The vividly depicted domestic settings in the latest novels from Jessie Greengrass and Carys Bray provide the backdrop for darker dramas. The High House by Jessie Greengrass is about the encroaching climate crisis and the grief for the world we’re losing, as well as a subtle commentary on the power of love and the importance of family. In Carys Bray’s When the Lights Go Out, we are introduced to a marriage in crisis with Emma, who is preparing for Christmas, and her husband Chris, who is preparing for the end of the world. They are joined to discuss the parallels between their novels, narratives, and writing experience by Ellen Peirson-Hagger, Assistant Culture Editor, New Statesman.  

Jessie Greengrass is a rising star in British literature. Her debut story collection won the Edge Hill Award, a Somerset Maugham Award, and was shortlisted for The Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year, while her debut novel Sight was shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction in 2018. 

Carys Bray was awarded the Scott Prize for her debut short-story collection, Sweet Home. Her first novel, A Song for Issy Bradley, was chosen for Radio 4’s Book at Bedtime, shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award, and won the Authors’ Club Best First Novel Award 2015. She lives in Southport with her husband and four children. 

Ellen Peirson-Hagger (chair) is the New Statesman’s Assistant Culture Editor.