The Brickworks: Review by Heather Baillie Brown

My Favourite Book of 2024!

Review by heatherbailliebrown on Instagram:

Lucy E.M. Black’s incredible gift for storytelling swept me away to what would have been my Scottish grandparents’ first early days here in Canada. I found myself smiling throughout the pages of this beautiful book as Black’s words repeatedly reminded me of the old black and white photographs of my grandparents’ first homestead, the clothing they wore, the food they would have eaten, and how hard they would have laboured before so many of today’s conveniences arrived. My grandfather passed before I was born, but memories of my grandmother were rekindled to a point where I feel, in part with thanks to this wonderful book, that I know her even better now. Thank you, Lucy. What a gift. ❤️🙏

Summary: When the Tay Bridge collapsed in 1879 it killed everyone on the train that was crossing, leaving the son of the driver, young Brodie Smith, traumatized and reduced to poverty as a result of his father’s death. Leaving home determined to make his way in the world, Brodie finds safe haven with his kindly uncle in Edinburgh and studies engineering, intent on demonstrating that the bridge disaster was not his father’s fault. In search of adventure and further opportunities, Brodie then travels to Buffalo where he befriends Alistair, another young Scot filled with dreams and ambitions. Together the men bring industrialization to a small rural community where they establish a brickworks, changing the lives of all those they encounter with a sense of possibility and the reality of attendant loss. Told in beautifully crafted prose, it is Black’s incomparable voice—her uncanny humour and an astonishing ear for dialogue—that renders The Brickworks both remarkable and unforgettable.

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