A SUNDAY TIMES BEST BOOK OF 2024 A BBC MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF 2024 AN INDEPENDENT BEST
FICTION TO READ IN 2024 A NEW STATESMAN FICTION HIGHLIGHT OF 2024 A GUARDIAN BEST BOOK TO
LOOK OUT FOR IN 2024 AN i-D FICTION HIGHLIGHT TO BE EXCITED FOR IN 2024 LONGLISTED FOR THE
SWANSEA UNIVERSITY DYLAN THOMAS PRIZE 2025 'A deeply felt and rich enactment of love
loneliness and personal triumph that leaves an indelible mark on modern Queer life' OCEAN VUONG
The town was once a hub of industry. A place where men toiled underground in darkness picking
and shovelling in the dust and the sleck. It was dangerous and back-breaking work but it meant
something. Once the town provided it was important it had purpose. But what is it now?
Brothers Alex and Brian have spent their whole life in the town where their father lived and
his father too. Now in his middle age and still reeling from the collapse of his personal life
Alex must reckon with a part of his identity he has long tried to conceal. His only child Simon
has no memory of the mines. Now in his twenties and working in a call centre he derives
passion from his side hustle in sex work and his weekly drag gigs. Set across three
generations of South Yorkshire mining family Andrew McMillan's magnificent debut novel is a
lament for a lost way of life as well as a celebration of resilience and the possibility for
change.
