Heap House

Heap House by Edward Carey
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I really, really enjoyed this strange little book. Clod is a member of the Iremongers, who have made their fortune in garbage, and as such, they have a curious relationship with things. They each have birth objects they must keep with them at all times, and Clod, weirdly can hear them call out names. Then there is Lucy, full of spunk, who comes and works at the Heap House where most of the Iremongers live. There is mystery and tension, it is funny and sad, weird but relatable. It is disguised as a YA book, but it deeply investigates our relationship with things and the nostalgia we attach to some. It also investigates what it is to be human without the usual technological parallels. Highly recommend.

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I went to bed thinking that it was a shame I had no keepsake of Lucy Pennant, some small thing, something to help me through the day, something to remember her by.  A portrait should be best, a likeness.

But I often come here, to look at their objects, wondering about them, as if I'll understand them more by studying the bits and pieces.  All those old lives.

Curtains and shutters alter time.

All the world, I thought, will be in grey flannel for you now.