Bumping by Tony Bianchi
Portico Prize for Literature Longlist
Look inside: Alcemi Interviews Tony Bianchi (PDF)
Look inside: Part 2 (PDF)
Over at Nicky's place, somebody's dumped twenty stolen chairs in the backyard. What does she care? They call her a fat slag at school and all her mam can do is watch Relocation, Relocation and dream of being elsewhere. Nicky prefers to dream of Barry, who's a dab hand at picking locks. Meanwhile, Frank is doing his best to get on top of things at Pierce Constant Solutions, but bumping into an old school adversary is more than he can cope with. At the residential home, Tom looks for the light to go off in his son's flat, because he's due a visit, but memories of wartime keep getting in the way. Neither Nicky, Frank nor Tom realises that their lives are about to collide, that their dreams will soon become nightmares.
Bumping is a novel of suspense, dark humour and richly distinctive voices set on contemporary Tyneside. It is as tightly coiled as the French film Caché (Hidden), and shares the same atmosphere of watching, waiting and half-glimpsed secrets. It is about delusion, male obsession with systems, the tyranny of random events and Californian ladybirds.
Reveals an amazing eye for detail. His portrayals of old Tom and of teenagers Barry and Nicky... are classics. Morning Star
A wise and tender portrait of ordinary lives slipping slowly out of
kilter with the brave new world around them.John Williams, author of Cardiff Dead, Michael X
kilter with the brave new world around them.John Williams, author of Cardiff Dead, Michael X
Tony Bianchi was born and grew up in North Shields, on Tyneside. Formerly Literature Director at the Arts Council of Wales, he is now a freelance writer and translator, and lives in Cardiff. He has won prizes for his Welsh-language poetry and fiction, including the Daniel Owen Memorial Prize, and has been short-listed for Welsh Book of the Year.
Praise for Tony Bianchi
{His} writing is muscular and at times utterly overwhelming... I was exhilarated. National Eisteddfod Adjudicator Robat Arwyn
Intricate and multi-layered, rich in ideas and eloquent in expression... {will} be pored over for years to come.Planet
A virtuoso author.Barn