Glass Houses

''Through a dewy sheen of teen nostalgia, Reece deftly explores the weight of political events on individual lives. Her supple, visceral prose evokes North Wales in all its complexity, beautifully rendered in water, resin and sky'' Jessica Andrews, author of Saltwater and Milk Teeth ''Francesca Reece is a devastatingly compelling new voice in literary fiction'' Louise O''Neill, author of Asking For It and Idol _ Somewhere, in a box in Margot Yates'' attic there''s a video of Gethin by the lake at Ty Gwydr. He''s young - nineteen, maybe twenty. It''s late spring and dusk, and a low sun leaks white light into the horizon behind the dark fringe of trees. Olwen is filming. Gethin narrows his eyes at the camera. Her bodiless voice says to him, I love it here. He says, good. This place is ours. Forester Gethin Thomas is struggling to make ends meet in his rural hometown in North Wales. Bright, charming, but unambitious, the thing that keeps him going is Ty Gwydr, a beautiful lakeside house that he keeps an eye on for absent English owners. The house has been empty for so long he''s come to think of it as his own. That is until the owners decide to sell, sending Geth into freefall. And when he discovers that Olwen, his first love who left him and their small town for a new life in London, has returned to North Wales with her husband, Geth and Olwen will find themselves pulled back into the past and what could have been - or still could be. But soon mysterious messages start arriving at the house, and they must question whether this is the love story they thought it was, or whether there might be something altogether more sinister lurking beneath the surface.

Préface
From the author of Voyeur comes this intimate and profound love story set in North Wales, where past and present collide. For readers of Megan Nolan, Sally Rooney and Tessa Hadley

Auteur
Francesca Reece is a writer from North Wales. Her debut novel, Voyeur, was published by Tinder Press in 2021. She was the 2019 recipient of the Desperate Literature Prize, and has had work featured in The London Magazine, Banshee, and Elle UK. She is now based in London.

Texte du rabat

From the author of Voyeur comes this intimate and profound love story set in North Wales, where past and present collide. For readers of Megan Nolan, Sally Rooney and Tessa Hadley

Résumé

'Desire, class and Welsh nationalism prove a combustible combination in this brooding literary romance' Observer

'At once a love story and a simmering tale of class, identity, and masculinity' i paper

'Evokes North Wales in all its complexity, in water, resin and sky' Jessica Andrews
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Geth and Olwen live in different worlds. Olwen left North Wales for London to become a filmmaker and lives with her banker husband. Geth stayed in their rural hometown and works as a forester. They were in love once, but now they are strangers to each other.

That is, until Olwen returns, moving into the lakeside house that Geth looks after for absent English owners; the house he has come to think of as his own. Before they know it, they find themselves pulled back together - back into the past and what could have been - or still could be. Taking us from the incendiary world of radical politics in Thatcher's Britain to the housing crisis of the present day, Glass Houses is a story about love and friendship, about class and rural life, and about the disappointments of those who leave and those who stay.
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'A beautiful novel about class, first love and how places can define us' Good Housekeeping

'A cinematic page-turner' Buzz Magazine