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Malc's Boy
by Shaun Wilson
Published April 23rd 2026
Available for pre-order
Malc’s Boy charts a son’s struggle and friendship with his father amidst a legacy of toxic masculinity and violence. Shaun grows up in Wigton, a small market town on the fringes of the Lake District, as the son of Malc, a prominent publican with a fearsome reputation. More concerned with establishing himself as an artist than making a name for himself in the town’s hierarchical pub scene, Shaun rebels against his father’s expectations. But when Malc is attacked by an old enemy, Shaun is forced to confront his father’s past and escape the life he’s been expected to lead.
‘A stunning, hilarious depiction of northern working-class violent masculinity conveyed – in a skewed way – through the form of experimental literary fiction.’
Chris Kraus, bestselling author of I Love Dick
Original, fierce, funny, poignant and real… He refuses to surrender his masculinity or to stand outside of it in a book about masculinity, which is exactly what is called for, in art.’
David Keenan, author of For the Good Times
'Malc's Boy is a shapeshifting novel exploring the beauty and violence of northern, working-class masculinity. The fluid, experimental form interrogates the notion of authorship and questions what it means to tell the story of places and people in their own voices and on their own terms - I am very excited to follow its journey.’
Jessica Andrews, author of Saltwater
‘Very compelling. I often find anything experimental a bit bloodless and cold but there is a real fleshy, gritty warmth to this. I love the way he pushes the boundaries of the form. Innovative, original and atmospheric.'
Cathy Rentzenbrink, author of The Last Act of Love
'I tip [Shaun Wilson] for big things…’
Kerry Hudson, author of Thirst
‘Shaun Wilson is a startling new voice in literary fiction, a writer of breathtaking originality who somehow manages to be savage, lyrical and darkly comedic all at once. Malc's Boy does for the Lake District what Trainspotting did for Edinburgh.’
Andrew Crumey, author of Sputnik Caledonia
'Tears the notion of the bildungsroman to shreds. A boy learns toxic masculinity from his loving father and happily grows up without any sort of moral compass. A tonic for all those sick of tedious novels about rich people’s problems.’
Stewart Home, author of Pure Mania and 69 Things to Do With a Dead Princess
‘Shaun Wilson treads the liminal trails which wend between verity and story – or even perhaps between dirty reality and dirty realism – to discover a quiddity of truth more faithful than the pure form of either state. And, as is so often the case in the bad-lands of border country, there is a stark beauty in this place.’
Jonathan Trigell, author of Boy A
'Could be the next Ben Myers.’
Anna Barker, author of The Floating Island
'The best books are the ones which march into your imagination and occupy a place in it. Malc’s Boy is like that: funny, frightening and utterly convincing, it doesn’t so much wear its heart on its sleeve as staple it there, take a photograph and then dissect the concepts of ‘heart’ and ‘sleeve’ for good measure. It’s a working-class memoir which confidently negotiates the unease of writing all this stuff down, and a story told in a compelling voice. Shaun Wilson is a proper talent.’
Tony Williams, author of All the Bananas I’ve Never Eaten and Nutcase
'Malc's Boymarries authentic Cumbrian dialect with an almost dizzying range of language and styles, high and low, philosophical, lyrical, funny and sometimes downright dirty.’
Ann Rower, author of If You’re a Girl: selected stories 1985-2023
'Stunning. I love how it careers from the brutal to the beautiful.’
Tony Walsh, poet and author of This is the Place
B-format flapped paperback
ISBN 978-1-9191847-0-8
by Shaun Wilson
Published April 23rd 2026
Available for pre-order
Malc’s Boy charts a son’s struggle and friendship with his father amidst a legacy of toxic masculinity and violence. Shaun grows up in Wigton, a small market town on the fringes of the Lake District, as the son of Malc, a prominent publican with a fearsome reputation. More concerned with establishing himself as an artist than making a name for himself in the town’s hierarchical pub scene, Shaun rebels against his father’s expectations. But when Malc is attacked by an old enemy, Shaun is forced to confront his father’s past and escape the life he’s been expected to lead.
‘A stunning, hilarious depiction of northern working-class violent masculinity conveyed – in a skewed way – through the form of experimental literary fiction.’
Chris Kraus, bestselling author of I Love Dick
Original, fierce, funny, poignant and real… He refuses to surrender his masculinity or to stand outside of it in a book about masculinity, which is exactly what is called for, in art.’
David Keenan, author of For the Good Times
'Malc's Boy is a shapeshifting novel exploring the beauty and violence of northern, working-class masculinity. The fluid, experimental form interrogates the notion of authorship and questions what it means to tell the story of places and people in their own voices and on their own terms - I am very excited to follow its journey.’
Jessica Andrews, author of Saltwater
‘Very compelling. I often find anything experimental a bit bloodless and cold but there is a real fleshy, gritty warmth to this. I love the way he pushes the boundaries of the form. Innovative, original and atmospheric.'
Cathy Rentzenbrink, author of The Last Act of Love
'I tip [Shaun Wilson] for big things…’
Kerry Hudson, author of Thirst
‘Shaun Wilson is a startling new voice in literary fiction, a writer of breathtaking originality who somehow manages to be savage, lyrical and darkly comedic all at once. Malc's Boy does for the Lake District what Trainspotting did for Edinburgh.’
Andrew Crumey, author of Sputnik Caledonia
'Tears the notion of the bildungsroman to shreds. A boy learns toxic masculinity from his loving father and happily grows up without any sort of moral compass. A tonic for all those sick of tedious novels about rich people’s problems.’
Stewart Home, author of Pure Mania and 69 Things to Do With a Dead Princess
‘Shaun Wilson treads the liminal trails which wend between verity and story – or even perhaps between dirty reality and dirty realism – to discover a quiddity of truth more faithful than the pure form of either state. And, as is so often the case in the bad-lands of border country, there is a stark beauty in this place.’
Jonathan Trigell, author of Boy A
'Could be the next Ben Myers.’
Anna Barker, author of The Floating Island
'The best books are the ones which march into your imagination and occupy a place in it. Malc’s Boy is like that: funny, frightening and utterly convincing, it doesn’t so much wear its heart on its sleeve as staple it there, take a photograph and then dissect the concepts of ‘heart’ and ‘sleeve’ for good measure. It’s a working-class memoir which confidently negotiates the unease of writing all this stuff down, and a story told in a compelling voice. Shaun Wilson is a proper talent.’
Tony Williams, author of All the Bananas I’ve Never Eaten and Nutcase
'Malc's Boymarries authentic Cumbrian dialect with an almost dizzying range of language and styles, high and low, philosophical, lyrical, funny and sometimes downright dirty.’
Ann Rower, author of If You’re a Girl: selected stories 1985-2023
'Stunning. I love how it careers from the brutal to the beautiful.’
Tony Walsh, poet and author of This is the Place
B-format flapped paperback
ISBN 978-1-9191847-0-8