The News Where You Are

Set in Birmingham, The News Where You Are tells the funny, touching story of Frank, a local TV news presenter. 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...
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Set in Birmingham, The News Where You Are tells the funny, touching story of Frank, a local TV news presenter. 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.
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.

'It is a most moving book. Lightly flinging a joke or two in the reader's direction, a snatch or so of knowledgeable brightness, O'Flynn comes across as the mistress of compassion ...... I loved it, and am haunted by it' Fay Weldon, Guardian

'O'Flynn's eye for the quotidian ridiculous is sharp enough to rank her with Mark Haddon and Marina Lewycka - comic novelists worth taking seriously' Rachel Hore, Independent on Sunday

'A pleasurable, satisfying gem of a novel' Claire Black, Independent on Sunday

'She has a comic genius for carpet commercials, traffic jams and inedible pub food' Stephanie Cross, Daily Mail

'A tender, funny tale' Grazia

'Melancholy and beguiling' Daily Express

An awesomely talented writer' Jonathan Coe

'What Was Lostis 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