What do you think?
Rate this book
The Draftsman
Martin Cox left school at 16 with stellar grades. But too traumatised to progress any further academically, he instead took a low-paid, low-skilled job in a local drafting office.
Over the course of a couple of years Martin progresses in skill and appreciation of design and structure. He is an engineering genius and when he makes recommendations to change a patent application his life is turned around. He becomes very rich, but Martin Cox is a damaged man, a man whose past has left deep and abiding scars. He’s high-achieving, autistic, and craves routine and consistency in his life, yet he lives in chaos. He cannot relate to other people and is barely even aware of his own identity or his considerable limitations. Child abuse is not unusual in modern fiction, but a mother’s abuse of her son in the name of love is less common. Its legacy is rarely addressed.
When Martin Cox buys a house in the countryside, it is the first time ever he has spent any time out of London. He is slowly intrigued by the landscape and the history of the property. He starts to learn more about the original house, about the wartime hospital, about the school and about a young woman and her Canadian airman. As he becomes more fascinated, Martin starts to grow away from himself and towards others. He gradually comes to recognise the damage he has suffered at his mother’s hand, and even to care. His relationships become a source of healing, first the connection with his boss and later with his business minder. But these relationships are unclearly defined. The ambivalence with which the writer addresses Martin Cox’s sexuality is deliberate, a device to keep the reader guessing and a reflection of Martin’s own uncertainty and confusion.
Martin’s fascination with his house and its landscape, the local history, the wartime realities he learns more about as the book progresses, lead him to a mystery. As Martin’s sense of identity develops the reader sees his unacknowledged and unrecognised victimhood, mirror the solution of a mystery that only becomes apparent in the book’s climax.
Over the course of a couple of years Martin progresses in skill and appreciation of design and structure. He is an engineering genius and when he makes recommendations to change a patent application his life is turned around. He becomes very rich, but Martin Cox is a damaged man, a man whose past has left deep and abiding scars. He’s high-achieving, autistic, and craves routine and consistency in his life, yet he lives in chaos. He cannot relate to other people and is barely even aware of his own identity or his considerable limitations. Child abuse is not unusual in modern fiction, but a mother’s abuse of her son in the name of love is less common. Its legacy is rarely addressed.
When Martin Cox buys a house in the countryside, it is the first time ever he has spent any time out of London. He is slowly intrigued by the landscape and the history of the property. He starts to learn more about the original house, about the wartime hospital, about the school and about a young woman and her Canadian airman. As he becomes more fascinated, Martin starts to grow away from himself and towards others. He gradually comes to recognise the damage he has suffered at his mother’s hand, and even to care. His relationships become a source of healing, first the connection with his boss and later with his business minder. But these relationships are unclearly defined. The ambivalence with which the writer addresses Martin Cox’s sexuality is deliberate, a device to keep the reader guessing and a reflection of Martin’s own uncertainty and confusion.
Martin’s fascination with his house and its landscape, the local history, the wartime realities he learns more about as the book progresses, lead him to a mystery. As Martin’s sense of identity develops the reader sees his unacknowledged and unrecognised victimhood, mirror the solution of a mystery that only becomes apparent in the book’s climax.
Paperback
First published April 29, 2021
6 people want to read
About the author
Laurel Lindström
1 book3 followersLaurel Lindström has had a long and rewarding career as a technical writer and journalist. Under the name of Laurel Brunner she specialises in digital prepress, printing and publishing technologies and her work has been published all over the world.
Laurel’s career began in the 1980s when she got caught up in the digital publishing revolution in California, during her studies at UCLA. A degree in Linguistics & English has been largely useless in her career, however it has helped Laurel to develop writing and analytical skills that have assisted her in both technology analyses and a diverse range of consulting projects. Laurel is a regular speaker at industry events in North and South America, Europe and Asia, a Visiting Professor at Shenzen Technical University in China and one of a small cohort of Women of Distinction selected by US publishers Output Links. She works with the International Standards Organisation and convenes a group responsible for standards relating to the environmental impact of graphics technology, including print media. Agfa Graphics has awarded her its Sustainability Award for her work in sustainability and the Indonesian printing industry association, ATGMI, has also recognised her.
