11/07/2025
Ali Bacon is back with another gripping biographical fiction, ‘In The Blink of an Eye’. Inspired by the life and photography of David Octavius Hill, this novel is a re-imagining of Hill’s life in the words of those who knew and sat for him creating a story of art, friendship, love and loss.
In 1843, Edinburgh artist, David Octavius Hill meets Robert Adamson from St Andrews and an iconic partnership is born. Hill is already a popular and charismatic figure in the art world. Adamson is a technical genius in the new science of photography. The magic they create with their camera soon makes them the darlings of society.
In this moving and original approach, Ali Bacon uncovers the human stories behind the Hill and Adamson partnership, focusing on the women whose narratives are woven into his: a young girl torn between her dreams and her family expectations; an architect’s wife imprisoned in a fairy-tale castle; a fisherwoman whose life changes in the blink of the camera’s eye. Hill emerges as a man of charm and integrity, conscientious and devout but also flirtatious. When tested by the ultimate personal tragedy, he is saved by the redeeming power of love.
This photo, taken by Ali, holds a beautiful story in itself for these damask linen napkins passed through generations interlink with her novel. Dunfermline, was a linen producing town and Joseph Paton (a figure who briefly appears in the novel) was one of the most well-known designers of jacquard patterns like in this napkin. The beautiful book cover that evokes a style of dress reminiscent to the Victorian era and reflects ‘The Absent Heart’ was designed by
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