Jem Lester

'An unforgettable first novel' The Times * * * * * THE EBOOK BESTSELLER ABOUT FATHERS, SONS AND LOVE Ten-year-old Jonah lives in a world of his own. He likes colours and feathers and the feel of fresh air on his skin. He dislikes sudden loud noises and any change to his daily routine. Jonah has never spoken, yet somehow he communicates better than all of the adults in his life. Inspired by the author's experiences with his own son, SHTUM is a novel about three generations of a family learning to get along. * * * * * 'A book with true heart and soul' Joanna Cannon 'Whether you think Shtum is a novel about autism or about marriage (it's both, by the way), you will agree that it is, in the end, a love story infused with wit, charm, and a deep appreciation for the complex beauty of damaged souls.' Jonathan Tropper

Shtum

In the “literary territory of Tony Parsons and Nick Hornby†? (Guardian) Shtum is drawn from Jem Lester’s experience of raising an autistic child. In this darkly funny and emotive debut, Ben Jewell has hit a breaking point. His profoundly autistic ten-year-old son, Jonah, has never spoken, and Ben and his wife Emma are struggling to cope. When Ben and Emma fake a separation—a strategic, yet ill-advised, decision to further Jonah’s case in an upcoming tribunal to determine the future of his education—father and son are forced to move in with Georg, Ben’s elderly and cantankerous father. In a small house in north London, three generations of men— one who can’t talk; two who won’t—are thrown together. As Ben confronts single fatherhood, he must battle a string of well-meaning social workers and his own demons to advocate for his son, learning some harsh lessons about accountability from his own father along the way. As the tribunal draws near, Jonah, blissful in his innocence, becomes the prism through which all the complicated strands of personal identity, family history, and misunderstanding are finally untangled. This “fiercely funny†? (The Times) debut examines the complexities of family and human emotion and gives profound insight into an often-misunderstood disorder.

A Novel

November 18th 1987. Abigail, a mother of two is making her way home to North London from a day's work at Selfridges. At Kings Cross, she gets caught up in the horrendous fire that kills 31 and injures 100. She escapes physically unscathed, but disorientated and desperate to get home to her children - nine year old Robert and six month old Samantha - she slips away from the rescue staff and begins an odyssey that instead takes her further from home. The further she gets, the freer she feels; the longer she's away, the harder it becomes to return. Thirty years pass and Robert and Samantha (now Summer) chance upon a sketch of the two of them, in the window of a bric-a-brac shop in a rundown seaside town in Lincolnshire. It does not take them time to locate the picture's previous owner, living in an isolated cottage. Their Mother. A heartwarming and heartbreaking exploration of family from Jem Lester, author of SHTUM

Jem Lester

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