Abie Longstaff will be promoting her latest book in The Fairytale Hairdresser series, The Fairytale Hairdresser…

… and the Princess and the Pea. Catch her at the following events:

– Edinburgh International Book Festival, Saturday 13th August

– Waterstones Orpington, Sunday 18th September, book signing

– Haslemere bookshop, Saturday 1st October

– Winchester Waterstones, Saturday 1st October

– Children’s Bath Literature Festival, Sunday 2nd October

– Cheltenham Literature Festival,  Sunday 16th October

– Waterstones Finchley Road, Monday 24th October

– Waterstones Plymouth, Saturday 10th December

– Waterstones Salisbury, Sunday 11th December

Listen to Abie’s radio interview on BBC Iplayer here

Buy the book 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.