Description
Book SynopsisFormer farmhand Jake, now a widower in his seventies, goes on the run in the Yorkshire Dales after committing a crime. As he travels the countryside trying to avoid capture, we learn of the events of his past: the wife he loved and lost, their child that he knows cannot be his, and the deep-seated need for revenge that manifests itself in a moment of violence. The Mating Habits of Stags reveals afresh the lyrical prose and mastery of character that distinguish Ray Robinson's fiction. An early version of the story was released in 2016 as the short film Edith, starring Peter Mullan and Michelle Fairley, which was Bafta-longlisted for Best British Short Film.
Trade Review'It's a one-off. What makes it so special is Robinson's descriptions of nature. Poetic and beautifully brutal - no "hello, trees" mimsy. The dialogue is no-nonsense Yorkshire demotic. A heady mix' - Robbie Millen, The Times; 'A wonderfully empathetic account...full of candour, lyricism and compassion' - The Spectator; `Rich, compelling stuff' - Metro; 'This extraordinary novel gets under the skin from the first paragraph. Robinson never goes for the trite or the neat. Hope and humanity emerge against the odds in a bittersweet and starkly beautiful tale that lingers long in the memory' - Yorkshire Post; 'This is a whydunnit, a lyrical mix of nature notes, traditional song and tragic narrative, peopled with compelling characters' - Saga Magazine; ‘Ray Robinson’s novel of revenge and counter-revenge, of reconciliation, and of love and growth in the thawing of an iron landscape, is a masterwork of unforgiving beauty’ - Yorkshire Times
