Due out 5th August 2021

 


I am thrilled to announce that my novella, Missing Words, will be published by Fairlight Books in August, becoming one of four new titles in the Fairlight Moderns series of contemporary literary fiction.

Set on the south coast of the UK during the tumultuous summer of 1984, against a backdrop striking miners and threats of nationwide industrial action, Missing Words is a heart-warming story about self-discovery and the power of family ties. Read more HERE.


What they say:

‘Time, place and characters are all beautifully depicted here – this novella will stay with the reader long after they finish the final page.’ – Gabrielle Kimm, author of His Last Duchess, The Courtesan's Lover and The Girl with the Painted Face.

‘Like cycling the hills of the Isle of Wight, this book draws you in to its undulating rhythm while propelling you on to see what lies over the next brow.’ – Josie Dew, cyclist and author of The Wind in my Wheels.

‘Missing Words is an utterly human and moving family drama in which we watch one woman double-back into her past to find the future.’ – Alison MacLeod, author of Fifteen Modern Tales of Attraction, All the Beloved Ghosts, and Unexploded, longlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2013.

‘A divine debut – sublime writing and so emotionally captivating.’ – Pete Adams, author of Black Rose and Dead No More.

‘A relatable story of family and grief and yearning, wrapped up in a compelling mystery. Without doubt, a writer to watch.’ – Laura Pearson, author of Missing Pieces, I Wanted You to Know and Nobody’s Wife.


The other titles published this year in the Fairlight Moderns series are:

Blue Postcards, by Douglas Bruton: Set in Paris, this atmospheric tale delicately intertwines three connected narratives and timelines, interspersed with observations of the colour blue.

Taking Flight, by JT Torres: In this beautifully told drama of the bond between grandson and grandmother, JT Torres delicately explores the complexities of family bonds and the difficulties of dementia and mental ill health.

Only About Love, by Debbi Voisey: In snapshots through time, Only About Love takes a sweeping loop around the life of Frank as he navigates courtship, marriage, fatherhood and illness. 

All of the novellas in the Fairlight Moderns series are available to be pre-ordered in the UK at your local bookshop, or by following the link to each of the books on the Fairlight website.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Gathering historical research on William Clark's Nez Perce son

Image
During the past year, I have been attempting to gather all available information about William Clark’s supposed Nez Perce son, variously known as Tzi-Kal-Tza, Halahtookit, Al-pa-to-kate, Daytime Smoke(r), and Son of Daytime Smoker. The name I find the most poignant, however, the name that links into my research on personal identity, is the one he is said to have called himself – Clark (Moulton, vol 7, p 241). * The idea for my project started to emerge about ten years ago, when I visited the Nez Perce Historical Museum in my hometown of Lewiston, Idaho. Among the exhibits were collections of artifacts from early white settlers, the Nez Perce tribe, and the Lewis and Clark expedition which passed through the region twice: in September 1805, on their way to the west coast; and in May 1806, on their return journey to St. Louis. As I grew up in Lewiston, I thought I knew the history of the area fairly well, but tucked into a display of beaded gauntlets and stone tools was a piece of i
Continue Reading...

A Discussion of Sherman Alexie's novel, Indian Killer

Image
          A year after the acclaimed Reservation Blues , Sherman Alexie’s second novel, Indian Killer received reticent praise when it was published in 1996. It is a book which he, himself, seems both drawn to and repelled by. In a 2002 interview with Duncan Campbell, Alexie states ‘It’s the only one [of my books] I re-read. I think a book that disturbs me that much is the one I probably care the most about’ 1 . He has expressed dissatisfaction with it, artistically, describing it as a failed mystery novel and ‘pretentious’ for its literary ambitions 2 . Maya Jaggi writes that he has now distanced himself from the novel and feels ‘overwhelming disgust’ [Alexie’s words] towards the violence portrayed 3 . Apparent in Reservation Blues , his previous collection of short stories The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven , and his poetry, Alexie’s own rage rises to its peak in this novel, with an outpouring of fictional vengeance for historical crimes.  
Continue Reading...

The Significance of Landscape in Literature of the American West

Image
The Broad Expanse: charting the landscape Western literature is tied to place more than any other regional form.  As we read the pages of a Cormac McCarthy novel or an Annie Proulx short story, we traverse a world of staggering imagery: jagged peaks of distant blue mountains, arid expanses of red desert and sagebrush, and hip-high seas of winter wheat rippling and cresting in a prairie breeze.  It is a world of wide-open spaces and unpopulated places, where characters come and go, but the land is constant and forever.  In her essay ‘Dangerous Ground’, Annie Proulx argues that landscape is much more than what the landscape historian John Brinckerhoff Jackson describes as being ‘a portion of the earth’s surface that can be comprehended at a single glance’ (2008, p. 12).  Rather, she offers her own broader definition: Landscape is geography, archaeology, astrophysics, agronomy, agriculture, the violent character of the atmosphere, climate, black squirrels and wild oats, folded rock, bu
Continue Reading...