Jackdaw (novel)

Jackdaw is a literary novella by UK author Tade Thompson. It was published in 2022 by Cheerio Publishing.

Jackdaw is a metafiction account, written by a fictional version of the author himself, who receives a commission to write a book inspired by the work of the Irish painter Francis Bacon. During the execution of this unexpectedly challenging commission, Thompson, who is attempting to enter the mind of the artist by suppressing his own personality, first develops a sexual fixation with Henrietta Moraes, one of Bacon's models, has a number of alarming encounters with the ghost of Bacon's nanny; seeks release in sexual experimentation, and experiences what may be a mental breakdown. While he attempts to keep up a pretence of normality for the sake of his family, a bizarre alien flesh-sculpture appears in Thompson's attic study, reflecting both his own deteriorating state of mind and his possession by Bacon's influence.

When Thompson finally suffers a complete breakdown and is committed to a mental health institution, his obsession is found to be linked to a frontal lobe injury, which doctors assure him is curable.

Reception

Lisa Tuttle, writing for The Guardian, described Jackdaw as: "A wild, darkly comic nightmare set on the borderlines of creativity, imagination and madness." The Daily Mail said: "The sheer unpredictability of the narrative is sustained by the easy-reading clarity of Thompson’s voice, wholly disarming as it toys gleefully with the book’s autobiographical overlap." The Financial Times says: "Jackdaw is an original and compelling account of a writer so desperate not to short-change his subject that he descends into a cycle of degradation and madness."