It's Gone Dark Over Bill's Mother's

(Paperback)

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The matriarch dominates these award-winning stories in Lisa Blower's debut collection. From the wise, witty and outspoken Nan of 'Broken Crockery', who has lived and worked in Stoke on Trent for all of her 92 years, never owning a passport, to happy hooker Ruthie in 'The Land of Make Believe'; to sleep deprived Laura in 'The Trees in the Wood'; to young mum Roxanne in 'The Cherry Tree'; she appears in many shapes and forms, and always with a stoicism that is hard to break down. With a sharp eye and tough warmth, Lisa Blower brings to life the silent histories and harsh realities of those living on the margins. 'Love, Alvin & Ramona' is an alternative look at the effects of the smoking ban on a life once defined by the celebratory pint and fag at the end of the working week. We see Di's nifty fists in 'Chuck and Di'; Alma Bunny's deep rooted fear of retirement and change in 'Dirty Laundry'; Arnold Bunter's repressed sexuality in 'Smear Campaign'; Lo and her family's emotional inadequacies in 'Hoops'; and the thwarted hero worship of 'Johnny Dangerously'. 'It's gone dark over Bill's mother's' is a Shropshire saying that means it's looking a bit bleak, a little like rain. With origins as a footless and random as the barflies trying to find their meanings in 'Happenstance', it is an expression that sums up this fabulous collection.

