Briefly Very Beautiful

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What to expect

Bloomsbury presents Briefly Very Beautiful by Roz Dineen, read by Kristin Atherton.

A startlingly beautiful story of a family's survival, and an unforgettable dystopian vision of a familiar world in flames

Shortlisted for the Climate Fiction Prize 2024
A Spectator Book of the Year 2024

'Impossible to put down' Daily Telegraph

'Instantly immersive, beautifully imagined, this is an unflinching but inspiring story about some things we're going to lose, and other things we must never lose' Lee Child

'Left me breathless: it is a stunning, poetic, impelling story of love and survival, which I could not stop reading ... An incredible novel' Jodie Whittaker

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The world is on fire. And what will you do?

In a city rocked by global catastrophe, home-grown terrorism, shortages and wildfires, Cass is quietly raising three small children by herself. Her husband, Nathaniel, has left to serve as a medic in a war overseas.

As life in the city becomes increasingly impossible, Cass knows she can no longer wait for Nathaniel’s return. Packing up their lives, she and the children set off in search of a place of greater safety.

But Cass will learn that not all promises and not all sanctuaries are what they seem – and as the fires around them begin to close in, she’ll discover just how far she’ll go for her children in a world teetering on apocalypse.

Sensual, claustrophobic and vivid, Briefly Very Beautiful announces the arrival of a major new talent, painting an unforgettable portrait of a mother trying to hold her family together.

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'Beautiful and timely, tough yet tender ...This is an important book and I devoured it' Clover Stroud

'Gorgeous, fierce and haunting ... A book that is, quite literally, on fire. Very beautiful and all-too brief' Catherine Taylor

'A story that burns from the page. Dineen writes about motherhood and the climate crisis with piercing clarity' Amy Twigg, author of Spoilt Creatures

'A haunting vision of our slow-motion apocalypse. This is exactly what it will be like' Michael LaPointe, author of The Creep

Critics Review

Instantly immersive, beautifully imagined, this is an unflinching but inspiring story about some things we're going to lose, and other things we must never lose
LEE CHILD
The best novel I have read this year ... In the tradition of haunting dystopian fiction by women (Doris Lessing, Ursula K. Le Guin, Margaret Atwood), Briefly Very Beautiful is a poetic and sensual page-turner that perfectly captures motherhood on the brink of apocalypse
SPECTATOR, Books of the Year
Dineen is an extraordinary writer
EVENING STANDARD, The best books to read this summer
Impossible to put down ... Hauntingly realistic, disturbing, stylish, raw and urgent
DAILY TELEGRAPH
A disturbing but ultimately hopeful dystopian novel
GRAZIA
A haunting vision of our slow-motion apocalypse. This is exactly what it will be like
MICHAEL LaPOINTE, author of The Creep
A story that burns from the page. Dineen writes about motherhood and the climate crisis with piercing clarity
AMY TWIGG, author of Spoilt Creatures
An incredible novel ... Briefly Very Beautiful left me breathless. It is a stunning, poetic, impelling story of love and survival, which I could not stop reading
JODIE WHITTAKER
In her debut novel, Roz Dineen unforgettably captures the fear and frenzy of a dystopian future that is coming ever closer. Her prose is gorgeous; her characters fierce and haunting. A book that is, quite literally, on fire. Very beautiful and all-too brief
CATHERINE TAYLOR
A beautiful and timely novel, combining a tough yet tender-eyed depiction of motherhood with clear-sighted commentary on the climate crisis. This is an important book and I devoured it
CLOVER STROUD
A poetic and sensual page-turner that perfectly captures motherhood on the brink of apocalypse
Spectator

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