Death and the Seaside

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By Alison Moore

Publisher Description

Print run 5000

Co-op available

Advance reader copies at Winter Institute

North American TV & radio campaign: NPR Fresh Air, Weekend Edition, All Things Considered

National print campaign: Booklist, Foreword, Kirkus, Library Journal, Publishers Weekly, Shelf Awareness; Boston Globe, Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Minneapolis Star Tribune, New Yorker, New York Times, New York Times Book Review, San Francisco Chronicle, Seattle Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post; The Atlantic, The Believer, Bookforum, Elle, Glamour, Harper’s, Los Angeles Review of Books, Marie Clare, Ms., O Magazine, Time, Vogue

Online and social media campaign: pitch reviews and interviews to Book Riot, Brooklyn Rail, Bustle, Electric Literature, Flavorwire, Jezebel, Largehearted Boy, Lit Hub, New Yorker Book Bench, New York Review of Books, NPR.org, NPR Books, Quarterly Conversation, Slate, Salon, Vol. 1 Brooklyn. GIveaways through Edelweiss, Facebook, Goodreads, Twitter, Instagram.

E-book available same date as print edition, e-book ISBN included on press materials and websites and promoted via social media

Excerpts in Lit Hub, Electric Lit

Promotion through author’s website: http://www.alison-moore.com/

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8 Reviews

3.5

BookReviews Cafe

Created 11 months ago

““Death and the Seaside” by Alison Moore is a haunting and multilayered novel that defies easy categorization. In this review, I’ll delve into the book’s ominous atmosphere, its exploration of mortality, and the strikingly ambitious narrative. Bonnie Falls, nearing 30 and with an abandoned English literature degree, moves into a shabby ground-floor conversion. Her new home is filled with evocative remnants of former inhabitants—a locked door leading to the other half of the house, an understairs cupboard with dusty baby blankets, LPs without a player. As Bonnie works two cleaning jobs to cover her rent, she grapples with loneliness, existential questions, and the mundane realities of life. In Alison Moore's "Death and the Seaside," character development is masterfully executed to enhance the novel's haunting and multilayered quality. Bonnie Falls, the protagonist nearing 30 with an abandoned English literature degree and few friends, is portrayed with complexity, evoking feelings of loneliness and vulnerability. Moore gradually reveals Bonnie's inner struggles and existential questions, allowing readers to empathize with her journey of self-discovery. The relationship with Sylvia Slythe, Bonnie's landlady who encourages her writing and offers insights while subtly manipulating her, serves as a catalyst for Bonnie's growth, mirroring the novel's thematic depth. Moore masterfully sets the tone. The seaside resort, with its mid-20th-century connotations of promenades and ice creams, becomes an effective antidote to high art. The novel’s bleak, unheimlich atmosphere mirrors Bonnie’s inner turmoil.Moore anchors her novel in complex themes: consciousness, narrative, and reality. The seaside setting juxtaposes mundane descriptions with profound questions about existence. Bonnie, the maiden in question, grapples with her own mortality.The novel’s title alludes to Franz Schubert’s “Death and the Maiden,” but Moore grounds it in everyday life. Moore never gives herself airs. Her novel is ambitious, yet it remains accessible. The author’s talent lies in banalizing high art, making it relatable and unsettling. Death and the Seaside reaches deep into the reader’s psyche. It’s more than a thriller; it’s a meditation on existence. Moore’s prose is precise, her observations keen. The novel repays careful rereading. Bonnie embodies the maiden archetype, symbolizing change and exploration as she moves to the seaside and unlocks evocative remnants, reflecting her personal journey. Moore intertwines Bonnie's life with the narrative of her story about another aimless woman, creating a parallel that allows for self-reflection and subtle character mirroring, all within a backdrop of unsettling familiarity conveyed through mundane details of Bonnie's rented flat and its cast-offs. In summary, Death and the Seaside is a psychologically astute exploration of power, control, and influence. Moore’s deft narrative invites readers to confront mortality within the context of the modern world. Clever and disturbing, this novel lingers long after the last page”

Kevin

Created over 1 year ago

Michelle

Created over 2 years ago

Jay Hinman

Created almost 4 years ago

Penny_Literary Hoarders

Created about 5 years ago

“Alison Moore is fantastic with her ability to make you feel uneasy, unsettled and disturbed when reading her stories. I love it! Death on the Seaside wasn't as great for me as The Lighthouse or her short stories, The Pre-War House and Other Stories, but for sure her endings are something that keep playing over in your head. Death and the Seaside's ending is no different. This sometimes reminded me of Lynn Coady's Watching You Without Me in how Bonnie's landlady so easily is taken into Bonnie's life. Anyway, this one was okay, the two above I mention remain my favourites by Moore.”

About Alison Moore

Alison Moore's first novel, The Lighthouse, was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and the National Book Awards, winning the McKitterick Prize. Both The Lighthouse and her second novel, He Wants, were Observer Books of the Year. Her most recent novel is Death and the Seaside. Her short fiction has been included in Best British Short Stories and Best British Horror anthologies and broadcast on BBC Radio. The title story of her debut collection, The Pre-War House and Other Stories, won a novella prize. Her first children’s book, Sunny and the Ghosts, will be published in the UK in 2018. www.alison-moore.com