to bring this book to life.”
– Co-founder of Taproot Press, Patrick Jamieson (The Bookseller Sept 2023)

Extraordinary and exquisite are two words I would use to describe Hope Never Knew Horizon. At less than 200 pages, this is a compact novel that surpassed all my expectations. Douglas Bruton states that it is a work of fiction, ‘an acceptable truth‘. He has taken liberties with some of the writing and the handling of certain historical events, speculating and creating alternative possibilities and he does it with finesse and artistry.

Hope Never Knew Horizon is really three short stories told in alternating chapters, as each one progresses through time. I found myself online exploring three historical events as I investigated The Wexford Whale, Emily Dickenson and Ada Alice Pullen. The cover of the book is especially worth noting and was designed by Anna Morrison. On completion of the novel, the different elements of the cover will make perfect sense to all readers.

Capturing three wondrous stories set in the late 1800s, Bruton writes with one of the most evocative pens, bringing his characters very much to life. There is a beauty to his words, an almost ethereal quality to many of the scenes depicted. The central point of all three stories is the idea of ‘hope’, with this ideology interwoven throughout bringing lightness in times of despair. Possibly one of the most quotable books I think I’ve ever read, Hope Never Knew Horizon is an absolute joy to read, a real piece of literary magic not to be missed.

‘When we were in the dark days of lockdown and the future looked so bleak, I woke up one morning and I had the thought that I wanted to write something with ‘hope’ in it. Not something about the pandemic exactly but something that explored what hope could be. Something positive. Then, as though I had put a call out to the universe, stories of hope presented themselves to me. There are three threads to my book: the first explores the finding of a stranded whale off the coast of Ireland which ultimately became the blue whale skeleton that hangs in the Natural History Museum and it has now been named Hope; the second thread involves Emily Dickinson, the American poet, and her hopes for love and publication of her poetry; and the final thread involves a painting that hangs in Tate Britain called ‘Hope’ and the woman who modelled for the painting.’
– Douglas Bruton

*Thank you to Douglas Bruton for a copy of Hope Never Knew Horizon in exchange for my honest review

[ Bio ]

Douglas Bruton has had short stories placed in various publications including ‘Northwords Now’, ‘New Writing Scotland’, ‘Aesthetica’ and ‘The Irish Literary Review’. His short stories have also won competitions including with ‘Fish’ and ‘The Neil Gunn Prize’. His children’s novel The Chess Piece Magician was published by Floris Books (2009); his literary fiction debut, Mrs Winchester’s Gun Club, was published by Scotland Street Press (2019); and Blue Postcards, longlisted for the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction 2022, was published by Fairlight Books (2021); With or Without Angels was also published by Fairlight Books (2023). A novella about the death of Dylan Thomas called Just Like Him To Die was published by Leamington Books (2022). Hope Never Knew Horizon published April 2024 with Taproot Press.