ShelfEvident
Winner
The Gallopers
by Jon Ransom
Betty Trask · 2024 · ShortlistPolari Prize · 2024 · WinnerJames Tait · 2023 · ShortlistPolari Prize · 2023 · ShortlistPolari Prize · 2021 · ShortlistPolari Prize · 2020 · ShortlistPolari Prize · 2019 · Shortlist
Award History
| Award | Year | Status | Citation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Betty Trask Award | 2024 | Shortlist | |
| Polari Prize | 2024 | Winner | “For its lyrical, darkly funny portrait of queer life and desire on a 1950s travelling funfair — Book of the Year.” |
| James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction | 2023 | Shortlist | |
| Polari Prize | 2023 | Shortlist | |
| Polari Prize | 2021 | Shortlist | |
| Polari Prize | 2020 | Shortlist | |
| Polari Prize | 2019 | Shortlist |
About This Book
Jon Ransom's second novel is set on a travelling funfair in 1950s rural England and follows two brothers — one gay, one traumatised by the war — as they navigate desire, grief, and the pressures of queer life in a society that criminalises it. Written with lyrical intensity and dark humour, the novel won the Polari Prize for Book of the Year in 2024.
About the Author
Jon Ransom is a British novelist born in 1978. He studied at Exeter University and has worked in publishing. His debut novel The Whale Tattoo (2022, Bloomsbury) won the Polari First Book Prize in 2023, bringing him to wider attention. Read more →
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