From a new voice in Welsh literature, an atmospheric and poignant story of a relationship between two small-town Valleys men during the late 1980s.

'One of the most beautiful and original gay novels I have a read in a long time' NEIL BLACKMORE AN OBSERVER BEST DEBUT NOVELIST OF 2025 When two quiet men form a tentative connection neither knows where it might lead. M has inherited his family's ironmongery business and B is younger by eleven years and can see no future in the place where he has grown up, but when M offers him a job and lodgings, he accepts. As the two men work side by side in the shop, they also begin a life together in their one shared room above - the kind of life they never imagined possible and that risks everything if their public performance were to slip. Unfolding in South Wales against the backdrop of Section 28, the age of consent debate and the HIV and AIDS crisis, this is a tender and resonant love story, and a powerful debut.

"Finding a distinctive voice that stands out and speaks clearly is an essential test for a novelist, and it's one that Welsh artist and writer Anthony Shapland effortlessly passes in his impressive debut... Memorable, striking, dark, beautiful and one of the best debuts I've read in years" - Observer

"Anthony's writing is unique, sparse and poetic - a true art in itself - and this is not to be missed" - Buzz magazine