Books by Alison Moore

by Alison Moore
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5 books
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The Lighthouse

Alison Moore, 2017
Futh, middle-aged and raw from the break-up of his marriage, is embarking on a restorative walking holiday in Germany. He spends his first night at the Hellhaus Hotel, where he encounters Ester and her volatile husband, Bernard, who treats him with inexplicable hostility. Futh sets out on a week-long walk along the Rhine, contemplating his boyhood abandonment by his mother as well as his relationship with his now-estranged wife. Returning to Hellhaus, he is oblivious to the potentially devastating consequences of the things he has done and the things he has not done, of his actions and his inaction, and is unprepared for what awaits him.

He Wants

Alison Moore, 2016
Lewis Sullivan, an RE teacher at a secondary school, was approaching retirement when he wondered for the first time whether he ought to have chosen a more dramatic career. He lives in a village in the Midlands, less than a mile from the house in which he grew up. He always imagined living by the sea. His grown-up daughter visits every day, bringing soup. He does not want soup. He frequents his second-favourite pub, where he can get half a shandy, a speciality sausage and a bit of company. But when a childhood friend appears on the scene, Lewis finds his life and comfortable routine shaken up.

Death and the Seaside

Alison Moore, 2019
With an abandoned degree behind her and a thirtieth birthday approaching, amateur writer Bonnie Falls moves out of her parents’ home into a nearby flat. Her landlady, Sylvia Slythe, takes an interest in Bonnie, encouraging her to finish one of her stories, in which a young woman moves to the seaside, where she comes under strange influences. As summer approaches, Sylvia suggests to Bonnie that, as neither of them has anyone else to go on holiday with, they should go away together – to the seaside, perhaps.

Missing

Alison Moore, 2018
Following a family tragedy, Jessie Noon moved from the Fens to the Midlands to the Scottish Borders, where she lives with a cat, a dog and – she is convinced – a ghost in the spare room. Her husband walked out almost a year ago, leaving a note written in steam on the bathroom mirror, and Jessie hasn’t seen her son for years. When Jessie meets Robert, a local outreach worker, they are drawn to one another and begin a relationship; meanwhile, Jessie has begun receiving messages telling her I’m on my way home. As a translator, Jessie worries over what seems like the terrible responsibility of choosing the right words. It isn’t exactly a matter of life and death, said her husband, but Jessie knows otherwise. This is a novel about communication and miscommunication and lives hanging in the balance (a child going missing, a boy in a coma, an unborn baby), occupying the fine line between life and death, between existing and not existing.

The Retreat

Alison Moore, 2021
Since childhood, Sandra Peters has been fascinated by the small, private island of Lieloh, home to the reclusive silent-film star Valerie Swanson. Having dreamed of going to art college, Sandra is now in her forties and working as a receptionist, but she still harbours artistic ambitions. When she sees an advert for a two-week artists’ retreat on Lieloh, Sandra sets out on what might be a life-changing journey.