Monique Roffey’s new novel, HOUSE OF ASHES, is published in the UK by Scribner on 17 July. Inspired by real events, this is the haunting story of Ashes and Breeze, two disaffected young men who follow the charismatic Leader into a disastrous coup.

Monique will be around the country talking about the novel over the summer. She will be signing at several bookshops, including Waterstones Covent Garden on 23 July (in an event chaired by Eithne Farry), Waterstones Petersfield on 22 July, Blackwells Oxford on 13 August and Topping Books, Ely on 21 August.

She will also be appearing at Edinburgh Book festival, talking with Neel Mukherjee about the different ways both their books address the issue of idealistic young men railing against their societies.

HOUSE OF ASHES is already attracting praise from writers and reviewers, with blogger Naomi Frisby calling it ‘a powerful book… the best 2014 published novel I’ve read so far this year.’

Monique's second novel THE WHITE WOMAN ON THE GREEN BICYCLE was shortlisted for the Orange Prize and the Encore Prize, and ARCHIPELAGO was shortlisted for the Orion Book Award 2014 and awarded the OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature 2013.

Visit Monique's website here.

Praise for HOUSE OF ASHES:

‘This is the kind of Caribbean fiction Gabriel Garcia Marquez once wrote about – a vividness of imagination which is at once so terrible, so beautiful and so compelling that it shows you exactly how things are.’ – Kei Miller, author of WRITING DOWN THE VISION

‘With HOUSE OF ASHES, Monique Roffey breathes new and desperately needed life into the narrative of war and politics. Here is a novel that is deeply and intimately imagined, with all the great themes of love, faith, violence and death at stake on nearly every breathtaking page. ‘ – Dinaw Mengestu, author of THE BEAUTIFUL THINGS THAT HEAVEN BEARS

'Monique Roffey's brave and loving novel will stage an insurrection in your heart … Monique Roffey has an astonishing talent for self-reinvention with every book. This may be her best yet.' – Vahni Capildeo, author of UTTER

'A chilling, dark tale of an uprising gone wrong within an imagined Caribbean republic. Roffey tells this terrifying story in the simplest, clearest prose. She tackles her subject fearlessly and with enormous compassion: both breaking and melting the heart simultaneously. A beautiful, startling novel.' - Amanda Smyth, author of BLACK ROCK