From Far Around They Saw Us Burn- Blog Tour

Author: Alice Jolly

Publisher: Unbound

Publishing date: 30th March 2023

Many thanks to the publishing team and RRT for my copy of the book and a spot on the blog tour 

Blurb

This collection contains works such as 'Ray the Rottweiler', which won the 2014 V. S. Pritchett Memorial Prize, and 'From Far Around They Saw Us Burn', which in 2021 received an O. Henry Prize, the US's most prestigious short story award.

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 the ultimate question: what is revealed of us when we peel away the surfaces, and is it enough?

My Thoughts

This was an interesting book and concept and I wasn't fully sure how I would like it. But I soon changed my mind as the writing style allowed the stories to become immersive, moving and challenging. 

There are 15 chapters/ stories in total and the telling of each character is so different. Some are completely flawed, hard done by, intense hardship, misfits and devastation  are just some elements of the lives we read about. The intensity of how you feel for characters changes vastly so it is such a rollercoaster of emotions. Although you get some details about their lives you want to learn about them some more and it raises some questions and intrigue for both good and bad. 

The author did an amazing job in allowing each story to shine in its own right but able to deliver the complexities of each story by allowing the voices to be heard in a rich and intense way. 

About the Author

Alice Jolly is a novelist and playwright.

She won the 2014 V. S. Pritchett Memorial Prize with one of her short stories, ‘Ray the Rottweiler’, and her memoir Dead Babies and Seaside Towns won the 2016 PEN Ackerley Prize.

She has published two novels with Simon & Schuster – What the Eye Doesn’t See and If Only You Knew – and four of her plays have been produced by the professional company of the Everyman Theatre in Cheltenham.

Her novel Mary Ann Sate, Imbecile, published by Unbound in 2018, was longlisted for the RSL Ondaatje Prize and shortlisted for the Rathbones Folio Prize.

Her latest novel, Between the Regions of Kindness, was published by Unbound in 2019.

In 2021, Jolly was awarded an O. Henry Prize for her short story ‘From Far Around They Saw Us Burn’.