Description
Caught within the eddy of a drab retirement, Lewis Sullivan lives less than a mile from his childhood home. He spends his days anticipating visits from his grown daughter. Evenings are spent at his second favourite pub. But when an old friend reappears, Lewis finds this routine shaken — leading him to question his life of comfortable habit, bereft of impulse, excitement, and freedom. A modern-day Death in Venice by the author of the Booker-shortlisted The Lighthouse, He Wants is charged and unpredictable.
PRAISE FOR HE WANTS
“[Moore’s] playfulness and the sympathetic and surprising character of Lewis make this artful novel a delightful read.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review
“Following her Booker-shortlisted The Lighthouse, Alison Moore’s artistically pleasing second novel is … a story of ageing and thwarted desire in which a man drifts away from his moorings into Dionysian impulses, after a lifetime spent serving the values of the humdrum contemporary community in which he lives …”—Rachel Cusk, The Guardian
“A nuanced, haunting tale of desire and repressed longing, and a very creditable successor to her quietly stellar debut, The Lighthouse.”—James Kidd, The Independent
“Moore movingly mines the aching gap between aspiration and actuality.”—Anita Sethi, The Observer
“The quietness of this novel will make you prick up your ears; this is storytelling that invites and sustains careful attention. [Suffused] with an elusive sadness … the novel’s conclusion both satisfies and bewilders.”—Heather Birrell, Toronto Star
“An exercise in withholding and revelation … the climax is perfectly, subtly performed, and beautifully written. DH Lawrence fans in particular should take note.”—Kerry Clare, Pickle Me This
“Extraordinary, unique, compelling, and deftly crafted from beginning to end.”—Midwest Book Review
PRAISE FOR THE LIGHTHOUSE
“The Lighthouse looks simple but isn’t, refusing to unscramble what seems a bleak moral about the hazards of reproduction, in the widest sense.”—Anthony Cummins, The Guardian
“Moore’s writing has a superb sense of the weight of memory.”—Kate Saunders, The Times
“Though sparely told, the novel’s simple-seeming narrative has the density of far longer work. People and places are intricately evoked with a forensic feel for mood.”—The Daily Mail
