The Bricks That Built The Houses

The Bricks That Built The Houses by Kate Tempest
Published by Bloomsbury Circus
Hardback
Published 7 April 2016
416 pages
Owned

Connect with the author Buy the book: UK (affiliate link) WHAT'S IT'S ABOUT 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.

Young Londoners Becky, Harry and Leon are escaping the city in a fourth-hand Ford Cortina with a suitcase full of stolen money. Taking us back in time - and into the heart of London - The Bricks that Built the Houses explores a cross-section of contemporary urban life with a powerful moral microscope, giving us intimate stories of hidden lives, and showing us that good intentions don't always lead to the right decisions. Leading us into the homes and hearts of ordinary people, their families and their communities, Kate Tempest exposes moments of beauty, disappointment, ambition and failure. Wise but never cynical, driven by empathy and ethics, The Bricks the Built the Houses questions how we live with and love one another.

EXTRACT

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.

WHAT I THOUGHT

Kate Tempest has become my new favourite thing since I read/listened to her Brand New Ancients recently as part of Popsugar Reading Challenge. So I had to buy this book which I adored of course. Tempest is amazing and I will now idolise her and stalk her (in a flattering not creepy weirdo way). The Bricks that Built the Houses is amazing. I loved everything about it. I loved the setting, modern-day London. Tempest breathes life into the city and I could practically heart, smell and taste it. I loved the characters as well. They are all wonderfully formed, made of flesh and bone. I loved them all and wanted everything to work out for them. The plot is great as well, gritty and compelling. I really like Tempest's prose style. The Bricks that Built the Houses is vivid and full of rich detail. I LOVED this book and will gush about it for months to come. Amazing!

I'm thirty-five years old and live in Glasgow in the UK with my partner of ten years. I work in a support team for a call centre. I like reading especially Joyce Carol Oates and Stephen King. I write fiction and poetry. I enjoy watching TV (Grimm, Torchwood, Doctor Who, Lip Service, The L Word etc). I like to play video games and am a fan of survival horror especially the Silent Hill franchise. I like to watch movies especially horror and anything where someone dies. View all posts by pamelascott30

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