How to Bring Him Back

Published 8th October 2021

Novella: 72 pages

‘If I was going to cast a spell tonight, this night of a full moon, stark as a ten-day crust of snow, I’d start by telling the earth to spin in the opposite direction.
By what power?
By the power of my pen.’

It’s 90s Birmingham and Cait’s no longer at university, but her aspirations haven’t taken her far from her council estate beginnings. Living in a bedsit and working in a bar, she’s caught between two best friends: Stadd, who’s stable, funny, compatible as a friend, and her compulsive attraction with Rik. Present day Cait picks up her pen, on her yearly writing retreat to the sea, and discovers she’s finally ready to conjure an absent Stadd with an apology that rises from the lessons of her chaotic past.

Enter the magic and order your copy here:

Praise for Claire HM and HTBHB

“I bloody loved this story—unputdownable-read-in-one-sitting sort of love…The entire work is so rich for me. Location is used in subtle but effective ways—both in the present and in the flashback narrative of Birmingham—and the language is genuinely delicious (uncomfortable, at times, but delicious). I can’t find fault, truly.” – Dr Charley Barners, Writer-in-Residence @theswantheatre, host @DearOpenMic, editor @DearReaderPoet | director @SabotageReviews, lecturer @CpwWlv

“The main character is so real, the structure so satisfying. The prose as glittery and grubby as a 90s nightclub floor. Deeply admiring of this.” – Louise Finnigan, Manchester Fiction Prize finalist, Cambridge shortlist, Bristol Prize shortlist, author of ‘Muscle and Mouth’.

“Claire is a vivid and original storyteller… How to Bring Him Back’ is startling, sensory experience.” – Hannah Vincent, author of ‘Alarm Girl’ (Myriad) and ‘The Weaning’ (Salt).

“Claire HM’s writing arrests and astonishes, telling of a craft lovingly honed, that seeks innovative ways to dazzle her readers anew each time.” – Sascha A. Akhtar, author of ‘Of Necessity And Wanting’ (The 87 Press) and ‘The Whimsy of Dank Ju Ju’ (The Emma Press).

You can read another extract from How To Bring It Back here with thanks to Els from B for Bookreview.