The Water-Breather

`A remarkable portrait of a family under pressure, rather like a photograph album: crammed with rich and vivid detail. The Water-breather teems with delightful incident and a number of enjoyable minor characters...An assured and moving debut.' Gerard Woodward, Guardian

`Faccini's clean style and lack of mawkishness make for a convincing portrayal of the workings of a child's mind and a truthful and affecting read.' Daily Mail

`A beautifully written, haunting meditation on innocence. An uncanny recreation of the insect-eye of childhood.' TLS

`Intelligent, observant...Ben Faccini does an excellent job of a very difficult thing, writing from the perspective of an eight-year-old. Magical.' Observer

`Totally original and mesmerising...Faccini is a brilliant writer and not a sentence in this wonderful book seems out of place.' Literary Review

`A strange expedition into the border zone between love and anguish, a brilliant and poetic intermingling of memories and dreams.' Lisa St Aubin de Teran

Ben Faccini grew up in rural France, but was educated as a teenager in England. Since graduation he has lived mostly in Paris, working latterly for UNESCO, where he has been involved in initiatives to alleviate the condition of the world's `street children'. He now lives in London.