All Books

Before the Earthquake by

Published

February 2010

Selected as a ‘Good Housekeeping Favourite Read’ for March 2010

“A story shaped as powerfully by a pitiless code of honour as it is by the cracking earth and searing sun.” – Fiona Shaw

A vibrant historical mystery set in the summer heat of an isolated rural Italian village, where an earthquake changes one woman’s life forever.

Published by Tindal Street Press on the 18th February 2010.
Beauty by

Published

January 2010

2009 COSTA FIRST NOVEL AWARD WINNER

“Captures the raw humanity of inner city life with extraordinary authenticity”
— Judges of the Costa First Novel Award

“Selbourne brilliantly plays out a comedy of conflicting cultures and classes, repeatedly confounding readers’ expectations. He captures perfectly an England of pound shops and Jobcentres, and gives the tale of the innocent abroad an original twist” — Financial Times
A Booker Prize Trio by

Published

October 2009

As part of Tindal Street Press’s 10th anniversary celebrations, we’re delighted to present original editions of three debut novels short- and long-listed for the Man Booker Prize – in a beautiful, presentation box set.
The Stories of E. A. Markham by

Published

October 2009

Inimitable, unclassifiable and wise – Markham’s vibrant trilogy of short story collections are brought together for the first time in an exquisite limited-edition box set.
Roads Ahead by

Published

October 2009

“Birmingham’s Tindal Street Press launched in 1999 with an exciting and much-lauded anthology of short stories called Hard Shoulder, and a decade later, the new anthology Roads Ahead reaffirms their flame-carrying commitment to the form. All your hot young talents like Chris Killen and Richard Milward are in these 300 awesome pages, alongside some thrilling discoveries . . .”

— Dazed & Confused
Beauty (Original Cover) by

Published

September 2009

2009 COSTA FIRST NOVEL AWARD WINNER

“Captures the raw humanity of inner city life with extraordinary authenticity”
— Judges of the Costa First Novel Award

“Selbourne brilliantly plays out a comedy of conflicting cultures and classes, repeatedly confounding readers’ expectations. He captures perfectly an England of pound shops and Jobcentres, and gives the tale of the innocent abroad an original twist” — Financial Times
Box of Tricks by

Published

July 2009

It’s summer, early 1960s. While young Eddie’s parents are away, he has to help out at Auntie Vi’s boarding house. Here he shares a room with cousin Ray, a teddy boy who breaks his mother’s heart with…
Tell it to the Bees by

Published

May 2009

Lydia Weekes is distraught at the break-up of her marriage. When her young son, Charlie, makes friends with the local doctor, Jean Markham, her life is turned upside down. Charlie tells his…
Heartland by

Published

May 2009

Read the feature on Anthony Cartwright, politics and Dudley in Guardian Society – and join in the debate

Listen again to Anthony Cartwright’s interview on BBC Radio 4 Front Row of Friday 23 October

Read Anthony Cartwright’s blog on Guardian Books about how he approached the subject of the BNP in his novel
Among Thieves by

Published

March 2009

It’s 1983 and two ex-campus drug dealers are locked in a feud of mysterious origin. Pads has the upper hand and the money, while Andy has the charisma and the girls. When Andy sets up a disastrous…
The Three Suitors of Fred Belair by

Published

January 2009

Winifred Belair is one of the returnees who gossip over drinks on the verandahs of the Caribbean island of St Caesare. Fred is good-looking still and eligible, but her friends warn her about the visit from…
Never Never by

Published

September 2008

“‘Eric is a debt counsellor (as Gaffney himself once was) whose days at the Cleator Moor Money Advice Shop in west Cumbria are spent helping anxious debtors avoid making payments. Mired…
Girl in a Blue Dress by

Published

September 2008

Alfred Gibson’s funeral has taken place at Westminster Abbey, and his wife of twenty years, Dorothea, has not been invited. Dorothea is comforted by her daughter Kitty, until an invitation…
What Was Lost by

Published

September 2008

What Was Lost starts off as a straightforward and extremely likeable account of a little girl who sets up a detective agency to honour her dead father. And then the book abruptly cuts from 1984 to 2003. Green Oaks, pallid as it was 20 years previously, is still there. Kate is not. The transition is remarkable. O’Flynn never abandons her wry sense of humour, but as she begins to tease out the connections between the two halves of her brilliantly conceived plot, the sense that something’s missing grows stronger and stronger…
Blood Tender by

Published

July 2008

The sky is a bloody gold and there are riots in the streets the night that Marlena arrives in Sicily. A damaged English girl – with her head full of secrets – she’s here to dance. Or rather, to strip: at Mickey’s…
Do I Love You? by

