Author(s): Will Eaves

Essay | CB Editions

‘We are taught by what we find … And what we find, we have to give away.’

Broken Consort is a chronicle of close attention (to books, films, plays, paintings, music, notebooks and car-boot sales) which will confound anyone who thinks rigour and generosity are contradictory. It includes an account of the evolution of the author’s prize-winning novel Murmur, an essay on Daniel Defoe’s Journal of the Plague Year, and practical reflections on the business of writing.

‘“At the heart of writing is curiosity,” writes Will Eaves in his essay on “Making Books”. Curiosity may fuel every writers heart, but very often it’s coffee that powers the writer’s mind. When all the coffee runs out, we will be even more grateful for Will Eaves and his essays – each one a shot of artistic adrenalin and a euphoric psychostimulant.’
     – Nancy Campbell, author of The Library of Ice

Murmur by Will Eaves won the 2019 Wellcome Prize and was co-winner of the Republic of Consciousness Prize. Originally published by CBe, Murmur is now available from Canongate.

From reviews of Murmur:

‘A novel forged from an immensely beautiful writing intelligence. Murmur is a fully achieved literary experiment, digging deep into all the dimensions of human consciousness, including state sanctioned savagery.’
      – Deborah Levy
‘The premise is startlingly ambitious: what if we could think our way into Alan Turing’s dreams? … Scrupulous, humane, sad and strange, [Murmur] is as bracingly intelligent as it is brave.’
      – Guardian
‘Murmur opens your mind to a different kind of novel, one that forges a dialogue between art and science, one that celebrates the wonder of human consciousness.’
      – The Times
‘Will Eaves has achieved one of the pinnacles of novelistic endeavour: he has given deep thought to human experience, and in doing so brought to life the “self-conscious wonder” of thought itself.’
– Sam Byers, Times Literary Supplement