Broken

About the Author ~ Daniel Clay
Daniel Clay is thirty seven years old and married with no children. He lives in Hampshire in the UK.

Exclusive Amazon.co.uk Interview with Daniel Clay

What is Broken. A Novel about?

Part narrated by Skunk Cunningham, an eleven-year-old girl in a coma, Broken. A Novel tells the intertwining stories of three families who live in a suburban square in the south of England. The Oswalds - Bob and his five daughters - are the neighbors from hell. They lie, steal, cheat, bully and intimidate anyone unlucky enough to be anywhere near them, including Rick Buckley, a geeky but harmless nineteen-year-old boy who lives with his mum and dad on the other side of the square. Humiliated publicly by the Oswalds in the early stages of the novel, Rick descends into madness and becomes the Broken of the title. Skunk, her brother Jed and their new friend Dillon become fascinated with what's happened to Broken which, in turn, leads to Skunk ending up in the coma from which she narrates the story.

What inspired you to write it?

My starting point were the family structures in Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird and how much society has changed in the eighty or so years since the events depicted in that novel took place. Once I had that starting point, I wanted to write about life as I saw it at the time I was writing - mad and cruel and random, yet always capable of surprising you, and always somehow worthwhile.

Who are your literary influences?

As a teenager, James Herbert and Stephen King were huge influences because they created characters I believed in and cared about. Since then, I've tended to love individual novels rather than particular authors. Orwell's 1984, Ken Kesey's One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-time, and Kem Nunn's Tapping The Source are all novels I've now read several times (and wish I had written).

If you could recommend just one "must-read book" to anyone, what would it be and why?

Clive Barker's Weaveworld. The same as the Harry Potter series, it has that knack of layering the fantastical over everyday life, but it's darker and sexier and tinged with more horror as well. A magical read.

What top tips do you have for anyone looking to write their first book?

Write for the thrill of it and write for yourself. Try to surprise yourself. Try to shock yourself. Never try to write something that doesn't excite you right from the outset. Never try to write what you think an editor or agent wants you to write. Think about how you can grab a reader's attention and then not let them put your work down. Look at the writers who do this to you and compare their style to your style. Try to understand why they're different. Try to do something about it. Read as widely as you can. Polish as hard as you can. And, most of all, have fun, enjoy yourself, challenge yourself, and never let the rejections stop you from writing.

Reviews for Broken. A Novel

We are not the only ones to love this book. Check out a selection of reviews below. As you can see a lot of the reviews have been written by our own Amazon customers. These are reviewers from our Amazon Vine programme. Scroll down to the customer review section to see all of the reviews submitted.

Bold, prescient, engaging, and oddly touching. Guardian

A stunning first book … I'd be amazed if it doesn't get short-listed at awards time. Murray, Amazon Vine top reviewer

Daniel Clay has managed to weave a tale that simultaneously highlights some of the more disturbing aspects of contemporary British society whilst capturing some of the sweet innocence of a child's mind... gripping. H. Pierce, Amazon Vine top reviewer

Reminiscent of Angela's Ashes set in the present day - there is humour and warmth, and a surprisingly upbeat, satisfying ending. I think this is probably the best new fiction I have read in the last year. P. M. Fernandez, Amazon Vine top reviewer

This book grabbed me and I could not put it down… It will make you laugh, cry and gasp with horror. Kehs, Amazon Vine top reviewer

Beautifully written … I couldn't put the book down. It contains humour and is incredibly touching. I will certainly be looking out for Daniel Clay's next book. Recommended to all. SM, Amazon Vine top reviewer

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soap opera at its best - Rated
This has been for me the most unputdownable book I have read this year. Great characters, sad and tragic at times, touching but not funny in my opinion. To be honest I wouldn't watch this as a film as so much is conveyed in the narrative that it wouldn't be the same .I think it is the quality of writing that made this such a good book.

Well worth a read - Rated
This is a rather unusual book, certainly very different from anything I have read before. Firstly, it is largely very bleak, centering on the destruction caused by an unruly family within a council estate. While the manner in which the family causes trouble and gets away with it probably has some truth in the real world, I would prefer to think that it is an exaggeration. It seems that the unpleasant nature of various events put other reviewers off this book. However, I don't see why every book has to pleasant to read. That said, the story isn't without rays of light and it is an extremely thought-provoking read about council-estate society.

Clay's caricature as comical and half full as it is cynical and half empty - Rated
Daniel Clay's debut success lies in his incisive placing of the fundamentals of the human psyche in a contemporary social context that we can all identify. Clay's caricature of many of the negative and self-defeating aspects of the way we live out our unsolicited existence is as comical and relevant as it is cynical and depressing.

Title character Rick "Broken" Buckley's ill fated interactions with the unlikeable Oswalds provide the axis to the main events, whilst much of the narrative and explanation of the ridiculous yet recognisable sequence of cause and consequence is provided by the single strand of inspiration that is the eleven year old Skunk Cunningham. Skunk is the 'hero of the film' and her final summary of the scenario in which she finds herself, as well as her (un)conscious decision to embrace life despite all that she has witnessed, evidences Clay's balance of the positive and negative in our world.

The most important thing that should be expected of a book such as this is to be entertained. A deeply compelling read, "Broken" achieves that throughout and more. At his first attempt, Clay asks several piercing questions about human nature and our social environment, challenging the reader to answer these on his or her terms by painting a picture that many of us recognise, even if we dare not admit it.

Fantastic Debut - Realism at its best - Rated
What a brilliant read - a beautiful blend of right verses wrong intertwined with hope, love and family ties. The other reviews paint a picture of what the book is about so I won't repeat. This was a great find - I look forward to reading more books by Clay. This is a book that I could and would recommend to all my family and friends.

A great read - Rated
A bleak look at life in Modern Britain.
Sad, funny, touching and gripping throughout.