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A Real Piece of Work
Not yet published
Expected 11 Jun 26
What does it mean for a stranger to think you’re brave? Readers called me ‘raw’ because I wrote about crying into takeaway containers and drunk texting my dead sister’s number. People wanted to believe it was fearless of me to broadcast my breakdown, but the truth was that I’d curated that messiness until it was just the right kind of chaos.
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. The dream of quitting her job and becoming a full-time writer in London doesn’t seem so far away. There’s only one everyone in her family has an opinion about the book – and none of them are good. Though Nola can’t let it affect her. It’s the price she must pay for the life she wants.
But now, someone has made an anonymous complaint to her publisher about Animal Oracle. Suddenly, her hard-won reputation as a literary darling is at stake. 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, exploring who owns grief and who gets to tell the story of those who are gone and those left behind with tenderness, nuance and wit.
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. The dream of quitting her job and becoming a full-time writer in London doesn’t seem so far away. There’s only one everyone in her family has an opinion about the book – and none of them are good. Though Nola can’t let it affect her. It’s the price she must pay for the life she wants.
But now, someone has made an anonymous complaint to her publisher about Animal Oracle. Suddenly, her hard-won reputation as a literary darling is at stake. 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, exploring who owns grief and who gets to tell the story of those who are gone and those left behind with tenderness, nuance and wit.
Kindle Edition
Expected publication June 11, 2026
70 people want to read
About the author
Freya Bromley
3 books40 followersFreya Bromley is a writer living in London. Her work focuses on love, loss and healing through nature. The Tidal Year is her first book and is shortlisted for the Nero Book Awards 2023.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
January 9, 2026
an excellent and intricate portrait of a complex family navigating grief
January 4, 2026
Well… what a debut. I enjoyed Freya’s memoir, ‘The Tidal Year’, so I was keen to get a proof of her upcoming debut novel.
I’d describe this book as an ode to the enduring bond between siblings, not painted in a matching-pyjama-wearing familial ideal, but exactly as these relationships often are: complicated, nostalgic, infuriating and sustaining. I thought the relationships with her brothers were particularly well-captured and felt true to life — who else but a brother could know exactly what to say to piss you off, but you’ll also agree to a middle of the night adventure with?
The novel charts the ebbs and flows of disdain, love and the tangled net of grief Nola’s family find themselves in after Darina’s death, and the experience of being raised in the same family and each emerging different people.
One of the things that draws me most to Freya’s writing is how she writes nature in an accessible and city-literate way. Much like after reading ‘The Tidal Year’, I felt simultaneously inspired to spend some more time outside *and* as though I had just spent some time in nature. The prose is addictive and woven with well-considered metaphors, most of which are nature themed. I particularly enjoyed the ways light was described in both Lundy and London.
Final thought — I don’t think Freya gets enough credit for her humour, it has that rare quality of still being funny when read out loud.
Everyone’s in for a treat in June when this comes out and they get to spend some time in Lundy with the lighting storm that is the McConkey family. Get this on your TBR now.
Congratulations, Freya.
I’d describe this book as an ode to the enduring bond between siblings, not painted in a matching-pyjama-wearing familial ideal, but exactly as these relationships often are: complicated, nostalgic, infuriating and sustaining. I thought the relationships with her brothers were particularly well-captured and felt true to life — who else but a brother could know exactly what to say to piss you off, but you’ll also agree to a middle of the night adventure with?
The novel charts the ebbs and flows of disdain, love and the tangled net of grief Nola’s family find themselves in after Darina’s death, and the experience of being raised in the same family and each emerging different people.
One of the things that draws me most to Freya’s writing is how she writes nature in an accessible and city-literate way. Much like after reading ‘The Tidal Year’, I felt simultaneously inspired to spend some more time outside *and* as though I had just spent some time in nature. The prose is addictive and woven with well-considered metaphors, most of which are nature themed. I particularly enjoyed the ways light was described in both Lundy and London.
Final thought — I don’t think Freya gets enough credit for her humour, it has that rare quality of still being funny when read out loud.
Everyone’s in for a treat in June when this comes out and they get to spend some time in Lundy with the lighting storm that is the McConkey family. Get this on your TBR now.
Congratulations, Freya.
March 6, 2026
I really, really liked this one! Thanks so much to HH for my copy
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews