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About the author and blogger ...

Anne Goodwin’s drive to understand what makes people tick led to a career in clinical psychology. That same curiosity now powers her fiction.
A prize-winning short-story writer, she has published three novels and a short story collection with small independent press, Inspired Quill. Her debut novel, Sugar and Snails, was shortlisted for the 2016 Polari First Book Prize.
Away from her desk, Anne guides book-loving walkers through the Derbyshire landscape that inspired Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre.
Subscribers to her newsletter can download a free e-book of award-winning short stories.

TELL ME MORE

Where religion, art and science coincide: In the Blink of an Eye by Ali Bacon

8/4/2018

12 Comments

 
In 1843, 400 ministers broke away from the Church of Scotland in protest at state interference in matters of faith. Known as the Disruption, the establishment of the Free Kirk was a momentous event that moved the renowned artist David Octavius Hill to celebrate in paint. With the aim of depicting everyone who played a part, his ambitious project took twenty years to complete, and might have taken longer but for the new art of photography, or less time had real life not intervened.

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A handsome widower devoted to his young daughter, Hill was not short of admirers, but he was equally devoted to his art. In collaboration with Robert Adamson, an early adopter of photography (or calotypy as it was then), he set out to capture the likeness of the 400 ministers, and several others, “in the blink of an eye” or in minutes rather than the hours sitting for a sketch would require. He then had the task of translating the images into paint, placing the individuals on the canvas to create a visual record of the community event.
 
In a similar manner, Ali Bacon’s individual stories build, chapter by chapter, an absorbing fictionalised overview of a point in history where religion, art and science coincide. The voice – or voices – perfectly evokes both time and place, the style reminiscent of Victorian novels (although
without the boring bits) and with a smattering of dialect to delight (who couldn’t love the word hirple?) without interrupting the reading process. Clearly meticulously researched, in both character (only two of whom are entirely fictional) and practicalities, this is filtered lightly through the narrative; even when illustrating the mechanics of producing a calotype, research always comes secondary to story. And a very human story it is, with births, deaths and marriages across the twenty years between the commissioning of the painting and its unveiling. While Hill and Adamson are the prime movers, the female voice predominates in the novel, introducing us to several strong women, some artists in their own right, from Lady Eastlake (an art critic who published a scathing early review of Jane Eyre) to a Newhaven fishwife.
 
Having neither a strong interest in photography nor an intimate acquaintance with Edinburgh, I’d have been unlikely to pick up this novel if I didn’t have a connection with the author in cyberspace. Always nervous about committing to review the work of someone I know, the authorial confidence and control, and passion for her subject, soon blew my anxieties away. Although the inevitable profusion of characters had me checking back to the cast list, that was only a minor irritation in the context of extremely accomplished novel.
 
In reimagining the advent of a process we now take for granted, In the Blink of an Eye is reminiscent of
Guttenberg's Apprentice. Published by Linen Press, you can find out more about the background to this novel on Ali Bacon’s website. For another novel about a photographer at a crossroads, see this review.

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I considered pairing this review with that of another novel linking art and Christianity but, fifty pages in, it’s heading to be a rare DNF (did not finish). But the latest Carrot Ranch Flash Fiction Challenge on the silliness that can take us over the sun comes out after a long winter fits well with Edinburgh’s dreich climate, prompting an historical 99-word story:

No laughing matter

“The sun’s out,” says Flora. “Let’s away!”

A threadbare shawl cloaks my shoulders. I’d been saving my coin for a new one, but this will suffice until November’s snow.

The queue snakes around the close, jigging and joshing as if at the Highland Games. Sobering as our turn approaches, as if for Kirk.

Mr Hill seats each individual, helps us adopt the most appealing pose. On checking the light, Mr Adamson dips beneath the camera hood. “Hold!”

I avert my gaze from Flora’s gurning. But when the calotype is printed, you can see the laughter leaching from my eyes.

Thanks for reading. I'd love to know what you think. If you've enjoyed this post, you might like to sign up via the sidebar for regular email updates and/or my quarterly Newsletter.
12 Comments
D. Avery link
8/4/2018 02:45:31 pm

Loved the line 'laughter leaching from my eyes'. It can not be contained.

Reply
Annecdotist
9/4/2018 09:58:34 am

Glad you liked it. If I’d had more words I would have liked to have contrasted the early days of photography with contemporary enthusiasm for selflies, often pulling contorted faces, with a young woman looking at a photo of one of her ancestors wondering why she looked so grim.

Reply
Anurag Bakhshi link
9/4/2018 05:27:05 am

Absolutely lovely last line.

Reply
Annecdotist
9/4/2018 09:59:47 am

Thanks, glad you liked it.

Reply
Derbhile Graham link
9/4/2018 08:36:29 am

That sounds like a really interesting collection. I love when stories take you outside of your comfort zone in terms of interest, only for you to discover that the subject matter is much more interesting than you envisage.

Reply
Annecdotist
9/4/2018 09:55:27 am

Totally agree, Derbhile. And for us as writers it supports the notion that we should follow our own interests rather than trying to read the market. If we can write well enough, and are enthusiastic about our material, we’ll pull readers along with us. (Or at least some of them)

Reply
Norah Colvin link
9/4/2018 10:43:34 am

That's an interesting piece of history of which I wasn't aware, Anne. Sounds like an interesting tale about a huge project by an artist to record it. Funny to think of the artist's project being recorded by another. The sun sillies certainly got to your character when Flora did her gurning. That's a few new words I learned from you this evening: hirtle, gurning and calotype, at least. Gurning is such a lovely word to describe pulling faces. I was told so many times in my youth to not pull faces, it surprises me I hadn't encountered this word somewhere along the line. Wonderful flash as usual. It had me smiling at the thought of such silliness.

Reply
Annecdotist
9/4/2018 11:06:16 am

Gurning is the only word I can take credit for teaching you, Norah. I’m not sure how widely spread its usage is or if it’s solely Cumbrian dialect. In Egremont, near where I grew up, at the annual Crab Fair (which is about apples of course rather than crabs) the World Gurning Championships. The competition is pretty tough:
http://www.egremontcrabfair.com/

Reply
Charli Mills
9/4/2018 05:40:04 pm

Anne, I appreciate your introduction to Ali Bacon's work. I looked over her website and was delighted to see that she performs her writing as well and has some great festivals in line. I used to love reading fiction about Scotland and my favorite authors were those who used the dialect effortlessly. I loved your flash's inclusion of kirk, jigging and gurning. A great nod to Ali's book through the fictional lens of two friends seeking something to do on a sunny day.

Reply
Annecdotist
10/4/2018 03:13:44 pm

Thanks, Charli, I’m glad you popped over to Ali Bacon’s website. I think she is in a good position regarding events because of the historical knowledge she’s acquired plus the fiction angle. As you are too.
Even though there’s a lot of overlap between Scots dialect and northern English, I sometimes struggle with books in dialect, but I love it when there are just a few words here and there, whether I recognise them or not, as in this novel.

Reply
Irene Waters link
11/4/2018 05:41:39 am

I have added in the blink of an eye to my list. I'm sure I will find it interesting as it is part of my heritage and I have a love of photography. Although my family didn't break away I moved to a town where the only church was Free Presbyterian (although I think that broke from the free church of Scotland). I don't know that there are too many in australia.
I too loved the last line of your flash.

Reply
Annecdotist
11/4/2018 10:06:16 am

You should enjoy this then, Irene.
I didn’t know much about the Free Church apart from that, until fairly recently, they wouldn’t permit the ferries to run between some of the Scottish islands on a Sunday. So it was interesting to discover its origins were much more liberal.

Reply



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