About

Author and illustrator Lizzy Stewart joins Mr B's Emporium for her genre-defying new novel, The Wreck.

Already Mr B's Events Manager's favourite book of 2026, The Wreck follows two couples who pursue their dream of communal living in the English countryside just outside of Bristol – an almost utopian idyll – until it all comes tumbling down.

It's a novel about class, ambition, creativity, friendship and love, all told through a unique blend of text and illustration, making for a reading experience like no other. When you read as many books as we do, it's not often you find something so truly special and original, and we think this is one novel that needs to be on everyone's radar for 2026!

Tickets

• Book+Ticket £25.00
• Standard Ticket £8.00
• Student Ticket £7.00

About the book

Charlotte and Francesca were best friends at university in the mid-1970s. But tensions coursed beneath their natural affection, deepening when Fran got together with Charlotte's friend Adrian, and the two women drifted apart.

When Fran contacts Charlotte out of the blue with an unusual proposal – an invitation to live with her and Adrian in the rambling house they've bought in the countryside – Charlotte impulsively persuades her partner, Bill, to accept this tantalising promise of a new kind of community.

At first their new life feels utopian; life and space are shared joyfully. But it doesn't take long for old tensions to rise to the surface, shattering their illusions and showing each of them in a new light.

The Wreck is a glorious genre-defying illustrated novel about the messy tangle of love, envy and desire that underpins our most precious relationships, and the difficult paths we must take to discover our true selves.

About the author

Lizzy Stewart is an author based in London. She writes and illustrates books for both children and adults. In 2017 her picture book There's a Tiger in the Garden won the Waterstones Children's Book Prize and a World Illustration Award. Her debut full-length novel Alison was published in 2022.