Fires Which Burned Brightly

In Fires Which Burned Brightly, Faulks, a reluctant memoirist, invites readers on a series of musings on a steeply changing world: from a post-war childhood – ‘cold mutton, beef dripping and wet washing on a rack over the range’ – in rural Berkshire, to the boozy heights of ‘70s Fleet Street, and a career as the author of nineteen acclaimed books including Birdsong. It is infused with a recognition, that only comes with time, of the profoundly formative influence of one’s parents and looks askance at how we become who we are.

In this wise and wryly funny essay collection, Faulks looks back at a life which encompasses not one, but two, daring escapes from boarding school; the heady delirium of a jetlagged book tour; and countless memorable trips across the channel to France. These reflections give voice to a generation and come to form a tender, insightful portrait of one of our greatest living novelists.

Sharply perceptive and peppered with generous wit, Fires Which Burned Brightly is a work of subtle yet profound intelligence and warmth.