
Published: 01/06/2023

Based on interviews with his long-time friend and journalist Sean O’Hagan, the iconic singer-songwriter's stunning new book reflects on various themes from collaboration to catastrophe and grief to creativity, with immense honesty and intimacy.
Sunday Times Music Book of the Year 2022
Faith, Hope and Carnage is a book about Nick Cave’s inner life.
Created from more than forty hours of intimate conversations with the journalist Seán O’Hagan, this is a profoundly thoughtful exploration, in Cave’s own words, of what really drives his life and creativity.
The book examines questions of belief, art, music, freedom, grief and love. It draws candidly on Cave’s life, from his early childhood to the present day, his loves, his work ethic and his dramatic transformation in recent years.
Faith, Hope and Carnage offers ladders of hope and inspiration from a true creative visionary.
Publisher: Canongate Books
ISBN: 9781838857684
Number of pages: 320
Weight: 215 g
Dimensions: 198 x 129 x 19 mm
Edition: Main
MEDIA REVIEWS
'An extraordinary, uplifting book... this is a book you could dip into if you had no knowledge of Cave at all, just to find someone unafraid to ask all the big questions: what is grief? What is forgiveness?... everyday carnage has brought forth a book of hope and freedom and life' - Daily Telegraph
'This beautiful book is a lament, a celebration, a howl, a secular prayer, a call to arms, a meditation & an exquisite articulation of the human condition. It will take your breath away' - Rachel Clarke, Observer
'Illuminating... a great deal of beauty in Cave's descriptions of the "strange reckless power" that comes when the worst has happened... if it meets a need for Cave, it also feels like a gift to the reader' - Sunday Times
'An absolutely wonderful book. I don't think I've ever read so integrated and searching an engagement with how faith works, how creativity works, and how grief is bound up with both' - Rowan Williams
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“Perfect choice”
The nook has neen purchased as a Christmas gift for a staunch Nick Cave fan....I am sure the book will be read and then re-read. It was delivered on time, well wrapped and I was able to rewrap and send without any... More

“Uplifting and unexpected”
An excellent discussion about creativity, bereavement and faith (and any number of other subjects) which is unputdownable. Outside of his time with The Birthday Party, I'm really not an expert on Cave's... More
“The Bats are finally released.”
I don't go much for celebrity biographies, but when someone I admire releases something, I look up, especially when he is usually so secretive and private. O'Hagan has got inside Nick Cave in some extremely... More
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