For Want of a Nail: The acclaimed debut novel of one of the country's most beloved cultural figures

'A strikingly taut and intense first novel'
London Review of Books

'A vivid and totally original imagination . . . brilliant'
Scotsman

Growing up in an isolated cottage in the hills of Cumberland, Tom knows the bitter cold of shooting expeditions with his grandfather and long evenings spent with his father and mother. But taken away from the hills to live in the small town of Thornton, Tom experiences a tumult of conflicting emotions, which he must master before he can come to terms with his identity.