The News Where You Are tells the funny, touching story of Frank, a local TV news presenter. The result is that rare thing: a page-turning novel which asks the big questions in an accessible way, and is laugh-out-loud funny, genuinely moving and ultimately uplifting.
Beneath his awkwardly corny screen persona, Frank is haunted by disappearances: the mysterious hit and run that killed his predecessor Phil Smethway; the demolition of his father's post-war brutalist architecture; and, the unmarked passing of those who die alone in the city. Frank struggles to make sense of these absences while having to report endless local news stories of holes opening up in people's gardens and trying to cope with his resolutely miserable mother.
‘What Was Lost is a terrific, wonderful book and I loved every page of it’ Douglas Coupland
‘A superb, haunting novel’ Daily Mail
‘Quite extraordinary. Amazing insight, very funny, entirely sympathetic, a cracking mystery, a brilliant sense of place and a ghost story to boot. I adored every page of it and recommend it to everyone’ Jenny Colgan, Independent Books of the Year
Author
About Catherine O'Flynn
Catherine O'Flynn, the youngest of six children, was born and raised in Birmingham, where her parents ran a sweet shop. She worked in a variety of jobs including teacher, postwoman, retail assistant, journalist and mystery shopper before becoming a novelist. Her debut novel, What Was Lost, won the Costa First Novel Award, was shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award, and was longlisted for the Booker Prize and the Orange Prize. She was named Waterstone’s Newcomer of the Year in 2008 at the Galaxy British Book Awards. Her short stories and articles have featured in Granta magazine, Good Housekeeping and on Radio 4. She lives in Birmingham with her husband and daughter.