Laurel is married to Paul and together they have three grown up children, Hannah, Morgan and Matilda.
Laurel’s career began in the 1980s when she got caught up in the digital publishing revolution in California, during her studies at UCLA. A degree in Linguistics & English has been largely useless in her career, however it has helped Laurel to develop writing and analytical skills that have assisted her in both technology analyses and a diverse range of consulting projects. Laurel is a regular speaker at industry events in North and South America, Europe and Asia, a Visiting Professor at Shenzen Technical University in China and one of a small cohort of Women of Distinction selected by US publishers Output Links. She works with the International Standards Organisation and convenes a group responsible for standards relating to the environmental impact of graphics technology, including print media. Agfa Graphics has awarded her its Sustainability Award for her work in sustainability and the Indonesian printing industry association, ATGMI, has also recognised her.
Laurel is married to Paul and together they have three grown up children, Hannah, Morgan and Matilda.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
April 20, 2021
The Draftsman is an intense and satisfying read. The novel introduces Martin Cox, a talented, obsessive man who clings to life by his fingertips. He has an awkward relationship with his sister, Alison, who helps to organise his living arrangements when he moves to Shadowhurst Hall. Other support comes from Joshua who smooths the way for Martin to avoid problems in his personal and working life. Lindstrom is an expert choreographer who manoeuvres the characters through an array of challenging encounters. The disconnect between the small cast is tangible and sometimes painful. Through words on the page, Lindstrom is able to convey silence both powerful and oppressive. She has remarkable storytelling skills that allow the narrative to slip seamlessly between different viewpoints. I loved moments of understated humour, captured through careful observation. An impressive debut that links the history of Shadowhurst Hall to the present.
May 19, 2021
Martin Cox is damaged; a loner of questionable, unsanitary habits. He’s also had significant wealth thrust upon him, thanks to a moment of genius in his work as a technical draftsman. This wonderful, literary book explores how this man came to be so flawed. By its ending we not only discover hidden, appealing aspects to his character but see him on a path towards a life that is richer in the truest sense of the word. I loved it.
August 25, 2021
I must admit I'm biased on this – Laurel is my wife. But I loved the book. It's very different to anything I've read before, very imaginative, very funny (between being a bit disturbing in places). As I know what places and peoples that has inspired Laurel for this book, I can read it with some additional depth and understanding. But having said this, I also know that the characters took on their own "life" while Laurel wrote the book, especially the draftsman himself, Martin, so there is now very little resemblance with any real, now living person in the book. Enjoy! And we want a sequel from the author.
May 12, 2021
src="https://laurellindstrom.files.wordpre..." / >Martin Cox is an untrained draftsman of 24, accidentally rich, a heavy smoker, damaged, obsessive, binary. Martin obsesses with black and white contrasts and binary expression, facts, numbers, in a world of shades and shadows. The desolation and the twin lakes on his new property exert a peculiar pull that he doesn’t understand but which attracts him.
Shadowhurst Hall, desolate and forgotten, is a place to heal. Martin explores the empty landscape and makes an unexpected discovery. It leads him towards long forgotten events and slowly towards renewal.
In the course of this story we learn how Martin became so rich, and about his parents, a London cabbie and a cleaner. We meet the man who helped Martin to become an ace draftsman, and who brokered his first contract which led to unexpected wealth. We also learn about a sister whose protection of her brother was an afterthought, but she is unware of this. And we learn more about Martin’s need for protection.
In part this story is also the story of the original Shadowhurst Hall and the part it played in two world wars. But it’s more about recollections and process. It’s about how memories and histories bound up in a landscape become their own story. And it’s about how that story might eventually be shared.
This book is about healing and renewal, about how an individual’s unrecognised and unacknowledged damage shapes them. And it is about how those scars undermine who they might have been, and the lasting footprint they leave.
