{"product_id":"the-broken-king-9781398562196","title":"The Broken King : 'An Extraordinary Read' Guardian","description":"\u003cp\u003e‘Michael Thomas has written a truly extraordinary memoir, one that sears and sings with such terrible, beautiful honesty it will burn its way deep into your bones. The Broken King is a triumph, and reading it will leave you changed. It’s genuinely one of the most extraordinary and magical books I have ever read. I’m full of awe.’ Helen Macdonald, author of H Is for Hawk\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e‘An extraordinary read – deeply personal and intimate, but also expansive and free-ranging’ Guardian\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e‘Entirely mesmerizing… With a virtuosic command of language and an eagle eye for punishing detail, Thomas has rendered beautifully an excruciating existence from which it is impossible to turn away’ New York Times\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFrom the author of Man Gone Down – winner of the 2007 Dublin International Literary Award – a deeply personal memoir of race, trauma, alcoholism, parenting, mental illness and ultimately hope in a portrait of three generations of Black American men\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn his second book and first work of nonfiction, The Broken King , Thomas explores fathers and sons, lovers and the beloved, trauma and recovery, success and failure in a unique, urgent, and timeless memoir.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBringing to mind both James Baldwin’s The Fire Next Time and Vladimir Nabokov’s Speak, Memory , Thomas’ memoir unfolds through six powerful, interlocking and overlaying parts focusing on the lives of five men: his father—a philosopher, Boston Red Sox fan, and absent parent; his estranged older brother; his two sons growing up in Brooklyn; and always, heartbreakingly himself. At the center of The Broken King is the story of Thomas’ own breakdown, a result of inherited family history and his own experiences, from growing up Black in the Boston suburbs to publishing a prize-winning novel with “the house of Beckett.”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eEvery page of The Broken King rings with the impact of America’s sweeping struggle with race and class, education and family, and builds to a brave, meticulous articulation of a creative mind’s journey into and out of madness.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eAuthor: Michael Thomas\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003ch4\u003eMemoirs\u003c\/h4\u003e\u003ch5\u003ePublished on 30 Jul 2026 by Simon \u0026amp; Schuster Ltd.\u003c\/h5\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePaperback \/ softback\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Michael Thomas","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57320584708474,"sku":"9781398562196","price":16.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0373\/4125\/files\/9781398562196.jpg?v=1790658368","url":"https:\/\/belfastbooks.co.uk\/products\/the-broken-king-9781398562196","provider":"Belfast Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}