Synopsis:
A promising young football player returns home to his tiny Scottish village, his dreams in tatters and a dark secret haunting his conscience, in a beautiful, unforgettable novel about hope and redemption, when everything seems lost…
**Shortlisted for Saltire Society’s Scottish Fiction Book of the Year**
'Depicts Scottish working-class, small-town life with acute understanding and sensitivity, and explores a legacy of depression and childhood trauma. Few novels this year will pack such a hefty emotional punch or such a powerful conclusion' Herald Scotland
‘Few do raw, authentic, almost palpably believable characters better than David F. Ross ... a novel that deals with profound themes' Patrick Barclay, The Times
'A heartfelt working-class novel from a Scottish author who wields his pen like a stiletto … No reader will come out unscathed, but each will be richer for the experience of reading' New Books Magazine
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Danny Garvey was a sixteen-year old footballing prodigy. Professional clubs clamoured to sign him, and a glittering future beckoned.
And yet, his early promise remained unfulfilled, and Danny is back home in the tiny village of Barshaw to manage the struggling junior team he once played for. What’s more, he’s hiding a secret about a tragic night, thirteen years earlier, that changed the course of several lives. There’s only one Danny Garvey, they once chanted … and that’s the problem.
A story of irrational hopes and fevered dreams – of unstoppable passion and unflinching commitment in the face of defeat – There’s Only One Danny Garvey is, above all, an unforgettable tale about finding hope and redemption in the most unexpected of places.
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‘A brilliant, bittersweet story that captures the rawness of strained relationships, set against the struggles of a failing lower-league football team. Ross’s best novel yet’ Stuart Cosgrove
‘A deeply compelling story about ambition, failure and interpersonal history … it's what novels should do’ Ewan Morrison, author of Nina X
‘If you enjoyed Shuggie Bain, you will adore this book … filled with honesty and written with a tenderness that is faultless. One of the best books I've read in years’ Anne Cater
‘Triumph and tragedy are inexorably woven together, with the former only offering brief respite before reality returns … David F. Ross is in the Premier League of writers’ Alistair Braidwood, Scots Whay Hae
‘No words will EVER be good enough for this incredible book. Intense. Heartbreaking. Passionate’ Mairéad Hearne, Swirl & Thread
'I was absolutely blown away by this unforgettable and emotional read' 17 Degrees
‘An amazing book, giving me the same feeling I had reading James Kelman when I was younger’ Douglas MacIntyre, Creeping Bent
‘A thought-provoking book with a slow-burn edginess, sprinkled with hope, loss, grief, unrequited love and moments of dark, often unexpected, laugh-out-loud humour’ Sergio Burns, Ayrshire Magazine
‘A story with a punch, clouded by memory and regret … beautiful’ The Bookbag
‘Tips the balance between comedy and tragedy in a truly devastating way. I closed the cover rooted to the spot, stunned into immobility by the desperate, heart-rending power of the ending’ Live Many Lives
‘A real new talent on the Scottish literary scene’ Press & Journal
About the Author:
David F. Ross was born in Glasgow in 1964 and has lived in Kilmarnock for over 30 years. He is a graduate of the Mackintosh School of Architecture at Glasgow School of Art, an architect by day, and a hilarious social-media commentator, author and enabler by night. His debut novel The Last Days of Disco was shortlisted for the Authors Club Best First Novel Award, and optioned for the stage by the Scottish National Theatre. All five of his novels have achieved notable critical acclaim and There’s Only One Danny Garvey, published in 2021 by Orenda Books, was shortlisted for the prestigious Saltire Society Prize for Scottish Fiction Book of the Year. David lives in Ayrshire.
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