John Burnside name checks Thomas More's Utopia and News From Nowhere by William Morris and his novella is certainly inspired by these two great pillars of Utopian writing. Told from the point of view of the 'outsider' (from his own dystopian past) looking into an isolated community is not a new concept, but what Burnside does cleverly is having his narrator locked in quarantine, reading about it. This allows a meditative, patient quality to his writing- we wait with him, we discover the story. This creates an intimacy with the reader, we are not propelled into the busy working village life, though we sense it 'out there'. We learn of its inhabitants and past through their archive of letters and texts and The Watcher whom he meets on 'arrival'. His creation of Havergey is sensitive and sensual and is the real focus of the story, which I greatly enjoyed, as he writes at the beginning of the book, "Though it does not exist on any maps that have yet been drawn up, Havergey is, nonetheless, as real as any place and a good deal more real than some." Though it stands alone as a story, I hope John Burnside returns to his island utopia and writes a full novel around it.