Fledgling: Josh Holton and Rhiannon Grist, in conversation

Join Josh Holton in conversation with Rhiannon Grist in conversation for the Scottish launch of his debut novel 'Fledgling'.

Fledgling by John Holton

Stuart is raised on a nature reserve in Cumbria; his family is poor. Stuart is sensitive - endlessly bullied in school, he believes in magic and feels more comfortable taking dance class than playing football. Stuart grows up straddling two worlds, becoming the first in his family to go to university.

His father, an ex-con, is quick to throw a punch, and won't eat anything in public 'more flamboyant than a ploughman's' in case someone would take him for a 'nancy-boy'. An avid birdwatcher, he has found peace in his new life as a caretaker for a nature reserve.

When his father is diagnosed with terminal cancer, Stuart grapples with grief as he tries to become the man he thinks his father would want him to be.

Interwoven in the narrative are snippets of British wildlife, particularly the birds that captivate Stuart and his father, and reflect the bond they share. The writing is surprising, hilarious, and devastating.

Josh Holton is an ex-MMA fighter who took too many blows to the head and now writes and draws the unexpected. He placed in Streetcake's Experimental Writing Prize 2021, and was runner up in the Writers' and Artists' Working Class Writers' Prize 2020. Fledgling is his first novel.

Rhiannon Grist is an award-winning Welsh author of Weird, Speculative and Dark fiction, living and writing in beautiful Scotland. Her novella, The Queen of the High Fields (Luna Press), won the British Fantasy Award for Best Novella 2023. Her debut novel, Home Sick, is out now with Solaris book