Ironopolis by Glen James Brown

I've discussed before how much I enjoy it when novels take the form of interlinked short stories, but the structure of Glen James Brown's debut novel “Ironopolis” is wholly unique in how it not only tells the interweaving stories of several individuals centred around a council estate but does so using different formats from letters to interviews to personal accounts. I've been meaning to read this book since it was first published last year and most recently it's been shortlisted for The Portico Prize (a literary award which celebrates Northern lives and landscape across fiction and nonfiction.) Brown's novel is located in Middlesborough, a city that has gone through large transformations since the closure of its coal and steel industries. These changes are particularly felt by the residents of this estate which undergoes a protracted process of rejuvenation by the local housing association resulting in the displacement of many long-term inhabitants. 

Over several decades we follow the lives of many locals including a mother dying of cancer, her bibliophile son, a local artist whose paintings come into vogue, a young man who finds a newfound passion for acid house music while emerging into his sexuality, his sister who grapples with a gambling addiction and her failing hair salon business, an elderly mobile librarian who harbours dark secrets, a petty criminal whose ill-fated meeting with the law sends him into a spiral of paranoid loneliness and a mythical green-skinned woman who dwells in the river and the bottom of a well. These distinct lives are all given a chance to shine individually as their voices gradually emerge, but their experiences powerfully join together in a tapestry to form a richer understanding of this area and its people.

I became really drawn into this novel through its sympathetically-portrayed range of characters and then felt gripped by the many intriguing mysteries and hidden histories buried in their stories. By getting a range of points of view in different narrative forms details surrounding particular dramatic events gradually come to the forefront giving a much more rounded understanding of the characters' motivations and circumstances. Brown has an impressive ability for startling the reader with revelations that they didn't even realise they were expecting. What resonates most powerfully is the broad empathy extended to numerous working class individuals whose voices often go unheard or are actively ignored. “Ironopolis” is a moving tribute to them and stands as a dynamic account of a recent era whose story has been paved over in the name of progress.

The Portico Prize 2019 shortlist

I enjoy discovering new book prizes which highlight literature from different angles. The Portico Prize celebrates all forms of writing including fiction, non-fiction and poetry which “evoke the spirit of the North”. But only one book will be awarded the prize and £10,000 on January 23rd 2020. It’s a biennial prize based in the Portico Library in Manchester and presented in association with Manchester Metropolitan University. In fact, it’s not a new prize as it ran from 1985-2015 but has been on hiatus for the past few years. Past winners have included biographers, historians and novelists such as Jenny Uglow, Anthony Burgess, Val McDermid, Sarah Hall and Benjamin Myers for his fantastic novel “Beastings”.

I was very excited to see the shortlist announced this morning as a number of the books are ones I’ve been wanting to read and I always find book prizes give me a good excuse to put those tempting titles at the top of my TBR pile. Earlier this year I heard author Jessica Andrews read from and discuss her debut novel “Saltwater” and I’ve been very intrigued to read it since then. It’s about a young woman from a working-class neighbourhood in Sunderland who starts university in London and finds the city isn’t what she expected. “The Mating Habits of Stags” by Ray Robinson has been sitting on my shelves since it was published earlier this year. The novel’s intriguing plot revolves around a former farmhand in his seventies who is on a quest for revenge. It’s also an especially beautifully presented book!

Former winner Benjamin Myers is shortlisted again this year for his new non-fiction title “Under the Rock: The Poetry of a Place”. The author makes a personal exploration of an area called Scout Rock in West Yorkshire. I’ve also been longing to get to this book since I’ve had a desire to read more nature writing having recently read and loved “Underland” which won The Wainwright Golden Beer Book Prize earlier this year. Myers has also been especially busy since his excellent novel “The Offing” was also published this year. Another novel I’ve been intending to read since it was first published last year is Glen James Brown’s debut “Ironopolis” which follows the changes that come to a housing development in North East England over three generations. This book was also shortlisted for the inaugural Orwell Prize for Political Fiction earlier this year. I just started reading it this morning and I’m already hooked.

The six authors shortlisted for this year’s Portico Prize

The final two shortlisted books are the novel “Black Teeth and a Brilliant Smile” by Adelle Stripe and the non-fiction “The Boy with the Perpetual Nervousness” by Graham Caveney. If I have time I’ll be keen to read these as well. But I’ve also been reading more poetry this year and two books of poetry which were longlisted for this year’s Portico Prize are “Zebra” by Ian Humphreys and “Us” by Zaffar Kunial. So I’m hoping to make time for these as well. In any case, it’s great to have a set of fantastic looking books to explore over the holiday break and I’ll be keen to see which title is awarded the prize in late January.

Let me know your thoughts on any of these books if you’ve read them or which books on the list you’re keen to read now.

The Orwell Prize for Political Fiction 2019 shortlist

George Orwell’s books were one of my first great loves. Like many students I was first introduced to his writing through “1984” and “Animal Farm” but soon after I also came to discover his other fiction including “Burmese Days”, “A Clergyman’s Daughter” and “Keep the Aspidistra Flying” as well as his nonfiction journalism in “Down and Out in Paris and London” and “The Road to Wigan Pier” – not to mention his many incisive essays. The Orwell Foundation awards a number of prizes for work which comes closest to Orwell’s ambition “to make political writing into an art” and it’s exciting that this year they’ve launched the inaugural Orwell Prize for Political Fiction. This award specifically aims to reward outstanding novels and collections of short stories that illuminate major social and political themes, present or past, through the art of narrative.

The shortlist has just been announced today and includes a number of familiar novels as well as some books I’m so glad to see celebrated. It’s notable how the novels listed range from books which consider the past, present and future. From Tshuma’s account of a massacre in Zimbabwe to Evans’ survey of modern life in contemporary London to Zumas’ frighteningly relevant projection of an America where abortion has been strictly outlawed these books consider how individuals are trapped in the politics of their time. Still others straddle a long space of history such as Brown’s account of working class life within a Middlesbrough housing estate to evoke a sense of place as much as character.

It’s amazing to see how Anna Burns’ “Milkman” was first published to relative obscurity but has since gone on to win the Man Booker Prize and be shortlisted for both the Rathbones Folio Prize and Women’s Prize. It’s particularly apt Burns’ novel has been nominated for this award since its central message is about a young woman being helplessly trapped by the crushing political strife within her community. Also nominated for the Man Booker Prize last year was graphic novel “Sabrina” which hauntingly depicts an America emotionally hollowed out by the reverberating effects of gun violence. Taking a different track, Evans’ “Ordinary People” features larger political events in the background as two different black couples wrestle with the pressures of modern day life. I was drawn to reading “Red Clocks” because of its allusions to Virginia Woolf’s writing, but found myself gripped by its story and its prescient depiction of an America which regimentally controls the bodies of women.

The remaining two novels “House of Stone” and “Ironopolis” are both books I’ve been aware of for a while and really want to read. So I’m glad this prize has prompted me to make these novels a priority and bump them up my TBR pile. Have you read any of the books on this list? Any favourites? Are there other recent novels that you also feel meaningfully engage with politics? The winner of this award will be announced on June 25th.