A SUNDAY TIMES BEST BOOK OF 2024
A BBC MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF 2024
AN INDEPENDENT BEST FICTION TO READ IN 2024
A NEW STATESMAN FICTION HIGHLIGHT OF 2024
A GUARDIAN BEST BOOK TO LOOK OUT FOR IN 2024
AN i-D FICTION HIGHLIGHT TO BE EXCITED FOR IN 2024

'A deeply felt and rich enactment of love, loneliness and personal triumph that leaves an indelible mark on modern Queer life' OCEAN VUONG

The town was once a hub of industry. A place where men toiled underground in darkness, picking and shovelling in the dust and the sleck. It was dangerous and back-breaking work but it meant something. Once, the town provided, it was important; it had purpose. But what is it now?

Brothers Alex and Brian have spent their whole life in the town where their father lived and his father, too. Now in his middle age and still reeling from the collapse of his personal life, Alex must reckon with a part of his identity he has long tried to conceal. His only child Simon has no memory of the mines. Now in his twenties and working in a call centre, he derives passion from his side hustle in sex work and his weekly drag gigs.

Set across three generations of South Yorkshire mining family, Andrew McMillan's magnificent debut novel is a lament for a lost way of life as well as a celebration of resilience and the possibility for change.

About the Author

Andrew McMillan was born in Barnsley in 1988. His debut collection of poetry, physical, was 'the sort of once-in-a-generation debut that causes everyone to sit up and take notice' according to Sarah Crown. physical was the only poetry book to ever win the Guardian First Book Award; it was also awarded a Somerset Maugham award, an Eric Gregory Award, the Aldeburgh First Collection Prize and in 2019 was voted as one of the Top 25 Poetry Books of the Past 25 Years by the Booksellers Association. His second collection, playtime, won the inaugural Polari Prize. A third collection, pandemonium, was published in 2021 and in 2022 he co-edited the acclaimed anthology 100 Queer Poems, which was shortlisted in the British Book Awards. He is professor of contemporary writing at Manchester Metropolitan University and a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

@AMcMillanPoet | andrewmcmillanpoet.co.uk

Reviews
Tender and true. It explores with brilliance and deep empathy how our lives - and our secrets - are always intertwined with those who went before us -- DOUGLAS STUART
The poet's deft first novel conveys the personal and political pain felt by three generations in his home town . . . This is not a novel specifically about the strike and its outcome, although its embittered legacy is skilfully threaded through its pages . . . the narrative is impressively ambitious . . . a novel of huge compassion * * Guardian * *
A deeply felt and rich enactment of love, loneliness and personal triumph that leaves an indelible mark on modern Queer life. With the poet's precision and capacious resistance to resolution, wherein doubt is transformed into force, McMillan's first foray into fiction is a magical one -- OCEAN VUONG
We already knew that Andrew McMillan could turn a phrase. With his debut novel, he also shows us a rare gift for storytelling. Pity digs deep into the heart and history of South Yorkshire and brings out the black gold of love, longing and loss. A triumph -- JON McGREGOR
Pity pays a great poet's tough but tender attention to the unspoken layers and historic fissures which lie beneath the wounded town of the self. This beautiful book about the marks that are left on people and places in turn leaves a deep empathic mark on the reader -- MAX PORTER
A magnificent kaleidoscope of a novel: sad, wise, enlightening and empathetic * * Independent * *
An astonishingly good book . . . I know already Pity will be one of my books for 2024. It's that good -- VAL McDERMID
As befits the work of an award-winning poet, not a word is wasted in Pity, Andrew McMillan's slim, spare, sparkling story about three generations of men in a Barnsley mining family . . . uplifting and mournful, full of hope and regret * * Financial Times * *
Pity is as tough, glittering and multilayered as the coal upon which it rests. With lyrical prose and deep tenderness, Andrew McMillan beautifully explores the complex hauntings of love and grief across generations -- LIZ BERRY
Beautiful, sparing and impassioned . . . [a] tender exploration of the ties that bind generations * * Literary Review * *



Book Information
ISBN 9781838858957
Author Andrew McMillan
Format Hardback
Page Count 192
Imprint Canongate Books
Publisher Canongate Books
Weight(grams) 313g
Dimensions(mm) 220mm * 144mm * 22mm