Broken - by Daniel Clay (Paperback)

About the Book

"Broken" is a dark, wry, and utterly addictive debut novel that follows the sudden unraveling of a suburban community after a single act of thoughtless cruelty.

From the Back Cover

Until that fateful afternoon, Skunk Cunningham had been a normal little girl, playing on the curb in front of her house. Rick Buck-ley had been a normal geeky teen-ager, hosing off his brand-new car. Bob Oswald had been a normal sociopathic single father of five slutty daughters, charging furiously down the side-walk. Then Bob was beating Rick to a bloody pulp, right there in the Buckleys' driveway, and life on Drummond Square was never the same again.

Inspired by Harper Lee's classic To Kill a Mockingbird, Clay's brilliantly observed and darkly funny novel follows the sudden unraveling of a sub-urban community after a single act of thoughtless cruelty.

Review Quotes

"Daniel Clay tells the truth about childhood in the modern world, and captures all the elements of a great novel: suspense, desperation, love, and death." - Amy Bryant, author of POLLY
"Clay's debut novel is remarkably controlled and disciplined as it depicts those who spiral out of control.... Clay succeeds in inciting pity even for a murderer [and his] triumph is in exploring the kindness and love that might heal and restore - and what it is to feel fully alive." - The Independent
"This intense and intricate novel charts the fascinating, often frightening lives of three families in suburban Britain. Daniel Clay shows a masterful empathy for his characters, while never shying from their frailties and agonies. BROKEN is surprising, shocking, and cruelly funny at times. It's an unforgettable book." - Scott Heim, author of MYSTERIOUS SKIN and WE DISAPPEAR
"Bold, prescient, engaging." - The Guardian
"It's funny and sad and moving." - The Observer