Vendor
	Liepman Literary Agency Marc Koralnik
Original language
English
Weblink
http://www.moniqueroffey.co.uk

HOUSE OF ASHES

Monique Roffey

HOUSE OF ASHES recounts a disastrous political coup on an unnamed Caribbean island

Set on the fictional island of Sans Amen, this is the story of a botched coup d'état told from the point of view of a gunman and a hostage. Ashes, a spiritually ambitious and conscientious gunman, soon finds himself way out of his depth in the House of Power where a plan to overthrow the government backfires immediately.

Aspasia Garland, a minister taken hostage, tries to keep her calm amongst the mayhem, and finds her mothering instincts help her survive amongst the boy soldiers.

Breeze, a teenager swept up, survives the chaos and comes out of hiding decades later to confront his crime and ask questions about the nature of power.

Monique spent her childhood in Trinidad, Papua New Guinea and Australia. She worked as a journalist, and for The British Council, Amnesty International, and was the Centre Director for the Arvon Foundation. Monique has an MA in creative writing from Lancaster, and was a Royal Literary Fund Fellow at Sussex and Chichester Universities.

Winner: OCM Bocas Prize 2013; Shortlisted: Costa Book Awards 2014; Orion Book Awards 2014; Encore Prize 2011; Orange Prize 2010

Available products
Book Published 2014-06-01 by Simon and Schuster

Comments

"Deploying the deep, humane wisdom that has become a hallmark of Roffey's increasingly sure writing, the novel delivers its final, bittersweet coup with fearlessness and grace that richly satisfies."

"Monique Roffey's tragicomic take on this almost forgotten episode, strips revolution of any pretence of glamour as funny as it is unsettling."

"Grimmly absorbing ... Roffey's knuckle-whitening novel goes to the heart of questions of political temptation and folly; it grips form beginning to end."

"Roffey's writing is raw and visceral and she thrusts her readers headlong into the very middle of the action, her pen as powerful as the butts of the guns shoved in her hostages' backs."

"Roffey is an invigorating story-teller. The tense, stifling scenes within the besieged House of Power, as the hostage-takers and their hostages carve out unexpected relationships, are beautifully done and her compassion for her characters are never in doubt."

"[a] laudable piece of literary work."

"House of Ashes is a sympathetic and fresh look at what motivates young men to become radicalised. Parents and governments are indicted for leaving them vulnerable to exploitation. .The violence is shocking, because it is realistic rather than a plot device. The terror of the hostage takers is as palpable as that of the hostages."