Published

April 2008

When Trebbo’s dad Minty (aka ‘The Div’) bursts into song in response to Frank Wilson’s classic ‘Do I Love You?’ on a fried chicken advert on TV, he triggers a disastrous chain of events. In showing…
All The Dogs by

Published

March 2008

The allure of Herointown beckons as Monkey returns to his Shropshire birthplace. The red brick castle, the market stalls, the curves of the river: all resonate with memories of a drug-filled…
Holding My Breath by

Published

March 2008

Beth Levy is a young girl in a household of strong women. There’s her mother, Goldie, responsible for the family and the old values; Aunt Carrie, a skilled seamstress with a secret past; and…
Careless Talk by

Published

October 2007

Young Morley Charles worries that he’s just not clever enough for the city’s art school. But the lies he tells to advance himself in the eyes of friends, family and the local priest bring all manner of…
By the Tide of Humber by

Published

September 2007

New Year’s Eve. Lyn, a lifeguard at Beverley Road Baths, is fending off the monotony of another ‘Early Birds’ shift. But soon a chance encounter with prison officer Eddie will spark an intense affair…
Little Moscow by

Published

August 2007

The Little Moscow, a shady basement bar at the side of the Grand Union canal in Birmingham, stamping ground for thieves, gangsters and conmen – plus some of the city’s more glamorous…
Cargo Fever by

Published

April 2007

On faraway Kenukecil, Ibu Nilasera is alarmed to see a red-haired ‘short man’ praying in the front pew of the church. In Jakarta, Sam Rivers is all set to marry his Indonesian love, Fon. But life takes an…
What Was Lost (original edition) by

Published

January 2007

The 1980s. Kate Meaney – with her ‘Top Secret’ notebook and Mickey her toy monkey – is busy being a junior detective. She observes goings-on and follows ‘suspects’ at the newly opened Green Oaks shopping centre and in her street, where she is friends with the newsagent’s son, Adrian. But when this curious, independent-spirited young girl disappears, Adrian falls under suspicion and is hounded out of his home by the press…
At Home with Miss Vanesa by

Published

October 2006

The returnees are making a new life on a Caribbean island they call home. After all their time in London, Boston and Paris, their birthplace now presents something of a challenge. But when Miss Vanesa’s…
Mango Shake by

Published

July 2006

“Like a good poem, a short story quickly draws in the reader and has an impact that lingers in the mind. Like a good poem too, it repays more than one reading. The stories in Mango Shake will tempt the…
Loffing Matters by

Published

July 2006

“Why are there so few collections of humorous short stories around? I mean modern ones, without P. G. Wodehouse in? Collections of every other kind of modern short story abound. Horror, crime…
Mark II by

Published

May 2006

Phil still calls for his best friend every day on his way to school, despite Mark’s recent death. Then one morning Mark is back: a clone created by Laz-R-Us™. Without Phil to teach Mark II the basics of life – the…
Shawnie by

Published

April 2006

Shawnie is the story of the Brewer family – Ma Lisa, brother Jason and daughter Shawnie, plus Lisa’s so-called lover Steve. Over the course of an intense summer, they each tell their own off-kilter…
Meet Me in Mozambique by

Published

October 2005

Globe-trotting Pewter Stapleton is most at home in airports. He sends last-minute postcards worldwide and misses his flights. From childhood on the volcanic island of St Caesare to teenage days…
Piggy Monk Square by

Published

May 2005

1970s Toxteth, and 9-year-old Sparra is running out of places to play. It’s no fun at home, what with her Mam and Dad snapping at each other and Auntie Mo dishing the dirt. Along her street prowl mortal enemies…
Painter Man by

Published

May 2005

When newlyweds Malcolm and Alice set up together in their terraced home, Malcolm’s passion for his young wife inspires his artwork. But domestic pressures – and a long-ago accident in a…
Goodbye, Hessle Road by

Published

March 2005

Donna, with her flamboyant hair and intricate tattoos, likes to hide behind an upfront attitude. When she strikes up with Shane, the joy she feels is clouded by his lawless past and her own anguish…
Are You She? by

Published

November 2004

Award-winning novelist Lesley Glaister introduces a showcase of four accomplished writers – with two exceptional stories each from Mandy Sutter, Sidura Ludwig, Polly Wright and Myra Connell.

