What’s on Stephen Boylan’s bedside table this month?

by Sarah Winman

Tin Man

(Tinder Press)

The latest novel from Sarah Winman, bestselling author of When God Was a Rabbit and A Year of Marvellous Ways, is one hell of an achievement. Shortlisted for last year’s Costa Novel of the Year prize, the book is a beautifully realised depiction of the friendship between two men and the woman in their life.

Ellis, a 46 year-old widower, works at an Oxford car plant where his job is to smooth out any bodywork imperfections as they roll offthe assembly line. As a youngster, his artistic leanings are cultivated by his mother who dies young; she also encourages his friendship with Michael, a joyous and mischievous boy, and the grandson of the local grocer. A close friendship develops between the two and, in their teenage years, they travel to France for a nine-day holiday where they come-ofage. In their 20s, the boys meet Annie, and another inseparable bond is formed, until the death of Michael’s grandmother sends him into a spiral and he departs for the anonymous streets of London.

To say any more, certainly from a story point of view, would do a disservice to Winman. The book is short and succinct but is never close to being rushed; over the course of its 200-odd pages, the story is allowed unfurl at a perfect pace. It switches back and forth, letting Ellis and Michael take the reins in turn – Michael comes to us through first-person journal entries, whereas Ellis come to us from a distance, as he’d undoubtedly want, in third-person.

The section set in France evokes that other literary and cinematic juggernaut Call Me By Your Name, but this book is unmistakeably (and perhaps stereotypically) English. Words go unspoken, feelings are left unexpressed, actions go undone – at one point Annie tells Ellis that he has ‘to do better with people’ when she learns he hasn’t spoken to Michael in a few weeks.

Like all the best books, Tin Man gets under your skin and stays there. That Winman is an empathetic writer is an understatement; she, and we, are utterly invested in the characters, but love stories simply don’t succeed any other way. A delicate triumph, I’ll be making space for her previous two novels on my summer reading list this year.

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The Miseducation of Cameron Post

by emily m danforth

(Penguin)

Recently adapted into a critically-acclaimed film starring Chloe Grace Moretz and Jennifer Ehle, Danforth’s 2012 novel is set in rural Montana and centres on the eponymous Cameron, a young girl who tragically loses her parents in a car accident.

Shipped offto her conservative grandmother and aunt, she is duly dispatched to a conversion camp after her relationship with a local girl becomes public knowledge. The reputation of danforth’s atmospheric novel has rightly grown hugely since its initial appearance, and its profile is sure to rocket sky-high when the film lands in late summer.

We the Animals

by Justin Torres

(Granta)

Premiering alongside The Miseducation of Cameron Post at this year’s Sundance festival was the film adaptation of Justin Torres’ critically acclaimed novel. Centred on a poor mixed-race family in rural upstate New York, our protagonist, the youngest of three children, slowly starts to distance himself from his family once his sexual awakening begins.

A chance discovery ultimately leads to tragedy in a tough read that pulls zero punches. Undoubtedly one of the best books of 2011, the world eagerly awaits the second novel from this fine author.