Train Man

Andrew Mulligan

Jul 2019 · Random House

About this ebook

'Brilliant... profoundly affecting. A beautiful story' - RUTH JONES, author of Never Greener

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Michael is a broken man. He's waiting for the 09.46 to Gloucester, so as to reach Crewe for 11.22: the platforms are long at Crewe and he can walk easily into the path of a high-speed train to London. He's planned it all: a net of tangerines (for when the refreshments trolley is cancelled), and a juice carton, full of whisky.

He longs to silence the voices in his head: ex-partners, colleagues, and the unbearable memories of work and school. What Michael hasn't factored in, however, is a twelve-minute delay. He's going to miss his connection - and make a few new ones...

******

'An absorbing novel...set in the comic wonderland of the English rail network' Daily Mail

'Carefully crafted and with an undertow of melancholy, Train Man is reminiscent of Nick Hornby's high-concept scenarios' Guardian

'Mulligan's prose...delivers a strong human story with impressive skill' Mail on Sunday

About the author

Andrew Mulligan was born in 1962 and brought up in London. He worked as a theatre director for ten years before travels in Asia prompted him to retrain as a teacher. Having taught in India, Brazil, Vietnam and the Philippines he returned to the UK and now writes full time. He is best known as a children’s author; his novel Trash (2010) has been published in thirty-two languages. He also writes radio plays and film scripts. Train Man is his first adult novel: ‘What was the starting point? I’m afraid it was when a colleague did the unthinkable, and all I could think about was what might have saved him.’