One of my favourite occupations is to dawdle along a street at dusk, just as the lights come on but before the curtains are drawn – for the tantalizing glimpses of other lives –...
Dreams Never End by

Published

November 2004

Distinguished novelist and critic Nicholas Royle presents a showcase of stories by three gifted writers with quite distinct takes on contemporary noir.
Kiss Me Softly, Amy Turtle by

Published

April 2004

The will-sapping tedium of life as a Walsall Reflector hack has given Dave “Ichabod” McVane a serious thirst for the devil’s juice. Now, after years of debauchery, the booze has bitten back…
The Polished Hoe by

Published

March 2004

Bimshire, 1952. The Sergeant of the island’s police force is called to hear a murderous confession. A lifetime of tragic compromise told in a single night…
The Afterglow by

Published

February 2004

Anthony Cartwright’s award-winning debut novel. Meet the family: there’s Luke at work at Paradise Meatpacking, out on the town with Jamie, playing snooker with his unnerving mate Risley, and…
Going the Distance by

Published

October 2003

Going the Distance features twenty vigorous, original stories by widely published authors and up-and-coming new talent – to transport the reader…
Wist by

Published

July 2003

Wist tells the story of Romany and Kate: soul sisters linked by a love of escape and adventure. Street girl Romany is caught up in an Indian romance with the once-bookish Ty – but what unspoken…
What Goes Round by

Published

July 2003

When Frank returns to Jamaica for Poppa Ben’s funeral, he’s pursued by Rose, an old flame who’s still convinced their destiny is shared. Meanwhile, Jewelle…
Astonishing Splashes of Colour by

Published

February 2003

When an innocent trip to Peter Pan gives Kitty’s four brothers an excuse to deny her access to her much-loved nieces, she finds herself in a skewed, vividly coloured world where children become emblems…
Birmingham Nouveau by

Published

November 2002

This sparkling selection of short stories with a decidedly Brummie perspective embodies Birmingham’s fresh-found vitality. Nouveau will delight short-story readers, city dwellers…
The Executioner's Art by

Published

October 2002

Who is the man sandblasted to death? The police investigate, and DS Singleterry’s department destroys evidence and lies to the press. This offhand attitude towards justice…
Birmingham Noir by

Published

October 2002

From hazardous towpaths to love on an orange summer’s night… from cut-throat gangsters in the Little Moscow bar… to childhood ghosts igniting the terrors of today…
The City Trap by

Published

May 2002

A murdered prostitute: Des McGinlay’s first big case should be easy to resolve. But he’s struggling to fend off the ‘big wallow’ – desperate to pull his life together as he picks through the wreckage of others’…
Jakarta Shadows by

Published

May 2002

Jakarta, Indonesia. The city is edgy after the fall of Soeharto, the country engulfed in religious strife and urban violence. Most westerners have fled. Not rootless, disenchanted Graham Young…
Her Majesty by

Published

May 2002

Melody, more tart than sophisticate, escapes to sunshine with her teacher’s baby… A wild swim triggers hard decisions on a soft day in Connemara… An unlikely wedding breakfast…
Whispers in the Walls by

Published

October 2001

Letters across the ocean tell a family’s story spanning 29 years…A young Asian wife battles the silence that threatens her…In St Kitts, a son tries to pick the lock of his father’s reserve…
Surviving Sting by

Published

October 2001

‘Ace Face’ wannabe Dave ‘Mac’ McVane think he’s got it made. At the Friday night disco luscious Joolz, the most shaggable girl in Walsall, invites him to her home on the notorious Jerome K. Jerome estate…
The Concrete Sea by

Published

April 2001

Kate Connor’s body lies undiscovered in industrial wasteland for fifteen months – strange fragments of bone lodged in her throat and a sea bean at her side. Assigned to investigate her murder, Don Avoca…
A Lone Walk by

Published

October 2000

Wil’s break for freedom from a brutal psychiatric regime confronts him with unexpected choices. Who can he trust? An alluring voice from his childhood dreams? Or a big-hearted nurse who reassures…
Scapegrace by

Published

April 2000

Five teenage girls who share everything: clothes, hopes, fears and secrets. But the world is changing as fast as the girls and the group fragments, stirring frightening but exhilarating forces. Gina is accused…
The Pig Bin by

Published

April 2000

The Pig Bin is a laugh-out-loud novel about the embarrassing escapades of a wartime adolescent. Morley Charles is a shy Catholic boy with a stammer. His mother disapproves of most of his friends…
Hard Shoulder by

Published

October 1999

In these smart-mouthed stories we hear strong voices surviving the complexity of city experience – and recording it with verve. This is a generation of young writers unfazed by the material world…