If This Is Home

Description

A dazzling first novel from the critically acclaimed author of Ten Stories About Smoking Mark Wilkinson has three names. He left his own behind in the rainy north of England. US immigration know him as Joe Novak. And at the Valhalla, the mysterious complex in Vegas where he sells lofty ambition and dark desires, he goes by Mr Jones. Since the age of eighteen, Mark has been running away, and hard. Away from everything that is flat and dull and ordinary: his market town. Away from disappointment: his vanished mother, his broken father. And away from heartbreak. Bethany Wilder, beautiful goth, carnival queen, partner in dreams, tragic ghost, never made it with him to America. He's thirty now and again it's time to flee - in the opposite direction, towards home. With shades of J. G. Ballard, Murakami, and Joseph O'Neill, this is an inventive and emotional novel about the power of dreams to destroy, of memory to distort, and of courage, ultimately, to heal.

A former bookseller and editor, Stuart Evers is the acclaimed author of Ten Stories About Smoking, which won the 2011 London Book Award. He lives in London.

'So intelligent and perceptive and so well-written . . . this first novel is a fine achievement, something to savour. When I had finished it, I went back and read it again, and it seemed even better second time round.' Allan Massie, Scotsman 'Assured and unsettling.' Amber Pearson, Daily Mail 'A hugely original, unforgettable debut . . . Both gut-churning and beautifully written, this is a must read.' Easy Living 'Troubling and hypnotic.' Elle 'Evers is exceptionally good at dialogue: the cascading monologues of a taxi driver, hairdresser and bitter photographer made me simultaneously wince in recognition and smile' Independent on Sunday 'A deft, affecting piece of work about possibility and identity. It heralds a fresh, new voice destined to roll gold bars on the slot machine of literary life.' Sinead Gleeson, Irish Times 'Evers captures the frustration of adolescence and the lingering pain of careless destruction with sharp, flowing prose and a propulsive structure' Metro 'Adept and inventive . . . A quiet triumph,' Ben East, Observer 'Evers manages to land every dramatic punch, with a final twist that has devastating implications . . . this is a fresh and eccentric novel that isn't afraid of attending to the broader pleasures.' Spectator 'Sparky, edgy and bursting with energy . . . an incredibly entertaining read' Stylist 'Clean and elegant; his sentences are unadorned, downbeat and honest . . . Evers is a talent for the future - of that, I think, there's little doubt' Sunday Telegraph 'British fiction's latest great hope . . . Slowly revealing its secrets, this book has a remarkable power to unsettle.' Graeme Allister, The Word 'The novel picks up a thriller-like pace, weaving in the odd, sometimes devastating twist, and marking Evers as an author with storytelling substance' Timeout 'Evers knocks out enviably beautiful prose, and the humming, muffled, air-conditioned neverland of Las Vegas is conjured up with a captivating and woozy effect . . . A compelling book.' Hugo Rifkind, The Times