May - The House of Broken Bricks

The House of Broken Bricks is Faber’s lead debut title for 2024 and is set on the Somerset Levels where Fiona lives with her family having moved from south-east London.

'Ain't nothing wrong with being broken. Nothing at all. You're like these houses, not a whole brick in em and look how strong they are.'  As Tess traces the sunrise over the floodplains, light that paints the house a startling crimson, she yearns for the comforting chaos of life as it once was. Instead of Max and Sonny tracking dirt through the kitchen - Tess and Richard's 'rainbow twins' - Tess absorbs the quiet. The nights draw in, the soil cools and Richard fights to get his winter crops planted rather than deal with the discussion he cannot bear to have.  Secrets and vines clamber over the broken red bricks and although its inhabitants seem to be withering, in the damp, crumbling soil Sonny knows that something is stirring . . . As the seasons change, and the cracks let in more light, the family might just be able to start to heal.  This is the story of a broken family, what they see and what they cannot say laid bare in their overlapping perspectives. It is a tale of life in the cracks, because in the space for acceptance, of passing and of laying to rest, the possibilities of new energy, light and love, are seeded.

'Shocking and powerful. . . This is the best kind of storytelling.' Victoria Hislop, author of One August Night

'Haunting prose that cracks the English pastoral novel and lets the darkness in. A pleasure to read.' SARAH MOSS, author of Ghost Wall

Fiona holds a BSc (Hons) in biological sciences from the University of Westminster and an MA with distinction in creative writing from Bath Spa University. Winner of the 2021 Bridport Prize, Peggy Chapman-Andrews First Novel Award she is currently completing a PhD in creative writing at the University of Exeter.

'I wanted to tell the story of a Black Londoner who moves to a farming village with her husband and attempts to raise their ten-year-old fraternal twins of different colours – is it possible for her to find belonging and love in a rural landscape?'

A level of walking fitness is required, please dress appropriately and do bring a blanket or cushion to sit on - we walk in all weathers.

We look forward to walking with you in May...

BOOKING IS ESSENTIAL 

*SORRY NO DOGS ALLOWED ON THIS PARTICULAR EVENT