‘A miniature world in exquisite miniature, rich with tenderness and pain. Shapland writes with such care and precision. You can only love this book’ Tom Bullough

‘There's a moving uncertainty, a vulnerability on the page that allows the reader to hear, and to listen. There's a quiet, brave strength in that’ Cynan Jones

'A joy to read. Such a tender story, written in finespun prose with meticulous description' Sara Baume

‘Like looking into a kaleidoscope, every tiny twist in Anthony Shapland’s novel results in a cascade of new colour and light. Through prose that breathes with the economy and precision of poetry, he conjures up an entire world, a world of pride and shame and comradeship, a world so near yet so utterly gone. A Room Above a Shop is a story to savour, from a writer in total command of his powers’ Mike Parker

'An achingly intimate story, rich and ragged with emotion, told with loving intricacy and delicate precision, A Room Above a Shop is vivid and embodied. The detail, the spaces, the careful pacing and then the blow of the stifled loss… it winded me' Megan Barker

'An atmospheric portrayal of gay, working-class life in a South Wales Valley, to read A Room Above a Shop is to feel held within the hands of a master craftsman in control of his form. This is truly an impressive debut, where the space in between the words and the things unsaid are given as much weight as the words on the page, with a poeticism unmatched in modern Welsh writing. I dare anyone to read this and not feel the ache of M and B’s story, their solitude and their desire' Joshua Jones

‘A Room Above a Shop is one of the most beautiful and original gay novels I have a read in a long time. Spare, sad and intensely poetic, like a Swimming In The Dark for grown-ups’ Neil Blackmore

'Writing so vital you can feel the blood beat between the words, and the breath in the white space around them. A Room Above a Shop is an extraordinary evocation of love, and of life in South Wales in the years following the miner’s strike. Anthony Shapland is a master at rendering sensation in a language that is unique, precise, and ultra-perceptive. A devastating, erotic and beautiful novel' Francesca Reece

‘A taut, poetic and profoundly moving tale of love. Written with restraint and care, A Room Above a Shop marks the arrival of a distinctive and compelling literary voice’ Noel O’Regan

‘A tender portrait of a love story not often heard. Shapland’s writing is intensely poetic, chapters unfurl like precious flowers. Joyful and painful all at once, A Room Above a Shop gifts us a Welsh story steeped in that universal yearning for connection’ Hanan Issa (National Poet of Wales)

‘An essential new voice in Welsh literature. Anthony Shapland is a beautiful writer and A Room Above a Shop captures a time too easily forgotten. A tender and crucial love story that gives voice to the enforced silences of the past we should always remember. “Hesitant steps” indeed’ Tiffany Murray