Estranged brothers are reunited over plans to develop the tower block where they grew up, but the desolate estate becomes a stage for reliving the events of one life-changing summer, forty years earlier … the exquisitely written, moving new novel from West Camel.
‘Unfolds like a spell’ Carol Lovekin, author of Ghostbird
‘A deceptively complex and layered story; beautiful, traumatic and ultimately uplifting’ Louise Beech, author of This Is How We Are Human
'A mesmerising portrait of toxic family relationships: one that perfectly captures a turbulent era in a changing Britain. I was gripped' Caroline Wyatt
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Twins Aaron and Clive have been estranged for forty years. Aaron still lives in the empty, crumbling tower block on the riverside in Deptford where they grew up. Clive is a successful property developer, determined to turn the tower into luxury flats.
But Aaron is blocking the plan and their petty squabble becomes something much greater when two ghosts from the past – twins Annette and Christine – appear in the tower. At once, the desolate estate becomes a stage on which the events of one scorching summer are relived – a summer that shattered their lives, and changed everything forever…
Grim, evocative and exquisitely rendered, Fall is a story of friendship and family – of perception, fear and prejudice, the events that punctuate our journeys into adulthood, and the indelible scars they leave – a triumph of a novel that will affect you long after the final page has been turned.
Illustrations by David F. Ross
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**Shortlisted for the POLARI Prize**
‘Fall’s characters will haunt me, its story will stay with me and I will return again and again’ Katie Allen
‘Beautifully written, perfectly executed, a drama that captures your heart and mind’ Anne Coates
'Architecture and morality: the only subjects worth writing about, and West Camel does so exquisitely through the eyes of people profoundly affected by both' David F. Ross
‘A book about families, racism and the differences that bind us or push us apart …all bound up in West Camel's elegant prose’ Michael J. Malone
‘Suspense and twists keep you turning the pages, while the unfolding of complex characters and relationships draws you in’ Valeria Vescina
‘Both charming and conflicting … the author’s enticing storytelling has totally, utterly hooked me’ Sarah Sansom
‘A page-turner and a literary delight, a book you devour’ Liz Loves Books
‘Immersive, beautiful, and haunting … I adored it’ Live & Deadly
‘A novel of mystic style and sensibility. West Camel tackles timeless themes of truth, power, family and justice … an extraordinary read’ Richard Fernandez
Praise for West Camel’s debut novel Attend
‘From its opening gambit to its final line, Attend demands and rewards attention’ Foreword Reviews
’With its blend of dark, gritty themes and gorgeous imagery, this is a book to make you believe there’s still magic in the world’ Heat
‘I’ve fallen in love with this absolutely glorious, spell-binding tale’ LoveReading
‘It’s a genuinely pleasurable experience to encounter something couched in such alert and transparent language as West Camel’s Attend … In three hundred finely judged pages, West Camel leaves the reader eager for more from his pen’ Barry Forshaw, CrimeTime
For fans of Sarah Moss, Bernadine Evaristo, Colm Toibin and Selina Godden
Born and bred in south London – and not the Somerset village with which he shares a name – West Camel worked as an editor in higher education and business before turning his attention to the arts and publishing. He has worked as a book and arts journalist, and was editor at Dalkey Archive Press, where he edited the Best European Fiction 2015 anthology, before moving to new press Orenda Books just after its launch. He currently combines his work as editor at Orenda with writing and editing a wide range of material for various arts organizations, including ghost-writing a New-Adult novel and editing The Riveter magazine for the European Literature Network. He has also written several short scripts, which have been produced in London’s fringe theatres, and was longlisted for the Old Vic’s 12 playwrights project. Attend, his first novel was shortlisted for the Polari prize.
