Football might be our national sport, but relatively few books are dedicated to the beautiful game.
Even scarcer are those set in English football’s lower rungs, where the high-performance training grounds of the Premier League are replaced by school gyms, and packed stadiums give way to shed stands.
It’s here in League Two that acclaimed British author Ross Raisin sets his new novel, A Natural. Tom Pearman, a once-promising England youth player is coming to terms with a new life at Town, a club languishing at the bottom of the table, and with his own sexuality.
This is matched with the struggles of Leah Easter, the captain’s wife, who realises her own dreams have been substituted for her husband’s career.
Unlike his lyrical debut God’s Own Country, Raisin relies on bare, stripped-back prose to allow Tom’s sense of displacement to fully amplify.
There are visceral moments, on and off the pitch, but A Natural’s storytelling purposely avoids Messi-like flourishes, meaning it can often feel like sitting in the gods at a stadium, away from the action, instead of being immersed on the sidelines.
Raisin should be applauded for tackling sexuality in football, however, and A Natural will find loyal fans across the sports and LGBQT divide.
