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Dark Vision
Dark Vision
Jul 11, 2025 10:22 PM

Author:Debbie Johnson

Dark Vision

Lily McCain is cursed.

With just one touch she can see a person’s future, whether it’s a good fortune or a terrible fate. Afraid of the potent visions she foresees, she distances herself from the world, succumbing to a life of solitude.

But at the touch of a mysterious stranger – who has powers of his own – Lily sees a new, chilling future for herself: one where she is fated to make a terrible choice...

A Daily Express magazine 'Must Read!'

Debbie Johnson is also winner of the Best Short Romance for Pippa's Cornish Dream at the Love Stories Awards 2015.

Reviews

A sizzling debut about goddesses, vampires and rock 'n' roll, you'll love Debbie Johnson's sassy page-turner.

—— Jane Costello

If future instalments build on the strength of this debut, they’ll be ones to look out for.

—— Starburst magazine

A sassy and often very funny fantasy romp, lifted above the mass by the wit of protagonist Lily and her best friend, the fabulously ballsy Carmel… Clever and full of sharp wisecracks … a deftly told entertainment that shows there is certainly room in the world for a Liverpudlian Charlaine Harris.

—— The Guardian

very Mortal Instruments, very Secret CIrcle ... Yet, there is a little something extra to be found in Dark Vision ... she has the insight to blend in the right amount of otherwordly action, humour, Irish folklore and the magnificent setting of Liverpool

—— Sci-Fi Now

Eve is a fascinating, plausible creation, both alluring and monstrous in her all-consuming self-regard.

—— Metro

[A] pacy tale of marital breakdown on the London art scene… Eve is an engagingly spiky anti-heroine.

—— Anthony Cummins , Daily Mail

Annalena McAfee brings a woman’s art to such vivid life that the reader is drawn thrillingly into its creation. Art is no mere device in this novel, it is its beating heart. A lush and original novel.

—— Polly Clark

Beautifully written, engrossing and provides insights into both the contemporary art scene and the individual artistic process. I loved each and every brushstroke

—— Ian Rankin , Guardian, *Summer Reads of 2021*

With this rich composition, Evaristo deserves a toast

—— Literary Review

Masterful... A choral love song to black womanhood in modern Great Britain

—— Elle

'Girl, Woman, Other is about struggle, but it is also about love, joy and imagination.

—— Guardian

Threads together the diverse life stories of 12 black British women in ways that deliberately resist categorisation

—— Metro

Such a satisfying read, funny and true, the characters are so real you feel you know them already

—— Miranda Sawyer via Twitter

A warm, humorous and ambitious novel, and one that is enjoyably playful in style. It is both a product of its time and unlike any book ever written about Britain

—— Economist

My favorite book of 2019 . . . the most absorbing book I read all year. This novel is a master class in storytelling. It is absolutely unforgettable. When I turned the final page, I felt the ache of having to leave the world Evaristo created but I also felt the excitement of getting to read the book all over again. It should have won the Booker alone. It deserves all the awards and then some.

—— Roxanne Gay

'Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo is the best book in recent years to have embodied the idea that there are as many ways to be joyful as there are to be Black. Polyphonic and nuanced, it celebrates the lives of Black British women rather than commiserating with them, which is a crucial - and rare - distinction.'

—— Sara Collins

Powerful… unsettling… humorous and full of sharply observed vignettes.

—— Independent

The Bass Rock is a gripping, moving insight into the age-old issue of toxic masculinity and the sixth sense that women have evolved to keep them safe.

—— Stephen McGinty , Sunday Times

Evie Wyld’s powerful new novel…[is] a feminine counterforce to the masculine violence that pulses viscerally throughout… No wonder Wyld’s rage erupts from the page as she bears witness to the women who fail to survive and searches for ways that others might.

—— Emily Rhodes , Spectator

Evie Wyld is one of our most exciting young writers and her latest book is being touted as her breakthrough. An epic novel.

—— Metro

Evie Wyld…[is] one of our most distinctive and vital voices.

—— Stephanie Cross , Daily Mail, *Books to Look Our For in 2020*

Wyld is the most stupendous of writers, daring, heartfelt, explosive. The Bass Rock reminds us of all her power and brilliance, it thrums with an anger it is impossible not to feel.

—— Daisy Johnson

The Bass Rock is a multi-generational modern gothic triumph. It is spectacularly well-observed, profoundly disquieting and utterly riveting. Like all Evie Wyld's work it is startlingly insightful about psychological and physical abuse. It is a haunting, masterful novel.

—— Max Porter

A brutal portrait of male violence, as unchanging down the centuries as the coastal rock of the title… Cleverly constructed, full of electric scene-making, and harnessing an eerie energythe novel ends in hope.

