Kindle Price: $7.58

Save $2.41 (24%)

Promotions apply when you purchase

These promotions will be applied to this item:

Some promotions may be combined; others are not eligible to be combined with other offers. For details, please see the Terms & Conditions associated with these promotions.

Read with our free app
You've subscribed to ! We will preorder your items within 24 hours of when they become available. When new books are released, we'll charge your default payment method for the lowest price available during the pre-order period.
Update your device or payment method, cancel individual pre-orders or your subscription at
Your Memberships & Subscriptions

Buy for others

Give as a gift or purchase for a team or group.
Learn more

Buying and sending eBooks to others

  1. Select quantity
  2. Buy and send eBooks
  3. Recipients can read on any device

These ebooks can only be redeemed by recipients in the US. Redemption links and eBooks cannot be resold.
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Amazon book clubs early access
Loading your book clubs
There was a problem loading your book clubs. Please try again.
Not in a club? Learn more
Amazon book clubs early access

Join or create book clubs

Choose books together

Track your books
Bring your club to Amazon Book Clubs, start a new book club and invite your friends to join, or find a club that’s right for you for free.
Explore Amazon Book Clubs

Follow the author

Ali Bacon
Follow
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

In the Blink of an Eye Kindle Edition

by Ali Bacon (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 15 ratings
See all formats and editions

In1843, Edinburgh artist, David Octavius Hill, is commissioned to paint the portraits of 400 ministers who have broken away from the Church of Scotland. Only when he meets Robert Adamson, an early master of the new and fickle art of photography, does this daunting task begin to look feasible.

Hill is soon bewitched by the art of light and shade. He and Adamson become the darlings of Edinburgh society, immortalising people and places with their subtle and artistic images. In the Blink of an Eye is a re-imagining of Hill’s life in the words of those who were beguiled by his artistry and charismatic charm. Tender, tragic and sometimes humorous, these voices come together in a story of art and science, love and loss, friendship and photography.

Previous page
  1. Print length
    191 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publisher
    Linen Press
  5. Publication date
    April 11, 2018
  6. File size
    734 KB
  7. Page Flip
    Enabled
  8. Word Wise
    Enabled
  9. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
  10. See all details
Next page
Add a debit or credit card to save time when you check out
Convenient and secure with 2 clicks. Add your card

Editorial Reviews

Review

Poignant and charged with hope.

- Vanessa Gebbie, author judge of Evesham Festival Short Story Prize 2017

That moment of dawning self-consciousness, so delicately rendered, yet so resonant ... just knocked my socks off.

- Nick Bellorini, photography publisher, judge of Magic Oxygen Prize 2017

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B07B3HSZ6D
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Linen Press; 1st edition (April 11, 2018)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ April 11, 2018
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 734 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 191 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 15 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Ali Bacon

Ali Bacon

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

I love creating fiction around the lives of real people and look for historical characters who can speak to my readers in the way they speak to me.

After a childhood in Scotland, I moved to the South West of England where my writing is still strongly influenced by my Scottish roots. While working in the Bodleian Library in Oxford that I found a cache of early photographic prints which sparked a life-long interest in photography and led to my first historical novel ‘In the Blink of an Eye’.

For my next novel I’ve chosen a woman who was the first love of writer Robert Louis Stevenson. He wrote her hundreds of letters which were published after his death, but hers have not survived. It’s an intriguing lacuna for a novelist to fill, especially for me, as one of my ancestors knew Stevenson in his younger days.

When I’m not writing you might find me performing my work around Bristol and Bath or helping judge the acclaimed Stroud Short Stories competition.

http://alibacon.com

Twitter @AliBacon

Customer reviews

4.3 out of 5 stars
4.3 out of 5
15 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

There are 0 reviews and 2 ratings from the United States

Top reviews from other countries

Bookworm
5.0 out of 5 stars A snapshot in time...
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 16, 2018
Verified Purchase
What an enjoyable novel this is! An accomplished combination of both fact and fiction centred around the birth of photography in Victorian Edinburgh. The reader is drawn into the world of art and the paintings of D. O. Hill and his collaboration with the calotypist, Robert Adamson. The author has cleverly used the narrative of various women connected with Hill and Adamson not only to relate their own stories but to give another insight into the character of the two men. This book is clearly well researched and is full of historical facts and captivating descriptions of Victorian Edinburgh and Newhaven. Characters are beautifully portrayed so that the reader becomes immersed in this fascinating time in Scottish history.

A really good read, highly recommended.
Report
The Bagster
4.0 out of 5 stars In the Top 10 for any year
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 7, 2018
Verified Purchase
The best books today are being published by the small presses and not by the commercial behemoths. The big companies are only interested in finding something similar to last month's blockbuster (which was similar to the blockbuster of the month before, which was similar to...you get the idea). Companies like Linen Press are in the business of finding literate, skilled authors with something to say that is worth listening to. And that is an exact description of In the Blink Of an Eye. Ali Bacon writes like an angel. This book should be in the top 10 of any literate reader's year. It will command your attention and never let go, and you'll lose yourself in the characterisation and the strength of the story. Read it.
Report
salford girl
5.0 out of 5 stars Beautifully written.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 20, 2019
Verified Purchase
My daughter and I love Edinburgh and visit as often as we can, visiting all our best loved places and also trying always to add something new to our itinerary. This year, inspired by this beautifully written book, we will be seeking out the works on D.O.Hill and Robert Adamson (and paying more attention to Rock House the gate to which we have passed many times on our way up Calton Hill without knowing it’s significance.) This book is an amazing achievement of well researched historical fact meeting fiction and brings the lives and work of these artists and others to life. An absolute pleasure to read and be inspired by.
Report
A M Joy
5.0 out of 5 stars A book which seemed to me to be as beautiful and as well made as the old calotype prints ...
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 22, 2018
Verified Purchase
A book which seemed to me to be as beautiful and as well made as the old calotype prints which fill its pages. The writing is gorgeous, sensitive and of its time, the whole is redolent of place - something I love in a book - especially Edinburgh and the outdoors. The history and technicalities are handled with a lightness of touch and tone. Altogether a fascinating and rewarding read
Report
L. S. Tate
4.0 out of 5 stars From interesting to emotional
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 14, 2018
Verified Purchase
I began this novel with some interest in the premise, but just a little doubt that it could be sustained, especially as the author makes considerable demands with a large cast of characters. But all doubt faded. My interest in Victorian photography became, thanks to everything I learned through the novel, a fascination. I began to know and care about all the characters, and the experience became an engrossing and rewarding one. This is a bravely uncommercial book and I also applaud the publishers, Linen Press, for seeing its value and strength. Review by Sue Hampton, wife of Leslie Tate
One person found this helpful
 Report
Report an issue

Does this item contain inappropriate content?
Report
Do you believe that this item violates a copyright?
Report
Does this item contain quality or formatting issues?
Report