Coventry, 1941. The morning after one of the worst nights of the Blitz. Twenty-two-year-old Rose enters the remains of a bombed house to find her best friend dead. Shocked and confused, she makes a split-second decision that will reverberate for generations to come.More than fifty years later, in modern-day Brighton, Rose's granddaughter Lara waits for the return of her eighteen-year-old son Jay. Reckless and idealistic, he has gone to Iraq to stand on a conflict line as an unarmed witness to peace.Lara holds her parents, Mollie and Rufus, partly responsible for Jay's departure. But in her attempts to explain their thwarted passions, she finds all her assumptions about her own life are called into question. Then into this damaged family come two strangers – Oliver, a former faith healer, and Jemmy, a young woman devastated by the loss of a baby. Together they help to establish a partial peace – but at what cost?

SHORTLISTED FOR THE RATHBONES FOLIO PRIZE 2019'A lyrical tour de force' GuardianLonglisted for the RSL Ondaatje Prize 20192019 Walter Scott Prize Academy recommendationIf you tell a story oft enoughSo it become trueAs the nineteenth century draws towards a close, Mary Ann Sate, an elderly maidservant, sets out to write her truth.She writes of the Valleys that she loves, of the poisonous rivalry between her employer's two sons and of a terrible choice which tore her world apart.Her haunting and poignant story brings to life a period of strife and rapid social change, and evokes the struggles of those who lived in poverty and have been forgotten by history.In this fictional found memoir, novelist Alice Jolly uses the astonishing voice of Mary Ann to recreate history as seen from a woman's perspective and to give joyful, poetic voice to the silenced...

Words begin to lose their meanings, flaking off into air like moths. Friendships cultivated over a lifetime fall apart in testing circumstances. What does the stranger with yellow eyes really want?From Far Around They Saw Us Burn is the eagerly awaited first short story collection from Alice Jolly, one of the most exciting and accomplished voices in British fiction today.The extraordinary range of work gathered here is united by a fascination with how everyday interactions can transform our lives in unpredictable ways. These are stories of lonely people, outcasts and misfits, and the ghosts that inhabit our intimate spaces. The result is a compelling, arresting and, at times, devastating collection – not least in the title story, which was inspired by the tragic true events of the 1943 Cavan orphanage fire.Written with an exemplary eye for detail and an intimate understanding of the complexities of human nature, Jolly's collection builds up towards...

Adrift in the surreal world of perestroika Moscow, Eva Raven is haunted by confused memories of her father. When her boyfriend Rob discovers that her godmother, Maya, is also in Moscow, Eva is keen to meet her to find some answers. But when Eva meets Maya, she also encounters Jack Flame, an ageing American living on borrowed time; a doctor, an astronomer – and possibly a spy.Immediately fascinated, Eva is convinced that Jack understands her and can help her. But what begins as a friendship of the mind soon turns into a relationship of frightening intensity. Torn between the loyalty she feels for Rob and her obsession with Jack Flame, Eva begins to uncover disturbing information about her past. But whose version of events should she trust? And does she really want to know the truth? As Moscow slides towards political and economic collapse, memories of the past rise to the surface, threatening Eva's sanity, and finally her life.

Disgraced Tory politician, Max, is unable to shake off the whiff of scandal following the suspicious death of his best friend's wife. His daughter, Maggie, believes she witnessed something which confirms Max's guilt – but she has told no one what she saw that terrible night. Max's mother, Nanda, living an unconventional life in a ramshackle cottage in Gloucestershire, observes it all with the detachment of one who is nearing her death.As these three characters move through a crucial few months, events unfold in their alternating voices, and so the truth behind the headlines gradually emerges. In this assured and acute observation of ordinary lives under extraordinary pressure, Alice Jolly explores the complex nature of the bond between mother and son, father and daughter, and examines what happens when that bond is stretched to breaking point and the most basic loyalties are called into question.