Available now - The End of the Yellow House

Watermark Press is delighted to announce that our very first title, The End of The Yellow House, is now available.

Blending historical fiction, a murder mystery, and hints of the fantastical and surreal, The End of the Yellow House is a unique piece of work, and we’re tremendously proud to have it as our first release.

The book is set in Central Russia in 1919, in a sanatorium cut off by the chaos of the Russian civil war. There, the murder of the chief doctor sets in motion a nightmarish series of events involving mysterious experiments, the secret police, the Tsar’s double, an enigmatic ‘visitor’, giant corpses, possessed cats, sorcery, and the overwhelming madness of war, all told in a terrifically engaging, page-turning manner.

Alan Bilton is the author of two previous novels, The Sleepwalker’s Ball and The Known and Unknown Sea, as well as a collection of dreamlike short stories, Anywhere Out of the World, and books on silent film, contemporary fiction, and the 1920s. His voice is wonderfully quirky and distinctive, and we firmly believe that The End of the Yellow House is his most accomplished and ambitious book yet.

Early Reviews

A bold and confident novel that throws us into the deep end of post-revolutionary Russian life with fervour and wit. There are knowing nods to Gogol and Bulgakov but the voice is entirely original, with a gem of a phrase on every page. I love the quizzical, querulous, dry voice and it’s a satisfying whilst sometimes disorientating experience... the characters are larger than life, but the mud is real. Alan Bilton has a real talent for the unexpected left-hand turn, with lines that turn on a sixpence and surreal narrative twists. It reads like a very modern translation of a 19th century Russian classic – if that sounds like your kind of thing, you will love this book. - Mark Blayney

 A brutal, but often witty and tender tale, The End of the Yellow House is a twistedly brilliant emotional rollercoaster. In experiencing its expansive vistas and claustrophobic tunnels, we learn to distrust the vibrant characters here, as well as the very landscape which they inhabit. A delicious mystery on every page. – David Towsey

Genre: Literary Fiction, Historical Fiction, Magic Realism, Surrealism.