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Bleaker House

Chasing My Novel to the End of the World

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Bleaker House

By: Nell Stevens
Narrated by: Nell Stevens
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'My favourite debut of 2017 . . . as funny as it is poignant' Lena Dunham

When Nell Stevens was given the opportunity to spend three months in a location of her choice in order to write her novel, she was determined to rid herself of all distractions. So Nell decided to travel to Bleaker Island (official population: two) in the Falklands where she would write 2,500 words a day.

But Bleaker House is not that novel. Instead this is a book about a young woman realizing that the way to writing fiction doesn't necessarily lie in total solitude and a clear plan. Nor does it lie in a daily ration of 1085 calories, no means of contacting the outside world and a slow descent towards something that feels worryingly like madness . . .

Hilariously funny, painfully honest, and beautifully observed, Bleaker House is part memoir, part travelogue, part story collection. It is an exploration of the narrow spaces between real life and fiction and, in the end, a book about failing to write a novel, but finally becoming a writer.

 Anthologies & Short Stories Short Stories Funny Memoir
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Critic reviews

Perfect (Lena Dunham)
The perfect read for anyone who has ever considered themselves "a writer"
Bleaker House swirls text, subtext, and context into a single narrative, a mesmerizing literary levitation act . . . lovely and thoughtful
It's not only her fellow writers who will be captivated by Stevens's meditative, engagingly comic reflection on the three months she spent working on a novel
One of the most original, entertaining, and thought-provoking books I have ever read about the difficulty of writing a book
Hilarious and original, charming and engaging. I loved it (Rebecca Wait, author of The View on the Way Down and The Followers)
Nell Stevens takes you on a wild ramble across the landscape of the writing life, and at the end sets you down somewhere entirely new and unexpected. This is a romp of a book, a genre-defying feat of the imagination, and pure pleasure to read. (Alison Pick, Booker-longlisted author of Far to Go)
I read Bleaker House in a gulp. It's a charming read whose first third has a laugh a page before Nell's odyssey turns into something more serious. You can't, just by attending writing school, learn how to produce fine writing. This clever and funny book shows you may also want to get out and experience the world, and yourself, as well. (Dan Boothby, author of Island of Dreams)
Bleaker House is so riveting and so much fun to read, I would have loved it even if it hadn't also been innovative and brilliant, but it is all those things. Nell Stevens is an excellent writer and I can't wait to read every book she writes. (Kate Christensen, author of PEN/Faulkner-winning The Great Man)
Entertaining . . . A thought-provoking reflection on writers and writing
I wolfed this wholly original part-memoir, part travelogue, part short story collection in one sitting, and adored it. As well as being funny, edgy, confiding, and ever so slightly horrifying, it's also a fascinating reflection on writing: how it is taught, and how it is learned. And you'll never look at a potato - or a Ferrero Rocher chocolate - in quite the same way again
Fresh and spirited . . . A delightful literary debut
There's something alluringly Victorian about the whole book . . . In our increasingly small and connected world, narratives that tackle the peculiar senses of loneliness and remove, and the effects they have on the self, are increasingly rare . . . Bleaker House never devolves into a stunt book. Instead, Stevens charts a path of personal and professional exploration tinged with both sadness and humor
An inventive memoir about a young writer's struggle to find her literary footing
A whimsical, good-humored, yearning-filled, thought-provoking read
Quirky and engaging . . . A captivating portrait of the creative life
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