Suture

To make her films, Eva must take out her eyes and use them as batteries. To make her art, Finn must cut open her chest and remove her lungs and heart. To write her novels, Grace must use her blood to power the word processor. Suture shares three interweaving stories of artists tearing themselves open to make art. Each artist baffles their family, or harms their loved ones, with their necessary sacrifices. Eva's wife worries about her mental health; Finn's teenager follows in her footsteps, using forearms bones for drumsticks; Grace's network constantly worries about the prolific writer's penchant for self-harm, and the over-use of her vitals for art. The result is a hyper-real exploration of the cruelties we commit and forgive in ourselves and others. Brewer brings a unique perspective to mental illness while exploring how support systems in relationships—spousal, parental, familial—can be both helpful and damaging. This exciting debut novel is a highly original meditation on the fractures within us, and the importance of empathy as medicine and glue.

Catriona Wright, author of Difficult People

"Suture is a daring, visceral debut that examines the painful side of the creative process. Blending body horror with meditations on love, art, and forgiveness, this novel will startle and captivate you."

Cloud Lake Literary

"Suture is built out of biting prose and vivid imagery. It is not a novel for those averse to gore, yet still should be considered a must-read. Creatives will feel seen with Brewer’s description of the artistic process, and achieving suspension of disbelief is easy. Others will enjoy Suture because of its incredibly human characters, each imperfect and multifaceted."

The Ampersand Review

“It is, at times, too beautiful; it is, at times, a gift. It is impossible to read Brewer’s debut without feeling something, whether that be a reaction to the graphic scenes of body horror, or to the moving depiction of care . . . Suture is a novel of feelings, one that moves between extremes to highlight the care that can sometimes be missed in the trauma of contemporary art. For that reason, it is a stunning debut.”

subTerrain Magazine

“This is a beautifully painful book, highly recommended.”

The Puritan

“Suture lights up the need for forgiveness while exploring how family and supporting social networks can be at once helpful and injurious. Mental health emerges as a significant theme in the cruelties people inflict upon themselves and others by their actions.”

Broken Pencil

“Brewer’s nimble writing makes even the most grotesque descriptions intoxicating. Suture is unique tale of creativity, mental health and masochism that is as messy and fearless as it is tender and evocative.”

Canisia Lubrin, Griffin Poetry Prize winning author of The Dyzgraphxst

“Suture is Nic Brewer’s transgressively taught storytelling. The notes in these pages write desire, connection and art from the body’s vivid capacity for tenderness where the hard stuff tears. A nimble, fearless debut.”

Gillian Wigmore, author of Glory

"I read this book with wonder–Brewer's confident prose swept me along. Hers is sure, sharp writing that doesn't flinch from tenderness. I felt this book in my body. I ached (in my heart and bones, along an old, spidery scar that split my chest in two) long after I set it down. What a privilege to read this work."

John Elizabeth Stintzi, author of My Volcano

"Nic Brewer's Suture is a fleshy, flashy, not-for-the-faint-of-heart tale that poetically reimagines artmaking into the gory-yet-tender body horror that it has―perhaps―always figuratively been. Hold on to your guts."

Catriona Wright, author of Difficult People

"Suture is a daring, visceral debut thatexamines the painful side of the creative process. Blending body horror with meditations on love, art, and forgiveness, this novel will startle and captivate you."

About the Author

NIC BREWER is a queer, autistic writer, and editor. She writes fiction, mostly. She is the co-founder of Frond, an online literary journal for prose by LGBTQI2SA writers, and formerly co-managed the micropress words(on)pages. She doesn't look like her author photo, doesn't have an MFA, and really wants to hear about what you love most in the world. She lives in Kitchener, ON, with her wife and their dog.

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