The Draftsman is a compelling and highly original work of fiction. Through the course of the narrative come to understand protagonist Martin Cox’s curious obsessions, contradictions and motivations. Martin’s logic, extreme orderliness and control are his default, but they mask his capacity to care or love. The source of these limitations gradually becomes apparent as we learn more about this character.
Shadowhurst Hall, desolate and forgotten, is a place to heal. Martin explores the empty landscape and makes an unexpected discovery. It leads him towards long forgotten events and slowly towards renewal.
In the course of this story we learn how Martin became so rich, and about his parents, a London cabbie and a cleaner. We meet the man who helped Martin to become an ace draftsman, and who brokered his first contract which led to unexpected wealth. We also learn about a sister whose protection of her brother was an afterthought, but she is unware of this. And we learn more about Martin’s need for protection.
In part this story is also the story of the original Shadowhurst Hall and the part it played in two world wars. But it’s more about recollections and process. It’s about how memories and histories bound up in a landscape become their own story. And it’s about how that story might eventually be shared.
This book is about healing and renewal, about how an individual’s unrecognised and unacknowledged damage shapes them. And it is about how those scars undermine who they might have been, and the lasting footprint they leave.
The Draftsman is a compelling and highly original work of fiction. Through the course of the narrative come to understand protagonist Martin Cox’s curious obsessions, contradictions and motivations. Martin’s logic, extreme orderliness and control are his default, but they mask his capacity to care or love. The source of these limitations gradually becomes apparent as we learn more about this character.
October 14, 2021
This is a book about Martin, a single-minded genius in some ways, but with only the faintest glimmerings of understanding of other people’s and indeed his own life. It is also the story of the ghost of a house, Shadowhurst Hall, that was demolished years before in the physical sense, but comes to represent a past that Martin wants to understand. The characterless house in the grounds now standing in the grounds is only of interest to Martin initially because it reflects his peculiar lifestyle; six bedrooms for him to have a different bed every night, grounds that he has stocked with sheep to improve the view. This is a subtle novel of a mind which is damaged and a way of seeing that brings wealth but little understanding what to do with it. The other characters in the book, including his capable sister, his vain but thoughtful friend Joshua and the stalwart Bill are remarkable for their forbearance and their choices in regard to a man who only sees the world to calculate it, seeing the lines and spaces, the shapes of the world. Damaged, lacking understanding and therefore vulnerable, Martin is a man who has sustained much, but brings unique perspective to a half-remembered house which dominated the past and may hold secrets for the present and future. I found this a fascinating novel and was pleased to have the opportunity to read and review a book which offers such dreamlike insights.
The book opens with Martin arriving in the house, his house, bought six months before as an investment but now readied for his arrival by his sister Alison. They both hope that it marks a new beginning “He wanted to change, he had to change, had to move on, but he wasn’t sure why or to what.” He has driven to the house in a brand new, expensive car, the first time he had driven since passing his test, worried by its power, unaware that it was so indicative of a wealth he had little clue how to enjoy. Alison has worked hard to furnish and equip the house to his specification, even providing cans of tuna and sorting out a gardener/handyman and a cleaner. She is aware of his apartment in London, a huge single room despoiled by food, cigarette ends and the detritus of a man who simply left things to fall to the ground, seemingly unaware of the squalor around him. It transpires that their shared childhood was a strange one of obedience to a mother who may have been abusive, of a father proud of his son but totally baffled about his choices. Martin becomes a young man of rigid habits, compulsively calculating the world around him. He discovers in the house and grounds a challenge, the swans that fascinate him but represent the curves that he cannot control, a glimpse of a life that he cannot quantify, a past that he needs to find out more about.
This is not an easy book to describe, but it has a lyrical quality that transcends the need for a complex plot. It is a work of real insight and subtly marks a change in a life that was rigid and vaguely shameful, a collection of people who genuinely want the best for Martin, whose conspiracy is to help him, and in the process learn a little more about themselves. It is about a house of memories and more. I recommend it as an unusual but satisfying read which raises many questions.
