The Whale Tattoo
Jon Ransom
Winner of the Polari First Book Prize 2023
Having stormed out two years ago, it won’t be easy, nor will returning to the haunted river beside the house where words ripple beneath the surface washing up all sorts of memories. Joe turns to his sister, Birdee, the only person who has ever listened.
But she can’t help him. Then there’s Tim Fysh, local fisherman and long-time lover. But reviving their bond is bound to be trouble.
As the water settles and Joe learns the truth about the river, he finds that we all have the capability to hate, and that we can all make the choice not to. Ransom’s fractured, distinctive prose highlights the beauty and brutality of his story, his extraordinarily vivid sense of place saturates the reader with the wet of the river, and the salty tang of the sea.
Media Reviews
‘This eloquent heart-felt debut pulls the reader right beside him and announces Ransom as a writer of real talent.’ Guardian.
‘A stunning achievement – one of the most impressive and assured debuts I’ve ever read.’ Matt Cain.
‘If you only read one debut novel this year make it this one’ Attitude Magazine.
‘Raw, uncompromising, and authentic, a remarkable debut from an astonishingly gifted writer’ Golnoosh Nour.
‘It’s a fine work of queer literature’. Damian Barr’s Literary Salon.
‘A bold, brilliant and beautiful debut’. Suzannah Dunn.
‘This guy is an incredible new talent. A short book that punches well above its weight: explicit, brutal and moving’. Isabel Costello.
‘Seldom, outside the realms of gay royalty like Alan Hollinghurst, have I read a novel about gay people so well written. I can’t recall the last time I read a novel with such a sense of place. This is a story that lives on long after the last full stop. And deserves to be read’. Charles Coussens
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