Season

‘The novel is not so much about winning and losing as it is about the extraordinary importance of the club in the fans’ lives. Harrison’s passion for the game is evident but it’s how he draws out the personalities of these two taciturn characters that impresses most. Season hits the back of the net’

-- John Boyne, Irish Times

‘Harrison does an excellent job... Season captures the universal experience of fandom but its real concern is male loneliness’

-- David Annand, TLS

‘A convincing portrait of every football fan’s quest to be reassured that, at least once a week, you aren’t alone, Season pushes beyond the clichés to get to something emotionally true. A heartfelt and sensitive portrait of male bonding in the stands’

-- Daily Telegraph

‘[Harrison] writes about the game really beautifully. You don’t need to know much about football to find [Season] compelling’

-- Nick Ahad, Front Row, BBC Radio 4

‘In this clever, heartfelt debut, two lonely season-ticket holders glimpse one another’s lives between the lines of tight-lipped small talk. Their losses, it becomes clear, aren’t only on the pitch, even as the novel’s emotion stays rooted in matchday experience’

-- Mail on Sunday, the best new fiction

‘A heartfelt, platonic love story develops between the Young Man and the Old Man as they navigate their complicated lives and find a connection. This is an intelligent exploration of masculinity in the 21st century’

-- The Observer

‘We all start out as fans, and whatever our football journey, it remains the crux of all we do. To be reminded so movingly of the power of supporting – both our teams and each other – is a treat. A beautiful novel about the beautiful game’

-- Jonathan Pearce

‘In this clever, heartfelt debut, two lonely season-ticket holders glimpse one another’s lives between the lines of tight-lipped small talk. Their losses, it becomes clear, aren’t only on the pitch, even as the novel’s emotion stays rooted in matchday experience’

‘Harrison does an excellent job... Season captures the universal experience of fandom but its real concern is male loneliness’

-- David Annand

‘A highly accomplished novel written with gut-wrenching, net-busting depth. It is a book that effortlessly captures the touching intergenerational bond of two loyal football supporters. Every word counts; everything means something. This is so much more than a novel for fans of the so-called ‘beautiful game’; this is a winner of a story in every way that all kinds of readers will inhale and remember long after the final whistle’

-- Ashley Hickson-Lovence

‘The world of professional football is usually a graveyard of literary aspiration, but George Harrison has found a way of using the match-day experience as a prism through which to examine the lives of the people watching on from the stands. Well observed, neatly handled and full of good things’

-- D J Taylor

‘A beautifully crafted and accomplished debut – an emotionally rich and formally fresh examination of masculinity and alienation that deserves a wide readership’

-- Michael Donkor

‘Football novels are notoriously difficult to get right but George Harrison has taken his chance with some aplomb in his cleverly structured debut novel’

-- Pete May, Hammers in the Heart

‘An absorbing, beautifully written, constantly surprising novel. The description of events on the field, as the side battles relegation, is riveting and completely authentic – but what goes on in the minds of the two men is just as compelling. The insecurities of youth and the frailties of older age are expertly explored. Ultimately it is football’s ability to provide a sense of purpose and belonging to very different people’s lives that makes this a most heartwarming read’

-- Roger Hermiston

‘This is a tale familiar to the many of us who enter into maddening relationships with our football club. But it is far more than that – it is about the relationships we strike with others who share the affliction. It is told beautifully and poignantly by the author’

-- Riath Al-Samarrai

‘George Harrison skilfully evokes the unique and valuable role football plays in so many people’s lives. He captures how moments of sporting euphoria and heartbreak can briefly but beautifully blot out relationship, family and work fears and the depths of anxiety, gratitude and delight that exist beyond male inarticulacy. A brilliant, original and necessary novel’

-- Nicolas Padamsee

‘A football novel like no other, Season is a love story – not romantic love, but love of team, of game. It’s a love that grabs you young and can never be shaken…for better or for worse’

-- Guy Swindells, Talk S