Glass Houses, Francesca Reece – book review: ‘A finely-drawn take on the subtleties of casual exploitation’

A modernist house with elegant glass walls sits in the Welsh countryside.

Designed by a famous English architect, the building has long been uninhabited, but Gethin, a distant relative of the owners, tends the surrounding woodland and grows to love the place.

When Gethin falls for Olwen, an English transplant growing up with him in the nearby village, worlds collide.

In a good way, at first – Gethin imbibes culture from Olwen’s middle-class bohemian parents, and Olwen learns Welsh traditions.

But can passion overcome social chasms? This is a question that has driven many a narrative; in Glass Houses, the new novel by Tower Hamlets-based author Francesca Reece, the class divide is compounded by cultural and political fractures.

A finely-drawn take on the subtleties of casual exploitation, the novel manages to be both bittersweet and dark at the same time, with engaging characters and a layered narrative.

Glass Houses by Francesca Reece is published by Tinder Press.
ISBN: 978-1-4722-7224-9
RRP: £20.