Tales Of The Suburbs Book

RELEASE DATE - 2 MAY 2023

As a boy growing up in the Black Country, drained grey by Mrs Thatcher’s steely policies, Jamie dreams of escape to a magical metropolis where he can rub shoulders with the mythical creatures who inhabit the pages of his Smash Hits.

Although, his hometown is not without characters and Jamie’s life not without dramas, courtesy of a cast of West Midlands divas led by his mother, Gloria. Her one-liners are as colourful as the mohair cardies she carries off with the panache of a television landlady.

We follow Jamie through secondary school, teenage troubles and away to art school; there he experiences the flush of first love with Billy, and the rush of the big city.

But what then? Will he return to the safety of Welston, or risk everything on a new life in London?

Flamboyantly funny stories of self-discovery, set against the shifting social scenery of the 80s and 90s, for everybody who’s ever decided to be the person they are
meant to be.

‘Reading this book was like coming home. Beautiful.’
JOELLE TAYLOR

‘Reveals a true writer’s gift for comic and poignant storytelling, in which pithy dialogue and sharp characterisation make for compelling reading.’
PATRICIA ROUTLEDGE

‘This is a moving, compassionate book about growing up gay in a small Midlands town. An authentic, poignant account of working-class life and manners and, ultimately, the overriding love the author feels for those who shaped his childhood. I didn’t want it to end.’
ANN MITCHELL