The Whale Tattoo

Product Information

A powerful new voice of gay working-class life…This eloquent heart-felt debut pulls the reader right besde him, and announces Ransom as a writer of real talent.’ Guardian Thankfully, and unlike so many queer novels, this isn’t a book of “misery porn”. Joe’s life takes horrid turns but the reader never loses sight of the potential for growth, making The Whale Tattoo a surprisingly enjoyable and cathartic read. As the water settles and Joe learns the truth about the river, he finds that we all have the capability to hate, and that we can all make the choice not to. Ransom’s text bleeds between events and memories giving Joe an uneasy, distracted air. His emotions get the best of him and he gets lost in the past when the present gets overwhelming. It’s a gripping read, unpredictable but emotionally coherent. Joe and Dora’s interactions spark with unspoken knowledge and emotions. The prose, like Joe’s mind, slides between events, always inhabiting an insecure, liminal space. It manages to be both blunt and poetic all at once.

This was an incredibly immersive and compelling read, that was at times dizzying, often heartbreaking, and with just enough hopefulness to keep my head above water.

Advance Praise

It took me a while to read The Whale Tattoo by Jon Ransom. This is the kind of book that I like to take my time with, and I did that. The narrator of the story has returned to his hometown to reunite with his lover, Fysh, and his family, torn asunder by dysfunction and tragedy. The story assumes a non linear structure, almost like throwing broken pieces on the ground and arranging them into a collage, an epic of loss and ultimately hope.

Each year, Escalator provides a cohort of emerging writers from the East of England with bespoke mentoring, skills development masterclasses, industry connections and showcases. The exploration of the main character and his relationship with Fysh (his lover) is almost too painful to bear as the novel unfolds. As time goes on and we learn more about them, the characters gain more complexity giving the story a rich texture. This too goes for Fysh's wife Dora, the narrators dad, as well as his late mother and his sister. With assured narrative, a vivid sense of place and atmosphere, and flint-sharp dialogue, Jon Ransom has written a novel that is bleak and brutal, but never sentimental.. utterly authentic and cruelly beautiful’ Matt BatesHaving stormed out two years ago, it won’t be easy, nor will returning to the haunted river beside the house where words ripple beneath the surface washing up all sorts of memories. Joe turns to his sister, Birdee, the only person who has ever listened. But she can't help him, she drowned two years ago. Then there’s Tim Fysh, local fisherman and long-time lover. But reviving their bond is bound to be trouble. It’s been a year since you finished on the Escalator programme – how has the experience shaped your approach to writing and your writing process now you’ve had a little distance from it? The Whale Tattoo’ is a stunning achievement - one of the most impressive and assured debuts I’ve ever read’ Matt Cain

Seldom, outside the realms of gay royalty like Alan Hollinghurst, have I read a novel about gay people so well written. Right from the start there is crudeness and a constant barrage of swearing from the first-person narrator – totally justified in my opinion, and I am someone who doesn’t swear. Joe is crude, with his smoking and drinking and rough way of speaking but is the most rounded and believable character I have read in a long time. Raw, uncompromising, and authentic, a remarkable debut from an astonishingly gifted writer' Golnoosh Nour I can’t recall the last time I read a novel with such a sense of place. Joe talks to the water, and the water answers, but the prose is filled with descriptions of the salt marshes and the dykes, the river and the sea, and the trawlers bringing home the shellfish catch. Everything about the prose is visceral. You breathe the salt air, hear the slap of water against the banks, smell the oil and petrol and the choking diesel fumes. See the litter and the broken-down buildings, the listing boats, the mirror reflections of the sky. Seldom, outside the realms of gay royalty like Alan Hollinghurst, have I read a novel about gay people so well written. I can’t recall the last time I read a novel with such a sense of place. This is a story that lives on long after the last full stop. And deserves to be read’. Charles Coussens. The great strength here is Ransom’s pacing. Joe’s life unfolds in an ever-enlightening roll of revelations. Neatly balancing the forward momentum of the story and the piece-by-piece exploration of a man who barely knows himself, The Whale Tattoo places you inside Joe’s mind and the turmoil therein. It’s a tough act, making us inhabit Joe’s headspace without making him unlikable, despite doing a number of unlikable things. Joe is broken and impulsive but there is a core of nobility in him. The theme of unexpected ‘found family’ and self-acceptance reminded me strongly of Michael Cunningham’s A Home at the End of the World.Joe left his family for a couple of years. The events that sparked that are revealed slowly throughout the novel. His constant companion is the river... the water whispering truths and lies to him, drawing him closer and giving him a constant sense of doom. It all began with a dead whale on the shore and things have been slipping from Joe's control ever since. Jon Ransom grew up in Norfolk. His short fiction has been published in SAND Journal, Foglifter Press (Lambda Literary finalist for LGBTQ Anthology), Five:2:One, and others. An extract of The Whale Tattoo was selected for the TLC/A.M. Heath Free Reads anthology and in 2018, Jon was selected as a mentee for the 2018/19 NCW Escalator Talent Development Scheme. An astounding debut by an important new voice in queer literature with a completely unique sense of language. Simply a triumph’ 5 *****’. Love Reading, Thomas Schwentenwien.