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- Sceptre
Fiction, Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945), Rural communities
An enchanting love story and a portrayal of innocence brutally curtailed by acclaimed author Melvyn Bragg
'Brilliant'
Daily Telegraph
'The book is exciting . . . a pleasure to be remembered'
Financial Times
At once a love story and a portrayal of innocence brutally curtailed, Josh Lawton charts the rites of passage of a young Cumbrian farm worker and keen fell runner - an exceptionally good man whose very integrity proves his undoing.
'With this novel, Melvyn Bragg has established his place in English letters to the extent that his Cumbria is as potent a literary region as Hardy's Wessex, Lawrence's Midlands and Housman's Shropshire'
New Statesman
Praise for Josh Lawton: A novel by beloved national treasure Melvyn Bragg
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Every scene is clear, every character immediately recognisable . . . brilliant
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- Daily Telegraph
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The book is exciting . . . a pleasure to be remembered
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- Financial Times
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It has the lilt and inevitability of an old ballad . . . [He] skilfully portrays the friendships and antagonisms in rural Cumberland, a territory he has staked out as his own
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- The Times
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With this novel, Melvyn Bragg has established his place in English letters to the extent that his Cumbria is as potent a literary region as Hardy's Wessex, Lawrence's Midlands and Housman's Shropshire
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- New Statesman
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Beautifully told . . .the story unfolds with admirable simplicity . . . even the most brutal and inarticulate characters somehow manage to engage our sympathies - Spectator
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An effortless writer. He never strains for effect, simply achieves it - Sunday Times
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Nothing is harder to convey in fiction than the idea of simple goodness without it appearing soppy or naive. But Melvyn Bragg succeeds. - Evening Standard
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As he demonstrates yet again in Josh Lawton, Melvyn Bragg has a rare ability to communicate both happiness and goodness - Sunday Telegraph
Melvyn Bragg
Melvyn Bragg was born in Wigton, Cumbria, in 1939. He went to the local Grammar School and then to Wadham College, Oxford. He joined the BBC in 1961, and published his first novel, For Want of a Nail, in 1965.
He left the BBC and continued to write novels which include The Soldier's Return (WH Smith Literary Award), Without a City Wall (Mail on Sunday John Llewellyn Rhys Prize) and Now Is the Time (Parliamentary Book Award 2016). A Place in England, Son of War and Crossing the Lines were all nominated for the Booker Prize. His non-fiction includes The Adventure of English and The Book of Books, and his first memoir, Back in the Day, was published in 2022 to critical acclaim.
He edited and presented The South Bank Show from 1977 and hosted the BBC Radio 4 programme In Our Time from 1998. He has now retired from both. He is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society and of The British Academy. He was given a Peerage in 1998 and a Companion of Honour in 2017.
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