The Broken Pane by Charlie Roy will be published with Leamington Books October 1st. Set in the West-Coast of Scotland, the novel centres on Tam and her journey through life, hardship and memory after the suicide of her younger brother. It is described as ‘dark, emotional and nostalgic…a unique coming of age tale from the female perspective’.
It is a pleasure today to bring you all an extract from The Broken Pane which I do hope you enjoy and perhaps will whet your appetite for more!
[ About the Book ]
The Broken Pane is about loss and family when families are broken. Finding yourself in the pieces of memory. About a young woman and her search for answers.
In her early twenties, Tam rushes to her childhood flat only to be confronted by a tragic discovery. Anchored by the weight of family lore, she struggles to come to terms with her loss. As her life spirals, she sets off to find the one person who may hold the answers: her mother.
Tam’s travels take her far from a home which was more broken than she had ever realised.
Walking the line between reliable memory and unreliable narrator, Charlie Roy’s debut novel invites you to consider whether you are shaped by your past ― or if you shape your past yourself?
[ Extract ]
The hall was filled with the grey light of an unloved place. Ahead, I could see that the kitchen light was on, the yellow glow anaemic. I walked down the hall, passing the under-stair cupboard to my left, the sitting room to my right, all beige, brown and saggy. The kitchen was an absolute tip. The table was strewn with empty bottles, overflowing ashtrays. All the counters were covered too. Crumbs, crumpled empties, cigarette papers, filters, clumps of shredded tobacco, a half-litre vodka bottle, beer bottles. As though he had been out partying with his mates, had a late one and left the detritus for the morning. Except there was only one chair, pushed back under the table. Everything was positioned towards the chair, even a cigarette that had burnt down the most of its length and lay in the ashtray. Only one person had made use of all of this. How long had this been going on? The sound of the radio came back into focus. Where was it coming from? I titled my head to work out which room. Somewhere upstairs. I thought he must have passed out drunk or high in his room. The memory of the time I found him lying in his vomit flashed in front of my eyes. I needed to get to the Chemist to open the shop, and I certainly did not want to be scrubbing a carpet in my work clothes. “Get up Bugs! The place is a mess. I’m not cleaning this up again, you know! This is totally disgusting. For fuck’s sake!” I marched up the stairs, irritation rising fast. I had told him not to stay here unless he was prepared to keep it tidy. I had always cleaned up after him. I was fed up with it. I pushed the bathroom door open. It had been years since the lock had been forced open, never to work again. There he was, in the bath. Asleep. No. Not asleep. I screamed. I took a deep breath. I think I screamed again. It was a strange guttural sound that exploded out of my ribcage.
[ Bio ]
Debut novelist Charlie Roy is the author of THE BROKEN PANE. A well-known face on the Scottish poetry scene, Charlie has performed at the BBC Slam, the Edinburgh International Book Festival and Edinburgh Fringe. In prose as in poetry, her work focuses on women’s lives, mental health and family.
Charlie was born in London and grew up in Spain, eventually trading the sunshine for Scottish wind, making Edinburgh home. She drinks too much coffee and loves long beach walks with her labradoodle.
Twitter – @DayInSpace
Thats quite the extract! Definitely adding this to my tbr!!
It’s very enticing isn’t it? Thanks Yvonne