THE PLOT: ‘The House of Broken Bricks’ by Fiona Williams is a literary novel about an interracial couple whose marriage is falling apart. When she became pregnant with twins, Jamaican Tess left her family in London to move to rural South-West England with Richard. But after their twin boys were born looking very different – one white-passing and one dark-skinned – Tess began to feel like the village spectacle. Unsure if she belongs, silence punctuates arguments and Richard retreats outside to his struggling vegetable business rather than face the discussion he cannot bear to have. And as the seasons change with much left unsaid, Max and Sonny – the rainbow twins – watch the foundations of their family crumble.

SUMMARY: Wow, this novel blew me away. Full of descriptions of nature, the writing style is so rich and evocative it almost reads like poetry. I was a bit concerned it’d be too literary for my tastes, but the novel is broken up into very short chapters so it’s easy to digest. Told in multiple POVs, I loved the sharp sections from each member of the family. Their voices were so distinct, I knew immediately whose each section was, even without the headings. I also loved how it’s split into each season, taking the reader on a journey through a year in the family’s life via the natural world. A solid five-star read that I’ll be recommending all year round.

GOOD BITS:  I could wax lyrical about the beautiful writing and compelling, flawed characters, but the standout element of this novel is how delicately she treats the themes. A lesser writer would’ve made this too “on the nose” about a Black woman and her dark-skinned child feeling like an outsider in rural England. However, there are a lot of subtleties and nuances that show you’re in the hands of a master writer. Rather than making this a straight-forward story, through the loveable character of Max – a ten-year-old who passes as white but isn’t sure if he’s Black – Williams invites the reader to think about what race and belonging truly means.

NOT SO GOOD BITS: This isn’t a novel for everyone. It’s highly descriptive and literary, so you need to go into this in the right mood. Even though I loved the writing, at times I did find myself glazing over the more descriptive passages, rushing to get to the next development. That being said, it’s not a criticism but a warning for those of you who don’t like lyrical novels. At times, I also wanted Tess and Richard to just split up and get a divorce, because it started to feel a tad repetitive. However, there were enough plot escalations to keep me interested, and the ending completely redeemed any of my previous thoughts.

OVERALL: I’d recommend this book to fans of ‘Sorrow and Bliss’ by Meg Mason, ‘What the Fireflies Knew’ by Kai Harris, ‘Soldier Sailor’ by Claire Kilroy, ‘Maps of Our Spectacular Bodies’ by Maddie Mortimer, and ‘Sisters’ by Daisy Johnson. If you like complex female characters, poetic writing, and themes that’ll have you pondering race and what it means to be racialised in modern society, then this is a book that will touch your heart.

Thank you to Faber for my #gifted copy. You can purchase a copy of this novel and support @aminasbookshelf via my bookshop.org account.