THE HOUSE OF BROKEN BRICKS : BOOK REVIEW

The House of Broken Bricks, the debut novel of Fiona Williams, is a literary work of note.

It has an engrossing story line couched in exceptional prose, which is not surprising in a book that has won many accolades, including the 2021 Bridport Prize while still in its infancy and while Williams was still doing a masters in creative writing.

The novel with its lyrical descriptions of the natural world, evokes memories of Delia Owens' Where the Crawdads Sing. 

Just as the beauty of the marshlands of North Carolina is celebrated by Owens, so is the charm of the flora and fauna of a West Country [southwest England] village and river eulogised by Williams, who has a degree in biological sciences. 

Her love for the surrounding world glistens on every page.

The book title, The House of Broken Bricks, is both literal and metaphorical. Houses along the river of the West Country village featured in the book are actually made of discarded broken bricks used as ballast by bargeman who ply the river.

Though made of defective bricks, such houses weather well through floods and snow and stand their ground, as do the hardy, albeit damaged people who reside in them.

The book brings out the problems and bigotry that are caused by differences in skin colour. At the centre is the multiracial marriage of Richard, who is white and Tess, who is of Jamaican descent, like the author.

They fall in love at university. When Tess becomes pregnant, she willingly drops out, gets and moves to West Country village which Richard calls home. The villagers are all white and the advent of Tess is received variously with distaste, curiosity and rejection.

Tess is delivered of twins who are, by one in a million chance, totally different from each other, one being white like the father and the other black.

Now the issue of race becomes knottier. People do not shy from calling them freaks and making hurtful comments. Tess is often taken for the nanny.

Richard, who has a generational roots in the village, is accepted but his wife and children pose a dilemma.

The World Students Society thanks Rehana Alam.