Fires Which Burned Brightly: A Life in Progress

'A wise and heartfelt piece of writing' THE TIMES

'Witty' INDEPENDENT

'Wry and reflective . . . a soulful look at a life in words' i PAPER

‘A wonderful portrait of an age, and of a writer’ RORY STEWART, author of Politics on the Edge

‘Utterly fascinating’ DAVID KYNASTON, author of A Northern Wind

'Shot through with the kind of depth and detail that can only come from a masterful writer finally turning his pen to his own life. Fresh, wise and finely-wrought' ALICE WINN, author of In Memoriam

‘As charming and funny in schoolboy episodes as he is thought-provoking in the darker environs of mental health, Sebastian Faulks is always resonant, civilised and sane’ MARK KNOPFLER

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In Fires Which Burned Brightly, Faulks, a reluctant memoirist, offers readers a series of detailed snapshots from a life in progress. They include a post-war rural childhood – ‘cold mutton and wet washing on a rack over the range’ – the booze-sodden heyday of Fleet Street and a career as one of the country’s most acclaimed novelists.

There are not one, but two daring escapes from boarding school; the delirium of a jetlagged American book tour; the writing of Birdsong in his brother’s house in 1992; and memorable trips across the channel to France. Politics, psychiatry and frustrated ventures into the world of entertainment are analysed with patience and rueful humour.

The book is driven by a desire ‘to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.’ It ends with a tribute to Faulks’s parents and a sense of how his own generation was shaped by the disruptive power of war and its aftermath.
Sharply perceptive and alive with a generous wit, Fires Which Burned Brightly is a work of subtle yet profound intelligence and warmth.

PRAISE FOR SEBASTIAN FAULKS

'Faulks writes with great emotional authority' SUNDAY TIMES

'A prodigiously talented writer' NEW YORK TIMES

'Faulks is beyond doubt a master' FINANCIAL TIMES

'The most impressive novelist of his generation' SUNDAY TELEGRAPH