David Towsey is a graduate of the Bath Spa and Aberystwyth University Creative Writing programmes. Born in Dorset, he moved to Wales and managed to lose himself there for ten years. He's now determined to see what the rest of the world has to offer.

This is a sparse, elegantly written novel about family ties. The influence of Cormac McCarthy and especially The Road is keenly felt, and Thomas and Mary's relationship is moving without being overly sentimental . . . the deft world-building and focus on small-scale human tragedy make for an absorbing alternative to World War Z -style epics.