Guest Review: Catching The Light
Joanna Horton's second novel, recommended by Darby Jones
We’re matchmaking with some of Cursive Knives’ regular readers to sprinkle in some reviews of new and upcoming fiction to add to your TBRs. Next in our guest reviews, bookseller Darby Jones is reading Joanna Horton’s Catching The Light.
Catching the Light is the second novel from local talent Joanna Horton. It follows mother and daughter protagonists – Sylvie and Alice – before, during and after a decision that alters the course of their lives.
Sylvie is a young single mother and visual artist who yearns for an unconventional life devoted to beauty and the pursuit of her passions. In the opening scenes of the novel, she meets a charismatic artist named Michael. Michael invites her and her Alice to visit his artists colony, ‘Isaiah’, and it isn’t long before Sylvie decides to stay.
The story is divided across two alternating timelines. Horton guides the reader through both Sylvie and Alice’s lives at Isaiah, as well as the aftermath of their time there. In the later timeline, Sylvie’s daughter Alice is contacted by a woman writing a retrospective of Michael’s life and work, prompting Alice to reflect on this period of her life she thought she’d left behind.
In these ways, the novel grapples with questions pertaining to memory. What do we owe to our past selves? What becomes of the people and places we leave behind? Catching the Light questions how memory shapes us, how it fails us, as well as how it creates, preserves and distorts meaning.
In addition to memory, Horton also ponders the consequences of a life dedicated to art – specifically whether the discipline and ambition art demands is inherently isolating. Isaiah is a place where artists can live communally, but despite this it seems that many of the residents feel lonely and misunderstood.
Michael begins losing confidence in his work, and this invokes tension in the commune. This tension is further magnified in the wake of a controversial creative decision Michael makes – one that sends ripples across the spaces and times the protagonists inhabit, forcing them to question the ethics of representation, power, consent and authorship.
Catching the Light is a stirring exploration of the purpose of art in a time of compounding crises and the ethical implications we face when we create and consume.
Darby Jones is a writer and editor based in Meanjin Brisbane. He’s the newest member of the Cursive Knives team - pop by on a Thursday or Friday to catch him.
Interested in being one of our reader reviewers? Say hi next time you’re in the shop!