Whale: David Gaffney

“In the beautiful stories in Whale, David Gaffney asks what it means when a whale washes up on a northern-English beach. The whale, in all its meatiness and mass, is shockingly present, but Gaffney movingly explores how the whalecomes to represent the dreams, griefs and yearnings of those drawn to the mystery and sadness of its beaching. Playful, vividly unexpected, funny, these are short, sharp stories that stick deep in the heart and the mind and won’t be shaken out.” (Jacob Polley)

“I can think of few things more delightful than reading David Gaffney’s dark, funny, tiny, enormous stories riffing on the idea, the dream, the tales of whales. As with everything Gaffney creates, Whale is about whales and not about whales; it’s about life, death, loss, grief, work, love, connection. And boots. It is, as the author himself tells us in The Metaphor on the Beach in case we think we have cleverly figured it out, a metaphor. I also learned a lot about whales, some of which might actually be true.”  (Tania Hershman)

Released 13th April 2024
Edition of 100 numbered copies. *
ISBN: 978-1-3999-8298-6

If you are an international customer please get in touch via email – do not purchase a UK copy***

David Gaffney comes from Cleator Moor, went to school in Whitehaven and now lives in Manchester. He is the author of the novels Never Never (2008), All The Places I’ve Ever Lived (2017) and Out Of The Dark (2021), and the flash fiction and short story collections Sawn-Off Tales (2006), Aromabingo (2007), The Half-Life of Songs (2010) and More Sawn-Off Tales (2013). He has published two graphic novels with Dan Berry – The Three Rooms In Valerie’s Head (2018) and Rivers (2021) – and is working on a third. His latest short story collection with Salt Publishing, Concrete Fields, is out now, and his new book, Whale, is launched in Whitehaven in April 2024.

 

* once stock has been sold, any further purchases will be refunded.
***please look at PayPal refunds policy for refunds.