Author Interview: Sharon Duggal Should We Fall Behind by Sharon Duggal is a gritty yet tender novel giving life to people often ignored. It is a story set in any British city; a story of the homeless, the immigrants, the bereaved, the lonely; the story of all of us – but one not often told. Following homeless protaganist Jimmy in his search for a friend, the novel weaves its way in and out of the lives of the strangers he encounters.Read More
Review: Should We Fall Behind Hebden Bridge publishers Bluemoose Books has dedicated 2020 to showcasing the work of female authors. Brighton writer Sharon Duggal is one of those. Her second novel – Should We Fall Behind is a story of the forgotten, the ordinary and the invisible, and how their lives slowly become entwined. With characters less often seen in fiction – the homeless; single mothers; immigrants – the novel is refreshing, normalising the ‘different’ without sensation. Tiny actions the characters makeRead More
Should We Fall Behind – Review Bluemoose Books haven’t let me down yet. And in this year of 2020, when the rest of the world seems out of kilter, their unique commitment to publishing only women writers seems spot on. Their latest title, published on 20th October Should we fall behind by Sharon Duggal, is yet another triumph. A testament to people, a patchwork of individual stories that weave together to form a community. Stories that sometimes go unheard, even untoldRead More
Sharon Duggal – Should We Fall Behind Bluemoose Books Out 22 October 2020 Should We Fall Behind is for anyone with a heart who has ever looked at a person huddled in a cold shop doorway surrounded by everything they own and wondered how they got there. Jimmy is an alcoholic smalltown boy unsuccessfully running away from his demons who befriends a young woman Betwa, and shares his pitch in a big city underpass, but she suddenly disappears. His disorganisedRead More
Should We Fall Behind is book three to be published by indie publisher Bluemoose Books in 2020, the year of only publishing women. Kevin and his team are responsible for introducing me to some fabulous books which I inevitably want to shout about and push into the hands of willing readers; I’m always delighted to read a book they have decided to publish. This book was no exception. My thoughts: Sometimes, life does not work out the way we’d hoped or dreamed. SometimesRead More
LOVEMYREAD chooses … Should We All Fall Behind as one of 6 books especially curated for adults for October 2020 FICTION Jimmy Noone escapes his difficult life in a small town and finds himself living on the streets of a big city where he meets Betwa, who brings with her a chance of real friendship and a glimpse of new hope. Betwa disappears and Jimmy walks across the sprawling metropolis searching for her. He arrives on Shifnal Road onRead More
Elspells Review Review: I don’t think it is any great secret that I am a massive fan of the books that Bluemoose have published so far this year. Saving Lucia by Anna Vaught and The Sound Mirror by Heidi James are two of my top reads of 2020, and as such I was both excited and slightly nervous about diving into the third novel in Bluemoose’s year of only publishing books by women. I need not have worried – this book is stunning. IRead More
Engrossing commentary on the woeful state of the nation SHARON DUGGAL’S captivating debut novel The Handsworth Times was so successful because of its precise detailing of place and time. For her second book, the author shows true creativity in doing quite the opposite but with equal success. From the working-class south Asian community in Birmingham facing endemic racism in the 1980s in The Handsworth Times, Duggal shifts location to a nameless but vaguely contemporary city somewhere in England. Precisely,Read More
Should We Fall Behind is … A quietly urgent book, that asks of today’s Britain, ‘Where’s your humanity, for fuck’s sake?’ A book that will sit rightly on my book shelves next to Steinbeck, Mistry and Strout. Read full review HERE
Sharon Duggal’s second novel, SHOULD WE FALL BEHIND will be published by Bluemoose Books in October 2020. For more information and to request a review copy, please contact Kevin@bluemoosebooks.com