The book opens with Martin arriving in the house, his house, bought six months before as an investment but now readied for his arrival by his sister Alison. They both hope that it marks a new beginning “He wanted to change, he had to change, had to move on, but he wasn’t sure why or to what.” He has driven to the house in a brand new, expensive car, the first time he had driven since passing his test, worried by its power, unaware that it was so indicative of a wealth he had little clue how to enjoy. Alison has worked hard to furnish and equip the house to his specification, even providing cans of tuna and sorting out a gardener/handyman and a cleaner. She is aware of his apartment in London, a huge single room despoiled by food, cigarette ends and the detritus of a man who simply left things to fall to the ground, seemingly unaware of the squalor around him. It transpires that their shared childhood was a strange one of obedience to a mother who may have been abusive, of a father proud of his son but totally baffled about his choices. Martin becomes a young man of rigid habits, compulsively calculating the world around him. He discovers in the house and grounds a challenge, the swans that fascinate him but represent the curves that he cannot control, a glimpse of a life that he cannot quantify, a past that he needs to find out more about.
This is not an easy book to describe, but it has a lyrical quality that transcends the need for a complex plot. It is a work of real insight and subtly marks a change in a life that was rigid and vaguely shameful, a collection of people who genuinely want the best for Martin, whose conspiracy is to help him, and in the process learn a little more about themselves. It is about a house of memories and more. I recommend it as an unusual but satisfying read which raises many questions.
May 28, 2021
A house means more than a place to live. It is a place that often breaths in and out the souls of his past and present inhabitants. There are not only walls and wood and concrete, but real humans who lived there and therefore left their spiritual imprints and shared their stories within those walls.
The Draftsman, the debut novel by Laurel Lindström, explores the impact of a story shared within the precincts of a house into the life of the new owner. Martin Cox is the right match for being the recipient of the story: gifted but afraid of his own gifts, intelligent and rich. By buying the property in Shadowhurst Hall he is becoming not only the owner of a piece of real estate, but of a story he is decided to explore and put his genius mind at work, trying to understand its message and search for the characters.
Personally, I´ve found the idea of the book fascinating, and the same goes for the main character. The writing is precise, intelligent and poetic with beautiful descriptions and evocative passages. Sometimes, the dialogues do not fit well into the story and are not easy to follow and maybe the elaboration of the story is not necessarily punctilious but overall, it has a captivating thread which does not let you say ´good bye´ until you are done.
The Draftsman ignites the kind of curiosity that is not necessarily the result of a certain pace or built-in emotional suspense, but due to the inherent stroke of personality of the characters. The strangeness - both of the story and of the characters - are wrapped in a beautiful wording and that´s in my case the recipe for keeping me interested in reading a book in one sitting.
A note of appreciation for the cover which is really special and illustrates in a very creative outstanding way the chore of the book. It´s not happening very often therefore it deserves the praise.
Disclaimer: Book offered part of a blog tour, but the opinions are, as usual, my own
The Draftsman, the debut novel by Laurel Lindström, explores the impact of a story shared within the precincts of a house into the life of the new owner. Martin Cox is the right match for being the recipient of the story: gifted but afraid of his own gifts, intelligent and rich. By buying the property in Shadowhurst Hall he is becoming not only the owner of a piece of real estate, but of a story he is decided to explore and put his genius mind at work, trying to understand its message and search for the characters.
Personally, I´ve found the idea of the book fascinating, and the same goes for the main character. The writing is precise, intelligent and poetic with beautiful descriptions and evocative passages. Sometimes, the dialogues do not fit well into the story and are not easy to follow and maybe the elaboration of the story is not necessarily punctilious but overall, it has a captivating thread which does not let you say ´good bye´ until you are done.
The Draftsman ignites the kind of curiosity that is not necessarily the result of a certain pace or built-in emotional suspense, but due to the inherent stroke of personality of the characters. The strangeness - both of the story and of the characters - are wrapped in a beautiful wording and that´s in my case the recipe for keeping me interested in reading a book in one sitting.
A note of appreciation for the cover which is really special and illustrates in a very creative outstanding way the chore of the book. It´s not happening very often therefore it deserves the praise.
Disclaimer: Book offered part of a blog tour, but the opinions are, as usual, my own
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews