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Fledgling
by Josh Holton
Published September 17th 2026
Available for pre-order
A compelling, tender, unforgettable portrait of a challenging father (and a son's relationship with him), juxtaposed with stunning, sometimes disturbing vignettes of the natural world. With controlled, precise, evocative, but always unexpected prose, this debut novel evokes an alienated rural childhood and adolescence, as well as the grief of losing a parent.
Stuart is raised on a nature reserve in Cumbria; his family is poor. Stuart is sensitive – endlessly bullied in school, he believes in magic and feels more comfortable taking dance class than playing football. Stuart grows up straddling two worlds, becoming the first in his family to go to university. His father, an ex-con, is quick to throw a punch, and won't eat anything in public ‘more flamboyant than a ploughman's’ in case someone would take him for a ‘nancy-boy’. An avid birdwatcher, he has found peace in his new life as a caretaker for a nature reserve.
When his father is diagnosed with terminal cancer, Stuart grapples with grief as he tries to become the man he thinks his father would want him to be. Interwoven in the narrative are snippets of British wildlife, particularly the birds that captivate Stuart and his father, and reflect the bond they share.
The writing is surprising, hilarious, and devastating. This is a story about grief, about masculinity, about the love of a parent and what remains when they're gone.
Read ‘From wannabe fighter to published writer’, Josh Holton’s Substack essay on writing Fledgling.
Shortlisted: 2020 Writers’ and Artists’ Working-Class Writers' Prize
'Unsentimental, and all the more affecting for it.'
Nell Stevens, author of Briefly, A Delicious Life
'Compassionate and alive with wonder, Fledgling is a remarkable debut about finding your place in the natural world and in your own family.'
Jarred McGinnis, author of There is No Meant to Be: A Family Story
‘Fledgling gifts us the hilarity in grief, the fragility in violence, the unsettling truths in the lies we tell ourselves. Iridescent and deeply knowing and so, so good.'
Lisa McInerney, author of The Glorious Heresies
'Fledgling is a stunning portrait of boyhood and coming of age that is both heartbreaking and funny. Josh has a singular voice.'
Catherine Cho, author of The Devoted
'A tender and magical portrait of boyhood, deftly dissecting the societal pressures of masculinity with precision, gentleness, and puckish humour. Holton is definitely one to watch.'
Rhiannon Grist, author of Home Sick
‘A bold and innovative first novel that sets an unsparing account of a brutal rural childhood against the beauty and mystery of the natural world.'
Michael Arditti
'An authentic, playful and achingly beautiful portrait of the human animal.'
Shaun Wilson, author of Malc's Boy
'The writing is wonderfully vivid, and we’re quickly immersed in his world. Holton has an instinct for recording the memorable, inexplicable experiences of childhood.'
James Cook, author of In Her Room
B-format flapped paperback
ISBN 978-1-9191847-4-6
by Josh Holton
Published September 17th 2026
Available for pre-order
A compelling, tender, unforgettable portrait of a challenging father (and a son's relationship with him), juxtaposed with stunning, sometimes disturbing vignettes of the natural world. With controlled, precise, evocative, but always unexpected prose, this debut novel evokes an alienated rural childhood and adolescence, as well as the grief of losing a parent.
Stuart is raised on a nature reserve in Cumbria; his family is poor. Stuart is sensitive – endlessly bullied in school, he believes in magic and feels more comfortable taking dance class than playing football. Stuart grows up straddling two worlds, becoming the first in his family to go to university. His father, an ex-con, is quick to throw a punch, and won't eat anything in public ‘more flamboyant than a ploughman's’ in case someone would take him for a ‘nancy-boy’. An avid birdwatcher, he has found peace in his new life as a caretaker for a nature reserve.
When his father is diagnosed with terminal cancer, Stuart grapples with grief as he tries to become the man he thinks his father would want him to be. Interwoven in the narrative are snippets of British wildlife, particularly the birds that captivate Stuart and his father, and reflect the bond they share.
The writing is surprising, hilarious, and devastating. This is a story about grief, about masculinity, about the love of a parent and what remains when they're gone.
Read ‘From wannabe fighter to published writer’, Josh Holton’s Substack essay on writing Fledgling.
Shortlisted: 2020 Writers’ and Artists’ Working-Class Writers' Prize
'Unsentimental, and all the more affecting for it.'
Nell Stevens, author of Briefly, A Delicious Life
'Compassionate and alive with wonder, Fledgling is a remarkable debut about finding your place in the natural world and in your own family.'
Jarred McGinnis, author of There is No Meant to Be: A Family Story
‘Fledgling gifts us the hilarity in grief, the fragility in violence, the unsettling truths in the lies we tell ourselves. Iridescent and deeply knowing and so, so good.'
Lisa McInerney, author of The Glorious Heresies
'Fledgling is a stunning portrait of boyhood and coming of age that is both heartbreaking and funny. Josh has a singular voice.'
Catherine Cho, author of The Devoted
'A tender and magical portrait of boyhood, deftly dissecting the societal pressures of masculinity with precision, gentleness, and puckish humour. Holton is definitely one to watch.'
Rhiannon Grist, author of Home Sick
‘A bold and innovative first novel that sets an unsparing account of a brutal rural childhood against the beauty and mystery of the natural world.'
Michael Arditti
'An authentic, playful and achingly beautiful portrait of the human animal.'
Shaun Wilson, author of Malc's Boy
'The writing is wonderfully vivid, and we’re quickly immersed in his world. Holton has an instinct for recording the memorable, inexplicable experiences of childhood.'
James Cook, author of In Her Room
B-format flapped paperback
ISBN 978-1-9191847-4-6