The Bricks that Built the Houses

Description

It gets into your bones. You don't even realise it, until you're driving through it, watching all the things you've always known and leaving them behind. This corner of the city. Everything is yours and nothing else exists but this. South London. Young Londoners Becky, Harry and Leon are escaping the city with a suitcase full of stolen money. Taking us back in time, and into the heart of the capital, The Bricks that Built the Houses explores a cross-section of contemporary urban life with a powerful moral and literary microscope, exposing the everyday stories that lie behind the tired faces on the morning commute, and what happens when your best intentions don't always lead to the right decisions. Wise but never cynical, and driven by empathy and ethics, it leads us into the homes and hearts of ordinary people and their families and communities, giving us a unique perspective on how we live with and love each other. The Bricks that Builds the Houses introduces a thrilling new literary voice.

Poet, rapper, playwright and novelist Kate Tempest grew up in south-east London, where she still lives. Her epic poem, Brand New Ancients - a modern-day myth set in south London - won the Ted Hughes Prize for innovation in poetry in 2013, making her the first-ever recipient under 40. Her plays include GlassHouse, Wasted and Hopelessly Devoted. Her debut solo album, Everybody Down, a narrative-led hip hop record based on The Bricks that Built the Houses, was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize 2014. Kate Tempest's second poetry collection, Hold Your Own was published in 2014, when she was also named by the Poetry Society as a Next Generation Poet, a once a decade accolade. The Bricks that Built the Houses is her first novel.

A talent that knows no bounds * Independent * Powerful and merciful * Ali Smith * 'Mesmerising ... Humanity is celebrated in all its terrible imperfections ... a genuinely galvanising presence * Guardian * Thrillingly good ... so vivid it's as if you had a state-of-the-art Blu-ray player stuffed into your brain, projecting image after image that sears itself into your consciousnesss * Charles Isherwood, New York Times * She is a powerful mix of innocence and experience with a growing, and fervent, following * International New York Times *