What do you think?
Rate this book
Scorched Earth
"Music was my refuge. I could crawl into the space between the notes and curl my back to loneliness."
Nick and David meet at school in South London and soon become inseparable, united by their love of music. In their late teens they form a band, Orfée. At the height of their fame in the early 1980s, David commits an unforgiveable act of betrayal and the band breaks up.
Years later, down on his luck, Nick discovers by chance he has a daughter. And that her recent disappearance is the subject of a police investigation.
Katie is part of a cult of militant environmentalists, living in a former monastery in southern France and presided over by the enigmatic Seed who never allows himself to be seen. The tasks required of her become ever more frightening and sinister.
Sam Pearson, thirteen years old, is being bullied at school. He has only two havens - the role model Nick Swallow provides as he learns to play the bass guitar and the company of his grandmother, once a ballerina, who is sinking further into dementia.
Scorched Earth tells the stories of three characters who have never met but who will have a significant influence on each other's life.
Nick and David meet at school in South London and soon become inseparable, united by their love of music. In their late teens they form a band, Orfée. At the height of their fame in the early 1980s, David commits an unforgiveable act of betrayal and the band breaks up.
Years later, down on his luck, Nick discovers by chance he has a daughter. And that her recent disappearance is the subject of a police investigation.
Katie is part of a cult of militant environmentalists, living in a former monastery in southern France and presided over by the enigmatic Seed who never allows himself to be seen. The tasks required of her become ever more frightening and sinister.
Sam Pearson, thirteen years old, is being bullied at school. He has only two havens - the role model Nick Swallow provides as he learns to play the bass guitar and the company of his grandmother, once a ballerina, who is sinking further into dementia.
Scorched Earth tells the stories of three characters who have never met but who will have a significant influence on each other's life.
204 pages, Paperback
Published November 17, 2020
31 people want to read
About the author
Glenn Haybittle
10 books76 followersLondon - Lerici - Florence.
Represented by Annabel Merullo at PFD.
The Way Back to Florence is my first novel.
Represented by Annabel Merullo at PFD.
The Way Back to Florence is my first novel.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
December 6, 2020
A part of this novel takes place in the virtual world of Second Life and got me thinking that the way life on planet earth is going we might all be spending a lot more time roleplaying in virtual worlds in the future.
Scorched Earth narrates the story of Nick Swallow's life as a pop star with a new romantic band in the 1980s and later his attempt to track down his missing daughter, conducted in the virtual world where he hires a virtual private detective. There are lots of high points in this novel - the boyhood friendship between Nick and David and the changes wrought in their relationship by fame and the stresses and competitive nature of the music industry; the extremely funny descriptions of role playing and cyber sex in the virtual world; the sinister cult of militant environmentalists with its Manson undertones to which his daughter has fled. A short thoroughly engaging novel with a moving finale. 4+ stars.
Thanks to Netgalley and publisher for a review copy.
Scorched Earth narrates the story of Nick Swallow's life as a pop star with a new romantic band in the 1980s and later his attempt to track down his missing daughter, conducted in the virtual world where he hires a virtual private detective. There are lots of high points in this novel - the boyhood friendship between Nick and David and the changes wrought in their relationship by fame and the stresses and competitive nature of the music industry; the extremely funny descriptions of role playing and cyber sex in the virtual world; the sinister cult of militant environmentalists with its Manson undertones to which his daughter has fled. A short thoroughly engaging novel with a moving finale. 4+ stars.
Thanks to Netgalley and publisher for a review copy.
October 24, 2020
Thanks to Netgalley for providing an ARC for review.
Scorched Earth consists of three interlocking narratives. Sam is being bullied at school because he has befriended a Syrian refugee boy. Every evening he goes to see his grandmother who has dementia. He is also learning to play the bass guitar. There are some great observations about dementia and cruelty and this narrative was engaging.
It then switches to Nick who is Sam's hero, a bass player in a successful new romantic band in the early 1980s. He narrates his story in the first person. We learn about his career as a musician and also about his search for his missing daughter which he conducts in a virtual world, Second Life, hiring a virtual private investigator. There are scenes here that are as funny as anything I've read this year. I liked how Nick's life is divided between the innocent pre-internet and smart phone world and the present day where we spend so much of our time online. All three characters find themselves being defined by their online presence -Goodreads, unlike Facebook and Twitter, gets some good press (one of the characters reviews books here).
The third narrative concerns Katie who has joined a militant environmentalist group carrying out ever more violent actions. There are a couple of eerie allusions to Manson's cult and you know this isn't going to end well.
The three narratives are eventually meshed together well and the ending is moving. However, I can't quite give this five stars because of its unevenness at times but it's a short book and worth reading if you fancy something a bit different.
Scorched Earth consists of three interlocking narratives. Sam is being bullied at school because he has befriended a Syrian refugee boy. Every evening he goes to see his grandmother who has dementia. He is also learning to play the bass guitar. There are some great observations about dementia and cruelty and this narrative was engaging.
It then switches to Nick who is Sam's hero, a bass player in a successful new romantic band in the early 1980s. He narrates his story in the first person. We learn about his career as a musician and also about his search for his missing daughter which he conducts in a virtual world, Second Life, hiring a virtual private investigator. There are scenes here that are as funny as anything I've read this year. I liked how Nick's life is divided between the innocent pre-internet and smart phone world and the present day where we spend so much of our time online. All three characters find themselves being defined by their online presence -Goodreads, unlike Facebook and Twitter, gets some good press (one of the characters reviews books here).
