Clay

An intimate and captivating portrait of four people struggling with the concrete confines of city life

The city is a strange place for Jozef. After living in a Polish village for much of his life, he is struggling to adjust to the tall, gray landscape of apartment living, and his job in a local deli serving french fries and fried chicken to brash, self-assured children makes him feel even more disconnected from the surrounding population. It is only when he encounters TC, a troubled boy running away from school, that Jozef finds a kindred spirit with whom he can share his fascination with the natural world.

The two are noticed in a small, litter-strewn park by a friendly local, the elderly and recently widowed Sophia, who has been attempting to spark an interest in nature in her granddaughter, Daisy. While Sophia sends Daisy letters each week about the growth of the flowers in the park, Jozef attempts to extract, over games of chess, the details of TC’s troubled home life—left broken by the departure of the boy’s father. Like leaves twisting in the wind, the lives of these four figures are blown together, defying the gravity affecting the world around them. That is, until the pressures of modern life intervene.

Melissa Harrison was born in Great Britain in 1975 and is the youngest child in a family of six children. She studied English at Oxford and graduated with first-class honors in 1996. She has worked as a book and magazine editor and currently writes for Time Out, Stuff, and the Guardian. Melissa lives in South London with her husband, Anthony, and rescue dog, Scout. She writes about her local environment on her website, Tales of the City: www.talesofthecity.co.uk.

National print, radio, and online media campaign
Social media campaign: early excerpts and giveaways
Digital assets: author Q&A, reading group guide
Coverage on literary websites and blogs and environmental outlets