Travelling in a Strange Land (Paperback)

'An extraordinary novel, at once startling and quietly brilliant. David Park is a one of Ireland's great novelists and this is, perhaps, his best' - Roddy Doyle

'This is a father and son novel of rare intensity. We are taken on an unforgettable winter journey and, like in a skid, we have no idea which way we'll be facing by the end. He writes with a focus and precision which wrings the heart' - Bernard MacLaverty

'This, then, is the story of a lost child and a parent's guilt about decisions that seemed justifiable at the time but that merely led the way to irreversible tragedy, about the search for redemption ... Its concerns are firmly on one man and his search for meaning and solace' - Irish Independent 

'Extraordinary ... As raw and moving a chronicle of pain and powerlessness as could be written. Beautiful, too' - Lisa McInerney

'Breathtaking ... A dark secret and a frozen journey through the fraught terrain of parenthood drive this brave, exhilarating novel ... Every sentence in Parks's book is felt. The author has weighed up each word and considered every image, electing only those that carry sufficient freight to bear the reader to his intended destination Park takes this emotional terrain of parenthood as both his setting and his subject, and creates something exhilaratingly brave and powerful from its jagged peaks and troughs' - Claire Kilroy, The Guardian 

'This lucidly written and deceptively simple narrative by the highly regarded Northern Irish novelist David Park is the story of a troubled journey into the self and out into the world again, towards some glimmer of generosity and redemption' - The Sunday Times 

'A tense, tense, thrilling, strange and profoundly moving study of parenthood. There isn't a wasted syllable in this short, beautiful book' - Donal Ryan, Irish Times 

'Sombre, but unsolemn, with a redemptive, tingling finale, this is a small book bursting with big emotions' - Anthony Cummins, The Daily Mail 

'A deeply felt novel ... of personal tragedy and failure ... There is no false piety in this sometimes desperate, always measured novel, but a compassionately observed, manifestly flawed redemption' - Irish Times 

'It is time to call David Park what he is - a very great writer. Travelling In A Strange Land is an eruption of love and sorrow, overwhelmingly compassionate and wise, hearing the heart break and maybe even heal, bearing the deepest testimony to the love, unending love, binding parent and child. A mighty book' - Frank McGuinness

'David Park is now one of the best British novelists. He's perfected his art. His new book qualifies him as the Belfast Turgenev ... One of the truest observers of life ... he is even more compelling on his favourite subject, the delicate balance which ties, and taunts, fathers and sons. This touching story of a ruminating father's solitary journey to Scotland to bring home his sick son for Christmas is one of his best yet. It has all of Park's magic, melancholy and tenderness, and is, in more ways than one, an absolute dream' - Big Issue 

'Park appears to write effortlessly, with one foot planted firmly in the canon of traditional Irish lyricism and another flirting with modern parlance ... His emotional intelligence is remarkable' - The Daily Mail 

'A writer's writer ... Park is to be commended for his great skill with language and emotion' - John Boyne

One of the shrewdest observers of the way we live now * Independent *
He is an astute storyteller whose vision is sustained by instinct, intelligent observation, and a sense of responsibility * Irish Times