June has got off to a great start for Richard Owain Roberts and his debut novel Hello Friend We Missed You. The first review, from Wales Arts Review, has come in and it's a corker!
Here are a couple of choice quotes to whet your appetite...
'Exploring tender issues such as resentment, loss, and loneliness with a cryptic and sometimes bizarre sense of humour, Roberts carefully reminds us that grief is intrinsically personal, and always comes in more than one shade.'
'As Niall Griffiths remarks, this novel is 'a simple boy-meets-girl' narrative 'transmuted into something uniquely astonishing'. Indeed, while the relationship between Hill and Trudy informs much of the novel’s direction, Roberts also does something much more profound. Utilising unusual paragraph breaks, line repetition, short sentences, and an unconventional, choppy page arrangement, Roberts manages to convey the feelings of confusion, isolation and loneliness associated with the tragic loss of a loved one.'
Following on from last week's announcement from Parthian that the Serbian translation rights have already been sold, and the book isn't officially published until the autumn, it's shaping up to be a great summer for Richard and Hello Friend We Missed You.
You can read the full review here.
And you can pre-order the book here. There might even be a few of our limited pre-order copies still available if you hurry...
