"The Ecliptic" by Benjamin Wood is set in an artists' colony on an island off the coast of Istanbul, where the arrival of a new resident shakes up the rules and routines of the community. Through flashbacks, we learn about one of the resident painter's once brilliant career and London's 1960 art scene. Moving back and forth in time, the novel is a captivating read with unexpected plot twists simultaneously offering a psychologically accurate exploration of how creativity works (and fails to), the role of artists' sincerity and the meaning of "success" in a creative life.

On a forested island off the coast of Istanbul stands Portmantle, a refuge for beleaguered artists. There, a curious assembly of painters, architects, writers and musicians strive to restore their faded talents. Elspeth 'Knell' Conroy is a celebrated painter who has fled the dizzying art scene of 1960s London; on the island, she spends her nights wrestling with her elusive masterpiece. Then a disaffected teenager named Fullerton arrives at the refuge and disrupts its routines. He is plagued by nightmares that steer him into danger, and Knell is left to pick apart the chilling mystery: where did the boy come from, what is 'The Ecliptic', and how does it relate to their abandoned lives in England?

Shortlisted for the Sunday Times PFD Young Writer of the Year Award and the Encore Prize

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