Synopsis

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 ‘Iconic’, Radio 1I was in the waiting room. Then I was in the examination room. Gabriels skin is falling off. His dad is dead. He owes his editor a novel. His girlfriend wont answer his calls. Tasked by his horribly well-adjusted brother with clearing out the family home for sale, Gabriels 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 theres a hideous man in the garden. Disquieting and hilarious, taut yet lyrical, blisteringly-paced but formally inventive,Bratis 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. This original, clever story is brilliant on grief, madness and creativity. Its beautifully written, hilarious and heart-breaking. I raced through it. Daily Mail For readers looking for something that will grip you from start to finish,Bratis sure to be your breath of fresh air. The novel crackles with gothic horror, deadpan humor, and a damning sense of alienation that you wont soon shake. Chicago Review of Books Smith’s picaresque first novel is told from the perspective of Gabriel, a writer struggling with numerous issues . . . a deeply gothic work that never quite settles the reader in a certain world as Gabriels foibles, ghostly visions, and uncertainties filter every moment. Written in short, clipped chapters and featuring uproarious dialogue (especially with Gabriel’s brother), this is a darkly comic and brilliantly unusual debut. Booklist [Smith’s] dialogue shines . . . Readers who appreciate the morbidly funny and the just plain morbid will find a lot to love in these pages. A weird and darkly funny novel from a writer to watch.Kirkus It’s a book about loss and the anxiety of the modern age, tinged with humor and deep insight that will stay with readers long after the last page is turned. Town & Country ‘Gabriel Smith has written a truly unique and surprising book. He is the rarest thing: a distinctive stylist on the line and structure level.Bratis so strange and so funny. I laughed a lot while reading.’Rachel Connolly, author ofLazy City ‘Messy with glitched realities and body horror,Bratbreathes the same thrillingly claustrophobic air asInland EmpireandUbik. Its a skin-shedding ouroboros of grief and laughter, and the most brain-melting British debut Ive read in ages.’Ed Park, author ofSame Bed Different Dreams ‘Gabriel Smiths prose is like if Joan Didion and Shirley Jackson took Xanax and used the internet.Bratis a sharp, eerie, confident debut about grief, memory, art, and so much more. Smith is a major new talent.’Jordan Castro, author ofThe Novelist ‘Gabriel Smiths jauntily creepy and hilarious tale of a grief-stalked scapegraces sloughing-off and regeneration of selves in the filial murk of a moldering homestead is aPortrait of the Artist as a Young Manfor a new, quaking generation.Bratwill unnerve and seduce you.’Garielle Lutz, author of Worsted ‘Smith’s picaresque first novel is told from the perspective of Gabriel, a writer struggling with numerous issues . . . a deeply gothic work that never quite settles the reader in a certain world as Gabriels foibles, ghostly visions, and uncertainties filter every moment. Written in short, clipped chapters and featuring uproarious dialogue (especially with Gabriel’s brother), this is a darkly comic and brilliantly unusual debut.’Booklist ‘[Smith’s] dialogue shines . . . Readers who appreciate the morbidly funny and the just plain morbid will find a lot to love in these pages. A weird and darkly funny novel from a writer to watch.’Kirkus

This is a standard paperback/soft cover version.