Overview

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.

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9781803511627

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Reviews

[Will] snap your heart strings. A bittersweet, spare, poetic novella * Books and Bits * 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 -- John Self * Observer * A tender Welsh romance... Anthony Shapland's tender, short novel dwells as much on the beauty of the surrounding landscape as the emerging relationship it shelters. Delicately told with not a word wasted * Financial Times * Packs a considerable punch... With its poignant rendering of a loving relationship undertaken against great odds, compounded by a hostile political climate, A Room Above a Shop is a powerful and luminously pure novel. At 53, Shapland has arrived with his talent fully formed * Guardian * Written in short, lyrical, mosaic-like paragraphs, this is a beautifully crafted love story that lingers long in the memory * The Times * Anthony's writing is unique, sparse and poetic - a true art in itself - and this is not to be missed * Buzz magazine * [An] utterly unique experience... this book is a success... This is a book of deep importance to Wales' hidden histories * Nation.Cymru * Shapland writes with a sense of the poetic... It takes a talented writer to create something memorable in 20,000 words... potent * Irish Times * A vital new voice in Welsh literature * BBC Radio Wales Arts Show * It was a joy to read, such a tender story, the finespun prose and meticulous description -- Sara Baume An atmospheric portrayal of gay, working-class life in a South Wales Valley, to read A Room Above a Shop is to feel held within the hands of a master craftsman in control of his form. I dare anyone to read this and not feel the ache of M and B's story, their solitude and their desire -- Joshua Jones, author of Local Fires There's a moving uncertainty, a vulnerability on the page that allows the reader to hear, and to listen. There's a quiet, brave strength in that -- Cynan Jones, author of Cove An achingly intimate story, rich and ragged with emotion, told with loving intricacy and delicate precision... it winded me -- Megan Barker, author of Kit Like looking into a kaleidoscope, every tiny twist in Anthony Shapland's novel results in a cascade of new colour and light. A story to savour, from a writer in total command of his powers -- Mike Parker, author of On The Red Hill One of the most beautiful and original gay novels I have a read in a long time. Spare, sad and intensely poetic, like a Swimming In The Dark for grown-ups -- Neil Blackmore, author of Radical Love An extraordinary evocation of love, and of life in South Wales in the years following the miner's strike. Anthony Shapland is a master at rendering sensation in a language that is unique, precise, and ultra-perceptive. A devastating, erotic and beautiful novel -- Francesca Reece, author of Glass Houses A tender portrait of a love story not often heard. Shapland's writing is intensely poetic, chapters unfurl like precious flowers. Joyful and painful all at once, A Room Above a Shop gifts us a Welsh story steeped in that universal yearning for connection -- Hanan Issa, National Poet of Wales A taut, poetic and profoundly moving tale of love. Written with restraint and care, A Room Above A Shop marks the arrival of a distinctive and compelling literary voice -- Noel O’Regan, author of Though the Bodies Fall An essential new voice in Welsh literature. A tender and crucial love story that gives voice to the enforced silences of the past we should always remember -- Tiffany Murray, author of My Family and Other Rock Stars

Author Information

ANTHONY SHAPLAND grew up in Bargoed, South Wales. He is a writer and artist, and founder of g39, an artist-led space in Cardiff. His short story 'Foolscap' was shortlisted for the Rhys Davies Award and he was selected for the Hay Writers at Work programme in 2023. This is his debut.

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