A Natural

Ross Raisin Cape €18.20

The start of 19-year-old Tom Pearman’s career as a professional soccer player is not the glorious affair he dreamed of; instead, he finds himself on the substitutes’ bench at a bottom-of-the-league club. Life is equally difficult for the team’s captain, Chris Easter, hampered by loss of form and distanced from his wife Leah. When Tom embarks on a secret liaison with a groundsman, he becomes aware of the sport’s rampant homophobia, but it’s Leah’s unhappiness that could have the most disastrous consequences. Raisin has done his research but the story only hits its stride in the final pages.