FAN: A Novel

Author Danny Rhodes was at Hillsborough on 15th April 1989, and he has donated a percentage of the profits of this book to the memory of the Hillsborough 96. His novel is set in 1989. 18 year old John Finch spends his Saturdays following Nottingham Forest up and down the country, and the rest of the week trudging the streets of his hometown as a postal worker. His blossoming relationship with girlfriend Jen is his only other respite. In 2004, he spends his days teaching in a southern secondary school while delaying the inevitable onslaught of parenthood. Leading inexorably towards the FA Cup semi-final at Hillsborough, and the worst sporting disaster in British history, this book glides between 1989 and 2004, when the true impact of this tragic day becomes evident. The book is about personal and collective tragedy, about growing up and not growing up, about manhood and about what makes a man and about football's role in reflecting a society never more than a brick's throw away from shattering point. Dark, haunting and deeply personal, the novel explodes with gut-wrenching emotion and exposes how disaster can affect a life and change its course forever. Written with the same clear sighted emotional honesty and good pace of his previous novels. 362pp, paperback.