Briefly Very Beautiful

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

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

In a land destabilised by a series of interconnected crises (unsafe air, Exceptional Danger Days, wildfires, floods, viruses, shortages, social disorder, and an Incel terror organisation), Cass is raising three small children by herself in the city. Her husband, Nathaniel, has gone to serve as a medic in a war overseas.

But life in the city, where most of the buildings stand empty, where rubbish piles high on the scorching pavements, is becoming increasingly impossible, and 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 with his mother in the countryside.

But as Cass will learn, first in her mother-in-law’s house, and then in the land beyond the border, not all sanctuaries are what they seem – especially in a world where the old structures and rituals have been shattered.

Sultry, claustrophobic, sensual and vivid, Briefly Very Beautiful is an unforgettable portrait of a family at the end of the world. An original and timely interrogation into how and why we parent with the world on fire, it announces the arrival of a major new talent.