The Whale Tattoo (Paperback)

'A bold, brilliant and beautiful debut' Suzanna Dunn. Raw, uncompromising, and authentic, a remarkable debut from an astonishingly gifted writer' Golnoosh Nour. 'An astounding debut by an important new voice in queer literature with a completely unique sense of language. Simply a triumph' 5 *****Love Reading, Thomas Schwentenwien. 'With assured narrative, a vivid sense of place and atmosphere, and flint-sharp dialogue, Jon Ransom has written a novel that is bleak and brutal, but never sentimental, and it is these characteristics which make The Whale Tattoo so utterly authentic - and so cruelly beautiful' Matt Bates. ‘It’s a fine work of queer literature’. Damian Barr’s Literary Salon. ‘The Whale Tattoo’ is a stunning achievement - one of the most impressive and assured debuts I’ve ever read’. Matt Cain. This guy is an incredible new talent. A short book that punches well above its weight: explicit, brutal and moving’. Isabel Costello. ‘The novel scratches an itch that few books can reach. It’s Ransom’s raw reflection on life, his recognition of the brutality that transforms moments of passing rapture into something dreamy that leaves the reader entranced’. Neil Czeszejko. The Most Anticipated Books of 2022, Delphic Reviews. ‘Jon Ransom’s debut novel, The Whale Tattoo, is filled with prose that picks you up in its wake and takes you on a journey. Complex, fraught and violent, The Whale Tattoo reads like an early Tracy Lett’s play – a steaming mix of blue-collar rage and menace’. The Queer Review. ‘Seldom, outside the realms of gay royalty like Alan Hollinghurst, have I read a novel about gay people so well written. I can’t recall the last time I read a novel with such a sense of place. This is a story that lives on long after the last full stop. And deserves to be read’. Charles Coussens.