THE INSTANT CULT CLASSIC FROM THE WINNER OF THE O. HENRY PRIZE 'Full of dark deadpan humour
Brat is a raucous story of the messy messed-up business of living dying and having a family.'
Financial Times ' A moving coming-of-age family story' Observer ' Beautifully written
hilarious and heartbreaking' Daily Mail 'A raw delicate tale about grief and growing up'
The New Yorker 'Iconic' Radio 1 'The novel crackles with gothic horror deadpan humor and
a damning sense of alienation that you won't soon shake.' Chicago Review of Books 'Instead of
resolving his novel's many mysteries Smith explores how this family navigates the disputed
borders of its shared memories pondering what it means to choose one story over another-as
well as the consequences of refusing to choose especially in the wake of grief.' The New York
Times
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Gabriel's skin is falling off. His dad is dead. He owes his editor a novel. His
girlfriend won't answer his calls. Tasked by his horribly well-adjusted brother with clearing
out the family home for sale Gabriel's sanity quickly begins to unravel. His parents' old
manuscripts appear to change each time he reads them. A bizarre home video hints at long-buried
secrets. And there's a hideous man in the garden. Disquieting and hilarious taut yet lyrical
blisteringly-paced but formally inventive Brat is a mediation on grief art and love that
will leave you altered breathless and desperate for more. From a stunningly original new
talent this is a debut novel unlike anything you have read before.
