April 2024 is a busy month for the Tindal Street Fiction Group with two members launching novels. First up on Saturday April 6th 2-4pm in Leamington is the launch of Anthony Ferner’s fourth novel, Small Wars in Madrid. (click link for more information and to order a copy). If you wish to attend the launch, please leave your email in the comments and we will send you details.

Some reviews:

Small Wars in Madrid is a thoughtful novel about trauma, coming-to-self, and the sometimes inextricable links between such complex processes. ‘ — Ilana Masad, author of All My Mother’s Lovers

‘Anthony Ferner’s easy, fluent and often witty writing style breezed me through the story of David Aguilera, a Spanish naval commander pursued by professional and personal guilt and failure. As well as searching for some kind of atonement, Ferner’s protagonist grapples around trying to establish a religious and cultural identity for himself that proves shifting and tenuous. It’s a captivating page-turner with a skilfully-constructed narrative so from page one I’d signed up for Aguilera’s journey. He appears to await judgement from all sides and I was invested in the outcomes. Characters and settings alike are captured succinctly in precise and economical prose and there are many moving scenes between family members that I found particularly absorbing. It’s a story with real depth and empathy. ‘  — Fran Hill, author of Miss, What Does Incomprehensible Mean? and Cuckoo in the Nest

Later in the month, April 25th at 6:30pm at the Kitchen Garden Cafe in King’s Heath (B14 7SA) Heath Bookshop hosts associate member Elizabeth O’Connor’s launch of her debut novel, ‘Whale Fall’ (click on link for more information and to order a copy). Elizabeth’s book was the subject of a bidding war (won by Picador) and she was featured as one of the top ten debut authors in the Observer recently. Unfortunately tickets for the launch are sold out.

Some reviews:

‘I didn’t want it to end’ – Maggie O’Farrell
‘Powerful . . . written with a calm, luminous precision’ – Colm Tóibín
An Observer Best Debut of the Year 2024

The quiet cadences of Whale Fall contain a deep melody of loss held and let go. It is a gentle, tough story about profound change’ – Anne Enright