If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things by Jon McGregor

‘This novel owes as much to
poetry as it does to prose. Its opening, an invocation of the life of the
city, is strongly reminiscent of Auden’s Night Mail in its hypnotic portrait
of industrialised society…An assured debut’ Erica Wagner, The Times. On a
street in a town in the North of England, ordinary people are going through
the motions of their everyday existence – street cricket, barbecues, painting
windows…A young man is in love with a neighbour who does not even know his
name. An old couple make their way up to the nearby bus stop. But then a
terrible event shatters the quiet of the early summer evening. That this
remarkable and horrific event is only poignant to those who saw it, not even
meriting a mention on the local news, means that those who witness it will be
altered for ever. Jon McGregor’s first novel brilliantly evokes the histories
and lives of the people in the street to build up an unforgettable human
panorama. Breathtakingly original, humane and moving, IF NOBODY SPEAKS OF
REMARKABLE THINGS is an astonishing debut. ‘The work of a burning new talent
…Jon MacGregor writes like a lyrical angel’ Daily Mail