BRAT

‘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. 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,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. It’s 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 won’t 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 Gabriel’s 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. It’s a skin-shedding ouroboros of grief and laughter, and the most brain-melting British debut I’ve read in ages.'Ed Park, author ofSame Bed Different Dreams 'Gabriel Smith’s 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 Smith’s jauntily creepy and hilarious tale of a grief-stalked scapegrace’s 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 Gabriel’s 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