THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER WINNER OF THE BOOKS ARE MY BAG BREAKTHROUGH AUTHOR AWARD Kae Tempest's critically acclaimed debut novel, the literary companion to their Mercury-Prize nominated album Everybody Down, takes us into the beating heart of the capital in this multi-generational tale of drugs, desire and belonging 'Soaring . Tempest's flair for language is tempered by their sense of rhythm and pace . Deeply affecting: cinematic in scope; touching in its empathic humanity . Tempest's voice - by turns raging and tender - never falters' New York Times Young Londoners Becky, Harry and Leon are leaving town in a fourth-hand Ford Cortina with a suitcase full of money. They are running from jealous boyfriends, dead-end jobs, violent maniacs and disgruntled drug dealers, in the hope of escaping the restless tedium of life in south-east London - the place they have always called home. ________________________ *This book has been printed with two different cover designs. We are unable to accept requests for a specific cover. The different covers will be assigned to orders at random* Tempest gets at foundations: If families are houses, then each family member is a cracked brick . This might be Tempest's first novel, but it's also poetry . By artfully intertwining the stories of people who are broken by the city they love, The Bricks That Built the Houses creates a complex narrative that rarely falters and eventually coheres into a strong and lyrical whole