"The House of Broken Bricks" by Fiona Williams

An audio book.

It's autumn. Tess, brought up in Lewisham of Jamaican ancestry, black, with an Architecture degree, is married to Richard (white, a small-scale farmer), who tempted her to live in the English village he was born in. Now she hates it. They argue a lot. They have twins, 10. Max is white and Sonny is black. Sonny, the only black in the school, is popular. Max, for reasons we're not initially told, needs counselling. He has identity issues - a section ends with Tess reading an illustrated bedtime book to him and he thinks "The last thing I remember is seeing Tom, completely covered in soot, frightened by the face looking back at him in the mirror.". Once a week Tess visits Cyril down the road. He has a terminal disease. Their boat, Bernadette, is kept by Cyril's jetty. Tess doesn't want to be reminded of it. Floods last for 3 weeks. Richard drinks and has unexplained absences.

They have a subdued Xmas. [Ah, I'm beginning to think that Sonny is dead. Max uses "we", and sees/hears Sonny. Tess reacts to what Max says Sonny's doing.] Tess and Max visit Tess's mother in London. Tess's older sister Peaches is there, with her son Nathan. Tess's mother, a widow, says she's going to sell up and move to Jamaica. Peaches tries to set Tess up with David. David gets her a job. She finds a place for Max for the next year in a London school. When they return home, Tess discovers she's pregnant - a forgotten drunken night with Richard. She keeps it secret. Sonny senses the foetus. Sonny says "I died on a summer's day" - a boating accident. Cyril dies. When villagers see that Tess is pregnant they see it as sign that Tess and Richard have got over their problems. Tess changes her mind about moving with Max to London.

Richard's been secretly preparing a polytunnel in their garden, with Jamaican plants and parakeets (naturalised, not foreigners). It's for her. And Cyril's left them money. Maybe it'll all work out.

Sections are from the 4 main characters' PoVs (Richard 3rd-person, the rest 1st). The boys (Sonny in particular) are thoughtful, observant, and poetic. They discuss their parents' relationship. It's not that the author is describing in adult language the insights and feelings that 10 year-olds have. They think and feel like adults even though they don't behave like them - "gossamer", "my quiet feet follow the rhythm of silence", "her voice sinks into me", "till darkness spilt". The status of Sonny is hinted at several times before it's revealed. I think Tess changes her mind/emotions too easily at the end.

Other reviews

• Stephanie Merritt (an elderly lady tells 10-year-old Max Hembry that the broken bricks employed to build his family’s cottage were also used as ballast at sea, “to weigh down them clipper ships sent to collect sugar from the Caribbean … yes, where your nana and grandad came from”. The symbolism could not be more explicit: that which appears damaged can, from a different perspective, offer stability.)
• aminasbookshelf (the standout element of this novel is how delicately she treats the themes. ... At times, I also wanted Tess and Richard to just split up and get a divorce, because it started to feel a tad repetitive. However, there were enough plot escalations to keep me interested)
• Gannah Elsoul (There is a childhood innocence to the children’s chapters, an overriding feeling anxiety in Tessa’s chapters, and a sense of isolation in Richard’s chapters. ... The story’s only weak point is that it becomes a little too repetitive, as the reader becomes the onlooker of a growing rift in Tessa and Richard’s marriage and parenthood. Although we root for some productive communication and intimacy between the married couple, the placid hum of their detachment continues)