Landscapes (Hardcover)
Staff Reviews
"Set in the near future in England at a crumbling manor where Penelope is archiving what she can before the manor is demolished. Her archival writing is interspersed throughout the book. They also allow climate refugees to stay in the manor as long as they need to. This book fits into the climate fiction category, but I would read this again just for the way it is beautifully written. I kept stopping and reading passages out loud to whomever was nearby. I hope she writes another book so I can enjoy more of her lush, poetic prose."--Reviewed by Percy
* An October 2023 ABA "Indie Next List" Pick.
* A Publishers Weekly's "Writers to Watch" (Fall 2023)
An entrancing and prismatic debut novel by Christine Lai, set in a near future fraught with ecological collapse, Landscapes brilliantly explores 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, and she clings 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 pastoral and the country house novel for our age of catastrophe, and announces the arrival of an extraordinarily gifted new writer.
Additional reading:
Necessary Fiction presents "Research Notes" by Landscapes author Christine Lai (September 15, 2023): The Research Notes series invites authors to describe their process for a recent book, with "research" defined as broadly as they like.
Read an excerpt:
Electric Literature presents "An Archivist for the End of the World," an excerpt from Landscapes by Christine Lai, recommended by Ayşeg l Savaş.
Interviews:
Interview Magazine: Christine Lai Sep 13, 2023
Amanda Paige Inman, for Interview Magazine, spoke with author Christine Lai about her debut novel, Landscapes, the challenges of writing certain characters, ruins, diaries, missed connections, the joys of collecting, Lai's enduring fascination with country houses, and so much more.
Write or Die Magazine: Christine Lai Sep 12, 2023
For Write or Die Magazine, Nirica Srinivasan spoke with author Christine Lai about the seed for the story of her debut novel, Landscapes, how she settled on the unique structure of the book, background behind the novel's many references, art, objects, violence, the ruinous, future setting, and much, much more.
Publishers Weekly: Writers to Watch, Fall 2023 Jun 30, 2023
Matt Seidel, for Publishers Weekly, spoke with Christine Lai, author of the debut novel Landscapes--included as one of "this season's crop of promising debut fiction offering] timeless human dramas from fresh perspectives"--about how her novel came to be written, her inspirations, and more
Q&A with Christine Lai Dec 12, 2022
Eric Obenauf, editorial director of Two Dollar Radio, talked with Christine Lai about her debut novel Landscapes: "The role of the writer is not unlike that of the archivist, bringing together images and ideas, saving them from dispersal and placing them into a collection that lends them meaning." We hope you enjoy this fascinating interview