Reviews

'It knew exactly how to play with and exploit the potential of its naive narrative voice - what to say but, far more importantly, what not to say - quite apart from its wit, and the undercurrent of sadness it explored without ever being sentimental.'- William Boyd on 'Broken Crockery'; 'A beautifully funny, moving account of a family holiday and the impact of the relationship between a mother, daughter and grandmother. This story, as with many in the collection, is written in the first person which makes it a joy to read and ensures the impact of the ending is felt. I enjoyed reading this collection because of its working-class roots and Blower's accessible style of writing.' - Sally Shaw on Barmouth, Sabotage Reviews;'Extraordinary collection of short stories...that seem to effortlessly depict what it is to be human. Real, raw, dark, but hilarious too. Very moving and highly recommend.' - All My Friends are Imaginary, Bookstagrammer; 'I had to buy this book because of the title but this collection of short stories is extraordinarily good.' - Gwenda Bird, Bookstagrammer; 'The title says it all. Close up and personal yet universal stories of childhood yearning, misunderstandings, loss and triumph. Beautifully written from inside - real people, ordinary homes. Set pieces, hilarious and tragic - the caravan site, the spring cleaning, the drinking game. Each is crafted to perfection. These are short stories to die for.' - Kit de Waal; 'Collecting the short stories of award-winning author Lisa Blower, It's Gone Dark is a quietly brilliant collection united by its roots in the North, and often by the working-class matriarchs that populate it. With a laser-focus on ordinary lives "written from the inside", often overlooked, but no less compelling for it, It's Gone Dark is well worth a read if you're looking for a fresh voice in fiction.' - Turnaround 2019 Fiction Staff Picks; 'It's in the details that Lisa Blower triumphs... They benefit from a strong thematic core. Like all good short story collections, we are gifted the shoulder of assorted narrators, over which we enjoy a diversity of entry points, a variety of styles and a clarity and strength of voice that leaps from the prose. Add a confidence with tone and a mischievous way with an ending and It's Gone Dark feels new every time you return to it. And you will return to it... You care about these people in the space of a paragraph... These stories are about the little earthquakes people get caught up in, the fault-lines beneath their feet that open up without warning and threaten to close around them, and how they reach for the light and an escape, or just the promise of one.' - Paul Woodgate, The Short Story; 'There are so many contemporary novelists to watch out for. Right now, we should certainly be reading... Lisa Blowers' story collection It's Gone Dark Over Bill's Mother's... Solid proof that these are good times indeed to be reading writing about working-class life.' - Professor Simon Koevesi, Professor of English Literature at Oxford Brookes University. 'If you enjoy funny, tough, sharp, surprising and unsentimental writing about family life, buy this book.' - Chris Power, author of Mothers; 'It's Gone Dark Over Bill's Mother's is worth buying for the first story alone, which is totally fantastic. Heartbreaking is too mundane a way of describing it.' - Robin Ince; 'This is THE most wonderful book: Lisa Blower confronts social class as a hugely neglected aspect of identity politics and visibility in contemporary literature.' - Katy Shaw, Professor of Contemporary Writing, Northumbria University; 'Reading Lisa's stories is like being given the privilege of scouring over the UK's lesser-known towns and picking the roofs off people's houses, then the tops off their minds and delving in to the innermost thoughts and feelings.' - Hollie McNish; 'Everyone on these stories was so good! One of several books I've bought off the back of mentions on the Backlisted podcast.' - Tom Ryan, HenleyonThomas Instagrammer; 'A really lovely collection of stories... like Alan Bennet's monologues, they're wonderfully funny and wise... Lisa Blower writes with precision and humour; she is a master of the short story form and really stands out for me. This is an excellent example of small press publishing.' - John Mitchinson, Backlisted Podcast; 'Recently I've also discovered Lisa Blower's short story-collection It's Gone Dark Over Bill's Mother's, in which her hometown Stoke-on-Trent is the setting that binds together different narrative forms and a fearsome array of matriarchs. Her writing is firmly rooted in her lived experience, but transcends all the limitations and preconceptions surrounding work from communities seldom represented on the page.' - Kerry Hudson for The Guardian; 'Emotionally draining, hard-hitting and brilliantly written. I came away from this collection with the sense that here is a writer who could take her talent in any direction she wishes.' - The Quietus; 'These stories are in equal parts comedic and achingly sad. Dripping with nostalgia and a real sense of place, told through the down to earth northern voice, this is a collection about real folk and real struggles that will always have my heart, not least for the stunningly engaging writing, but also for the memories it stirred for me.' - Bookish Chat; 'I've read a few from this collection of stories and look forward to seeing more of Lisa Blower's raw and starkly funny narratives, most of which feature working-class matriarchs so tough and uncompromising they make you weep.' - Rachel Darling, Faber; 'The details and textures of the women's lives are utterly different-and yet there is something that each can give the other. An emotionally draining, hard-hitting story with an unexpectedly positive outcome. Brilliantly written.' - Nina Allan discussing Trees in the Wood from It's Gone Dark Over Bill's Mother's; 'With a sharp eye and tough warmth, Lisa Blower brings to life the silent histories and harsh realities of those living on the margins. Look out for this.' - Shropshire Star; 'Blower's stories are grittily realistic but she relishes ambiguity and enjoys injecting humour into the darkest of situations. Her readers are treated with as much respect as her characters. This is a fine collection of 20 tough but tender tales by a writer who celebrates the lives of uncelebrated people with compassion and caustic wit.' - Morning Star; 'This is top-notch short fiction, showing remarkable depth of voice, character and human bonds. The first story 'Barmouth' is magnificent and made more of an impact on me than many novels. I re-read it this morning and was no less moved and awed than the first time by everything it manages to convey. It's 'Brokeback Mountain' good.' - Literary Sofa; 'My favourite short story in this immense collection. So filmic as well. I had to read it twice to confirming beautiful awareness.' - Mike Garry on Johnny Dangerously

Author Bio

Lisa Blower won The Guardian's National Short Story competition in 2009, was shortlisted for the BBC National Short Story Award in 2013, has been Highly Commended and longlisted for the Bridport Prize for three consecutive years, and was one of just four UK authors longlisted for The Sunday Times Short Story Award 2018. Her debut novel Sitting Ducks (Fair Acre Press) was shortlisted for the inaugural Arnold Bennett Prize 2017 and longlisted for the Guardian Not the Booker 2016. Blower is a creative writing lecturer at Bangor University, Wales where she studied for her PhD.