—— Anthony Cummins , i

Everything [Evie Wyld] has published has left me excited and slightly (very) envious of her ability… And then came The Bass RockSomething extremely special… The book takes on an immense power. This is the best book of the #MeToo eraAn absolute blinder.

—— Fran Slater , Bookmunch

Vividly told and compellingThe Bass Rock isbeautifully written and powered by blistering force and righteous anger.

—— Alice O'Keefe , Bookseller

Evie Wyld is exceptionally good at the gruesome… Her bewitching third novelThe Bass Rock is beautifully written and its particular brand of macabre is all Evie Wyld’s own. The tension, foreboding and sense of inevitability are hard to shake off, even once the final page is turned. Its atmosphere is so powerful that you feel you need to go for a walk afterwards.

—— Cressida Connolly , Literary Review

A dark, gristly marvel of a novel. The Bass Rock held me in thrall from cover to cover. Evie Wyld is a gothic genius: her narrative of the violence inflicted on women throughout the centuries and the seething, female anger left in its wake left me with a deep sense of disquiet that will doubtless remain for years to come.

—— Hannah Kent

A fierce novel exploring the subjugation of – and violence against – women through the ages.

—— Hannah Beckerman , Observer

I savoured this wonderful novel; it is so extraordinarily clear-eyed and vivid, sharply disturbing yet deeply compassionate. What an amazing achievement.

—— Megan Hunter

Wonderfully subtle and magnificently savage.

—— Claire Fuller

Evie Wyld's vivid, visceral writing has long been in a class of its own – and as beautiful as it is terrifying, as moral as it is furious, The Bass Rock is her at her unflinching best.

—— Melissa Harrison

Amazingly good. The Bass Rock will fill the air around you with angry ghosts and you will be glad in their company.

—— Adam Foulds

Wyld’s The Bass Rock is her third novel and best so farthis is Wyld’s masterpiece – as majestic and monumental as the landmark it’s named after.

—— Alex Preston , Observer, *Books to Look Our For in 2020*

A bewitching and atmospheric novel, laced with dread. It reveals the haunted house of society, with its echoes of damaged and extinguished lives, but is also illuminated by beautiful observation about people, and their capacity for both violence and empathy.

—— James Scudamore

I loved The Bass Rock and found it menacing, sophisticated, magical and also very funny – the best book yet by a wonderful writer.

—— Anjali Joseph

Evie Wyld’s The Bass Rock sounds fascinating… Wyld has a luminous prose style, and to see how she copes with 300 years and Scottish doubleness (or tripleness) is high on my list of “to reads”.

—— Stuart Kelly , Scotland on Sunday

Beautifully written, [The Bass Rock] is a reminder of female folklore and the power of giving words to women.

—— Stylist *10 glorious new books to buy this March*

Ambitious in scope… The physical atmosphere of the Bass Rock and its surroundings are wonderfully evoked… But it is the relationships between women in this tessellated work that triumph... I wholly recommend this book.

—— William Jolt , Tablet, *Novel of the Week*

Wyld is often praised for her lyrical prose, and The Bass Rock is most certainly a continuation of this form.

—— Julie Vuong , Skinny

[A] dark, beautiful and funny gothic family saga for the #MeToo generation… an atmospheric book that transports you within a few sentences… The tension is always building as the story takes on an otherworldly dimension.

—— Charlotte Cripps , Independent

The Bass Rock is complex, rich, challenging… Like David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas, The Bass Rock offers a universal history of subjugation and oppressionViolenceruns through the book like veins in marbleVivid and gripping.

—— Irish Times

A gripping look at three women's stories across four centuries.

—— Joanne Finney , Good Housekeeping

Evie Wyld’s passion for horror shines through in the setting of this novel.

—— Chiara Rimella , Monocle

Utterly enthralling… [Wyld’s] eye for human foibles and idiosyncrasy is incredibly sharp, and this novel once again exhibits her bravura way with narrative structure… Dark, disturbing and very sophisticated.

—— William Boyd , Sunday Times

[An] intensely absorbing gothic novel, which weaves together the fate of three women across three centuries. That it can also comfortably accommodate episodes of off-the-wall, Fleabag-esque hilarity confirms the acclaimed Wyld's brilliance.

—— Stephanie Cross , Daily Mail *Best of Summer Books*

Wyld's thought-provoking plots separate this book from many others on the shelves... Wyld's three narratives are artfully crafted to suit the shifting time frames.

—— Scottish Field

Wyld's ingeniously linked narratives weave a haunting tale of fear and defiance.

—— Jane Shilling , Daily Mail

A novel of such subtlety and hope

—— Ross Raisin, author of A NATURAL , Observer, *Summer Reads of 2022*
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