'A story about love and war, family and nation, addiction and recovery, told with intelligence, sensitivity and a huge heart. A must-read' Paul McVeigh, author of The Good Son

It is autumn 2004 and in a farmhouse on the hills outside Llandudno, a family endures the agonizing wait for their son to return from Iraq. His decision to join up has left them reeling, yet there are other pressing concerns to be met at home: the working of the farmland that has been theirs for generations and what to do with their troubled younger son.

Catrin's childhood sweetheart comes back to their small town, giving the boys' doting mother a glimpse into the life she could have had. And John, their father, falls once more into his gambling habit, even as the farm sits on the brink of bankruptcy.

As each member of the family grasps at their own tenuous lifeline, they drift further from one another - until, on a cold winter evening, there is a fateful knock at the door.

Written in luminous, exquisitely calibrated prose, Cloudless is a masterful portrayal of the fragility and resilience of human connection.

'A sparkling debut . . . A beautifully written exploration of family breakdown' Sean Lusk, author of The Second Sight of Zachary Cloudesley

'Elegant and quietly devastating . . . Dastur affords his characters such grace and complexity that they transcend fiction to become people you feel that you know and care for deeply' Melissa Fu, author of Peach Blossom Spring

About the Author
Rupert Dastur is a writer, editor and publisher. His writing has been shortlisted for the Bath Short Story Award and the Fish Short Story Prize, and won the Federation of Scottish Writers Award in 2018. He is the founder of TSS Publishing and director of The Cambridge Prizes for Short Fiction, and he runs writing workshops across the UK and abroad. He read English at Cambridge University and lives in London. Cloudless is his debut novel.

Reviews
Dastur skillfully weaves a story about love and war, family and nation, addiction and recovery, all with intelligence, sensitivity and a huge heart. A must read * Paul McVeigh, author of The Good Son *
Elegant and quietly devastating ... Dastur affords his characters such grace and complexity that they transcend fiction to become people you feel that you know and care for deeply * Melissa Fu, author of Peach Blossom Spring *
A beautifully written exploration of family breakdown set against the background of the Iraq war ... A sparkling debut. * Sean Lusk, author of The Second Sight of Zachary Cloudesley *
An accomplished, breathtaking debut novel that sweeps the reader into the hearts and minds of its characters. With muscular, precise prose, Dastur lays out the complexities hidden in the heart of a family ... The narrative is so superbly crafted and the characters so thoroughly integrated within their own landscape that the novel feels like a meeting of minds ... A wonderful work of craftsmanship and a complex, beautifully written debut * Catherine Menon, author of Fragile Monsters *



Book Information
ISBN 9780241654705
Author Rupert Dastur
Format Hardback
Page Count 336
Imprint Fig Tree
Publisher Penguin Books Ltd
Weight(grams) 400g
Dimensions(mm) 222mm * 138mm * 25mm