Patrick Gale was born on the Isle of Wight and now lives on a farm near Land's End. One of this country's best-loved novelists, his most recent works are A Place Called Winter, Take Nothing With You and Mother's Boy. His BBC 'Queer Britannia' television drama, Man In An Orange Shirt, was shown to great acclaim in 2017 and won an International Emmy Award.
Patrick Gale brings his usual compassionate sympathy, impeccable research and elegant style to his powerful new novel. It was a joy to be reunited with Harry Cane, as he returns from Canada to his not entirely hospitable homeland in his old age, and reconnects with three generations of his family. Love Lane is an involving story of reconciliation, secrets and compromises, rich in emotional truth and evocative historical detail -- Clare Chambers Five threads of storytelling interweave to form the braid of a novel both poignant and elegiac. A story of missed opportunities and, ultimately, a memorable story of forgiveness -- Sarah Winman An intimate and closely-observed novel - a family drama full of heart-rending moments illumined by the power of suppressed desire. The characters feel real, knowable and alive. Full of rich detail, this story brings private pasts to light with all of Gale's signature warmth, grace and humanity -- Seán Hewitt There is no judgement here, only humanity. A joy and a lesson for our time -- Ann Cleeves This is a captivating novel from beginning to end. Beautifully paced, it combines characters that spring immediately to bouncing life, a capacious and compassionate humanity and vividly convincing historical insight. With delicate strands of family story wound expertly into a profoundly involving narrative of passion lost and found, Love Lane traces all the strange and wonderful ways of the heart -- Christobel Kent He brings a musicality and rootedness to his prose along with a seemingly effortless skill of narrative that makes the work both compelling and rich. Crucially, he reminds us that while social mores and even laws may change, bigotry and brutality often lurk just beneath a polite surface. This is a vital tale, beautifully told -- Stella Duffy He makes you care about the characters who feel real, and you so badly want the world to treat them with the respect, kindness and attention they deserve -- Georgina Moore An extraordinary creation, one of the most atmospheric and subtly realised novels I've read in a long while -- James Cahill Nobody is better than Patrick Gale at discovering the extraordinary stories that are hidden in the cracks of ordinary lives, and Love Lane is his finest novel yet: a family history that is full of yearning and as tender as a mother's embrace -- Robert Douglas-Fairhurst