Shtum

'A darker, sadder version of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, but just as moving' THE OBSERVER 'Funny yet heart-breaking' INDEPENDENT 'A book with true heart and soul' Joanna Cannon, author of THE TROUBLE WITH GOATS AND SHEEP Ben Jewell has hit breaking point. His ten-year-old son, Jonah, has never spoken. So when Ben and Jonah are forced to move in with Ben's elderly father, three generations of men - one who can't talk; two who won't - are thrown together. As Ben battles single fatherhood, a string of well-meaning social workers and his own demons, he learns some difficult home truths. Jonah, blissful in his ignorance, becomes the prism through which all the complicated strands of personal identity, family history and misunderstanding are finally untangled. *SELECTED FOR THE RADIO 2 BOOK CLUB WITH SIMON MAYO*