Metronome: The 'unputdownable' BBC Two Between the Covers Book Club Pick

Product Information

These are dispensed via an automated “pill clock”, activated by the thumb print of the designated user, keeping the miscreants effectively tethered to their place of exile. Art features heavily in the novel, sparked by the arrival of three Anthony Gormley sculptures at the UAE, which planted the seed in Watson’s mind, demonstrating a very organic and holistic process.

I also felt like I still needed to know more, the book finishes with an ambiguous ending that I wasn’t keen on and I did feel that the last part of the story was rather rushed. The specific episode discussing the book has not yet aired as of mid-May 2022, (NOTE: These are only available for listening in the United Kingdom) but you can watch for it in the list of Between the Covers episodes here.It is mysterious, intriguing, has more than a hint of the dystopian and examines the very depth of humanity which ticks a lot of boxes. I enjoyed the story and was really intrigued with it although I would have liked a little more world building to tell me about the world outside the island.

Things take an unexpected turn toward the end and the reader is left with a sense of both sorrow and hopeful joy. In the way Gormley chose those precise positions and locations at the University – what does that tell us – Watson as a verbal artist, places his characters where he chooses. Katherine Mansfield also combines the senses and elements in her ‘Voices Of The Air’ poem using air, sound, sea, wind and music, ‘sighs’, ‘double notes’ and double basses, that appear in ‘rare’ moments.

The descriptions of the island were very atmospheric and detailed to the point that I found myself dreaming I was on the island! For a novel depicting twelve years’ isolation for two people on an island, it can read like a veritable a-z of underlying themes such as: adversity, attraction, challenge, climate change, communication, companionship, construction, control, death, destruction, determination, distraction, distance, equality, existence, family, fear, health, human hunger, intimacy, lies, love, oppression, pleasure, pressure, rebellion, relationships, revenge, sacrifice, safety, scams, secrets, solitude, synchronicity, time, etc.

His debut novel, Metronome, was shortlisted for the Bridport Prize, and his short fiction has been shortlisted for the Bristol Short Story Prize and awarded runner-up for the Seán Ó Faoláin Prize. It takes some time before we learn what crime Aina and Whitney are guilty of, and when we realise, we see the horror that the world has become, it's so clever and so compelling, and nothing is as expected. Stylish and thoughtful … The eerie claustrophobia of the setting will stay with the reader for a long while. They live simply on a croft and hope that, 12 years after they were exiled, they might soon be up for parole.

The festive holidays are the perfect time to escape the cold, cosy up with a hot drink and lose yourself in a new book. Also the idea that people would wait 12 years before doing something further about their situation is also unbelievable. I wonder if they’ve met, as there’s evidence of this in Watson’s multi-layered work; ‘fat, cold drops’ for rain, and “waves come as murmurs. I have fully crafted a 3d Revolving island in my head where I can see characters arriving and living on the island. I don't enjoy when a book relies on flashbacks to tell the story; I feel like if the story is good enough a chronological approach is just fine, but I realise this is a personal nit-pick.