Fires Which Burned Brightly

Sebastian Faulks

$45

Hardback

Forthcoming
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English

Hutchinson
02 September 2025

Biography; Memoirs

A new, wise and warmly funny work of memoir from bestselling novelist Sebastian Faulks

A new work of memoir from bestselling novelist Sebastian Faulks 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.

By: Sebastian Faulks
Imprint: Hutchinson
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 222mm, Width: 138mm, Spine: 40mm
Weight: 500g
ISBN: 9781529154658
ISBN 10: 1529154650
Pages: 400
Publication Date: 02 September 2025
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Sebastian Faulks has written nineteen books, of which A Week in December and The Fatal Englishman were number one in the Sunday Times bestseller lists. He is best known for Birdsong, part of his French trilogy, and Human Traces, the first in an ongoing Austrian trilogy. Before becoming a full-time writer, he worked as a journalist on national papers. He has also written screenplays and has appeared in small roles on stage. He lives in London.