An exciting debut from this author. A family drama unfolds across three generations and spanning two continents. Moving and sometimes unsettling but a fantastic insight in to the mother-daughter bond, this will keep you gripped from beginning to end.
One day in 1973, a woman mysteriously vanishes from a family picnic in Toronto and the multilayered narrative of The Picnic explores the effect this has on her daughter and granddaughter who return home to Scotland without her. Crossing three generations, bridging two continents and spanning over twenty years, The Picnic is an intriguing novel that tackles issues of female identity, exile and belonging and the conflict between sexual desire and family loyalty from an entirely fresh perspective. Lesley McDowell’s lively and rhythmic prose and well-observed characters make this a joy to read. Thoughtful, beautiful, tender and, at times, unsettling, The Picnic hails the arrival of a brilliant new literary talent.
“ A beautifully written and utterly compelling debut novel†– Emma Tennant
Author
About Lesley Mcdowell
Lesley McDowell was an academic in the Department of English at the University of St Andrews from 1995–97. Since then, she has worked as a freelance critic, writing for The Times Literary Supplement, The Independent on Sunday, The Sunday Herald and The Scotsman.