Read Tracey Corderoy‘s The Grunt and The Grouch this summer as part of the national Summer Reading Challenge…

…The initiative, coordinated by The Reading Agency, is running in 97% of UK public libraries and 760,000 4-11 year olds are getting involved. The aim is simple – read six library books over the summer holdiays and one of them can be Tracey’s the Grunt and the Grouch. Of course, nobody needs an excuse to read the first exciting and hilarious adventure of the two grumpiest trolls in the world but if they did Summer Reading Challenge could be the perfect opportunity. Learn more about the the challenge and get involved here.

A dark, bold literary novel about two estranged brothers brought back into each other’s lives by their father’s disappearance – and the emotional, moral and physical reckoning that follows.

Two estranged brothers emerge from long periods of isolation when their father goes missing. Alike in appearance but sharply divided by experience, the brothers are forced into proximity as they search for the elderly man across Gran Canaria.

Nick is a priest, a man shaped by a violent criminal past and sincere religious conversion, while Gary is a former basketball player whose heightened energy and volatility signal a manic episode brought on by bipolar disorder.

As they navigate seedy bars, churches, beaches and volcanic landscapes, the search becomes something deeper: a confrontation with memory, masculinity, faith and care. Their father’s dementia haunts every step of the journey, destabilising the idea of authority and leaving the brothers to negotiate responsibility between them.
What emerges is a deeply humane novel about male bonds – messy, funny and tender – and about what it means to love someone when certainty has disappeared.