Shining Beacon

Francesca Saxon, artist and loyal citizen of the nation, is thrilled when she receives a commission to design the central mural of an epic new swimming pool: the jewel in the crown for an insecure regime obsessed by propaganda. Leaving the comfort of her coastal hometown for the lap of luxury of the capital, she is swept up in the paranoia of a government threatened by underground revolutionaries, whose promise of a freer, happier future looks increasingly appealing. Torn between rival factions and her personal loyalties, she realizes that when ideology has a stranglehold on art, the picture is rarely pretty. Advance solicited for April release! "James Albon's delicate and utterly unique artwork is so alive on the page, you can help but be charmed and completely swept up."-Jeff Lemire, author of Essex County and The Underwater Welder