A HEARTFELT AND NOSTALGIC NOVELLA ABOUT GRIEF, SENSE OF SELF AND HOME.
Recently bereaved Jamie is staying at a rural steading in the heart of Scotland with his actor boyfriend Alex. The sudden loss of both of Jamie’s parents hangs like a shadow over the trip. In his grief, Jamie finds himself sifting through bittersweet memories, from his working-class upbringing in Edinburgh to his bohemian twenties in London, with a growing awareness of his sexuality threaded through these formative years. In the present, when Alex is called away to an audition, Jamie can no longer avoid the pull of the past: haunted by an inescapable failure to share his full self with his parents, he must confront his unresolved feelings towards them.
In spare, evocative prose, Allan Radcliffe tells a wistful coming-of-age story and paints a tender portrait of grief in all its complexities.
“ALLAN RADCLIFFE’S DEBUT TOUCHED MY HEART WITH ITS QUIET, INTIMATE LOOK AT GRIEF, LOVE, FAMILY AND ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIPS, TOLD WITH MASTERFUL SPARE PROSE.” Henry Fry, author of First Time For Everything
“THIS POIGNANT BILDUNGSROMAN IS AT ONCE A TENDER TALE OF QUEER AWAKENING IN THE EDINBURGH OF THE 80S AND 90S AND A HEARTBREAKING LOVE LETTER FROM A YOUNG MAN TO HIS LOST PARENTS.” Mary Paulson-Ellis, bestselling author of The Other Mrs Walker
About the author
Allan Radcliffe was born in Perth, Scotland, and now lives near Edinburgh. His writing has won the Allen Wright Award and the Scottish Book Trust New Writers Award. With an MA from the University of Glasgow, he works as an arts journalist and editor, and is currently a freelance theatre critic and feature writer. His short stories have been published in anthologies including Out There, The Best Gay Short Stories and New Writing Scotland, and broadcast on BBC Radio 4. The Old Haunts is his debut novel.
Published by Fairlight Books – Paperback (£7.99)
Publication date – 14th September 2023
