Tin Man

ABBEY’S BOOKSELLER PICK —— This third book from Winman is very different from her others (When God was a Rabbit; A Year of Marvellous Ways). There's no magic realism - something I love as a reader, though others don't - but there is the beautiful writing and fully-fleshed, believable characters that have characterised her work. I'll go so far as to say this is my favourite book of the year so far, and I don't really think it will be topped. In all ways this is a perfect book, from its narrative structure to its depiction of loss, grief, friendship, love and survival.

It's almost impossible to describe this book without giving away the plot, such as it is, but it is about a man who has lost everything he valued. Ellis works in an automotive factory, going through the motions after the two loves of his life died five years previously. He is haunted by grief and regret and the sheer weariness of keeping going when there seems to be nothing left to live for. The reader learns what he has lost, but we also see the first shoots of regrowth… An entirely believable and truly moving story, one you can go back to and read again and again. I have - four times now. I suspect I will keep this one close! Lindy Jones

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