A Real Piece of Work

This is a new book. Condition: Brand New.

The debut novel from the Nero Book Award shortlistee

THE NERO BOOK AWARD SHORTLISTED AUTHOR

'Sharp, tender, and bracingly honest' OIS N MCKENNA
'A beautiful story about grief and fractured families' Prima
'Introspective, funny, philosophical, and bringing the outside world in' EMMA GANNON
'A tender and intricate novel . . . It's like looking at a family portrait through the shards of a broken frame' WILLIAM RAYFET HUNTER
'Sharply observed, and deeply human.' JENNIE GODFREY
'A sparkling ode to sisterhood and finding the sublime in the everyday' SHARLENE TEO

What does it mean for a stranger to think you're brave?

Nola McConkey has made it. Animal Oracle, the memoir she has written about her beloved late sister Darina, has become a hit. People read it, critics loved it, producers now want to make it into a movie. There's only one problem: everyone in her family has an opinion about the book - and none of them are good.

Now, someone has made an anonymous complaint to her publisher about Animal Oracle. Nola is sure that only someone in her secretive, chaotic family could be to blame. As her parents and three remaining siblings prepare to spend the fifth anniversary of Darina's death together on the isolated island of Lundy, Nola knows this is the perfect opportunity to convince her accuser to pull the complaint before it causes irreparable damage - but first, she must discover who made it.

A Real Piece of Work is a sparkling and spiky story of complicated families and even more complicated sisters, narrated with tenderness, nuance and wit.

***PRAISE FOR FREYA BROMLEY***
'Immersive and compelling' CATHY RENTZENBRINK
'Beautiful, brilliantly written' EMMA GANNON
'Astonishing . . . raw, poignant, bracing' GUARDIAN

Book details and technical specifications

Format: Hardback
ISBN13: 9781529155433
Published: June 2026

Number of pages: 368
Width: 145 mm
Height: 225 mm
Depth: 34 mm

Publisher: Cornerstone