Love Lane

'An engulfing, deeply humane novel about the triumphs and failures of human connection' Marina Kemp

Patrick Gale, the bestselling and Costa-shortlisted author of A Place Called Winter, takes up Harry Cane's epic journey as he returns to England for the first time in forty years. But will his family welcome him back? A story of love and sexuality, belonging and brutality, from 'a rare kind of storyteller' (Sarah Winman).

When a desperate mother and child arrive at Harry Cane's farm on the Canadian prairies, the winter years he had imagined for himself are lost forever.

Forced to sell up and sail back to an England transformed by two world wars, Harry is an outsider in his old country and a stranger to the family he left behind.

In Liverpool, his daughter feels duty bound to take him in. But Harry's presence sparks unexpected revelations across three generations, not least the residents of 5 Love Lane.

As long-buried anger, secrets and desires simmer beneath the surface, can Harry make a new life before it's too late, or will he be cast out once more?

A Radio 2 Book Club pick

'Extraordinary' - James Cahill
'Patrick Gale has a stature afforded to few literary novelists' - Telegraph
'The comedy has a Forsterian ease in its profound Englishness' - Guardian
'Rich in emotional truth' - Clare Chambers
'Patrick Gale is one of the world's greatest storytellers' - Joanna Cannon
'There is no judgement here, only humanity. A joy and a lesson for our time' - Ann Cleeves