The third narrative concerns Katie who has joined a militant environmentalist group carrying out ever more violent actions. There are a couple of eerie allusions to Manson's cult and you know this isn't going to end well.
The three narratives are eventually meshed together well and the ending is moving. However, I can't quite give this five stars because of its unevenness at times but it's a short book and worth reading if you fancy something a bit different.
July 29, 2020
A novel about legacy. Nick Swallow, once a pop star, is down on his luck and delivering groceries to make ends meet. One day, he makes a delivery to an ex-girlfriend who tells him he has a daughter by her. This daughter though has gone missing, her phone found by a river.
The narrative now goes both backwards and forwards. We learn about Nick's band, his close friendship with David, the singer, and their rise to fame in the 1980s and how everything went wrong; and we see him venture into a virtual reality world where, he's been told, his daughter spent lots of her time before she went missing.
Really enjoyed this.
The narrative now goes both backwards and forwards. We learn about Nick's band, his close friendship with David, the singer, and their rise to fame in the 1980s and how everything went wrong; and we see him venture into a virtual reality world where, he's been told, his daughter spent lots of her time before she went missing.
Really enjoyed this.
November 9, 2020
Glen Haybittle's writing is excellent and I enjoyed reading Scorched Earth. The story, set in London, moves between three characters who influence each other's lives while never actually meeting.
In his youth, Nick Swallow and his friend David form a band called Orfee modeled after David Bowie. With a genuine joy in wearing makeup and appearing outlandish they manage to achieve success until their friendship goes awry and the band breaks up.
Sam is a 13-yr old boy who is constantly bullied at school especially when he befriends a new student who is a Syrian refuge. Sam's two passions that keep him grounded are his daily visits to his grandmother, a former ballerina now in the early stages of dementia: and his emulation of Nick Swallow, who he tries to imitate as he learns the bass guitar.
Kate, a militant environmentalist, is the young adult daughter of Nick. Nick has recently learned of Kate's existence during a chance meeting with his old girlfriend. Kate has left home and Nick enters a virtual world that she frequents so that he can learn of her whereabouts in the real world.
Perhaps because I'm older I didn't relate to the virtual world as much as younger readers would. Still, Haybittle brings everything together nicely. I found the ending poignant and an excellent read.
I received an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review and appreciate having had the opportunity to read it.
In his youth, Nick Swallow and his friend David form a band called Orfee modeled after David Bowie. With a genuine joy in wearing makeup and appearing outlandish they manage to achieve success until their friendship goes awry and the band breaks up.
Sam is a 13-yr old boy who is constantly bullied at school especially when he befriends a new student who is a Syrian refuge. Sam's two passions that keep him grounded are his daily visits to his grandmother, a former ballerina now in the early stages of dementia: and his emulation of Nick Swallow, who he tries to imitate as he learns the bass guitar.
Kate, a militant environmentalist, is the young adult daughter of Nick. Nick has recently learned of Kate's existence during a chance meeting with his old girlfriend. Kate has left home and Nick enters a virtual world that she frequents so that he can learn of her whereabouts in the real world.
Perhaps because I'm older I didn't relate to the virtual world as much as younger readers would. Still, Haybittle brings everything together nicely. I found the ending poignant and an excellent read.
I received an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review and appreciate having had the opportunity to read it.
August 2, 2020
2/5⭐️
This book was, odd. I really enjoyed the first couple of chapters. The idea for this book really jumped out at me and is why I wanted to read it in the first place. I love the idea of people being affected by the actions or presence of others despite having never met them. The writing was beautiful and I was sucked into the character's story and found myself empathizing with him. When the pov switched I was still just as invested until maybe 3 chapters into the new section. Everything started to feel disjointed and almost forced. There felt like a lot of unnecessary fixation on sex and the comments made by Nick felt very odd. Despite this I tried to keep an open mind, the writing remained beautiful and I was still enjoying myself. About halfway through this section though, everything felt repetitive and tired, I found myself skimming through paragraphs and overall not enjoying myself. I really wanted to like this book and I think that this author has a lot of skill in terms of writing but this book just wasn't for me. I think that because I went into this book with an idea of what it was going to be like, and it having not been what I had imagined, I was not as interested as I could have been otherwise.
This book was, odd. I really enjoyed the first couple of chapters. The idea for this book really jumped out at me and is why I wanted to read it in the first place. I love the idea of people being affected by the actions or presence of others despite having never met them. The writing was beautiful and I was sucked into the character's story and found myself empathizing with him. When the pov switched I was still just as invested until maybe 3 chapters into the new section. Everything started to feel disjointed and almost forced. There felt like a lot of unnecessary fixation on sex and the comments made by Nick felt very odd. Despite this I tried to keep an open mind, the writing remained beautiful and I was still enjoying myself. About halfway through this section though, everything felt repetitive and tired, I found myself skimming through paragraphs and overall not enjoying myself. I really wanted to like this book and I think that this author has a lot of skill in terms of writing but this book just wasn't for me. I think that because I went into this book with an idea of what it was going to be like, and it having not been what I had imagined, I was not as interested as I could have been otherwise.
August 13, 2020
The rise and fall of a band inspired by David Bowie.
Madcap roleplaying in virtual reality.
A murderous cult.
Well written.
What's not to like?
Madcap roleplaying in virtual reality.
A murderous cult.
Well written.
What's not to like?
August 8, 2020
“Everyone tells lies to get what they want. First of all we tell lies to ourselves and then we tell them to everyone else. That's what the past becomes - a kind of flower bed in which you're uprooting and replanting all the time.”
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews