The team at Letchworth’s David’s Bookshop is busily putting the finishing touches to a programme of big name author visits in the coming months.

And the first celebrity writing booking in at the Eastcheap store is Costa Book Award winner Andrew Michael Hurley.

His debut novel has already picked up a hatful of awards and critics have heaped all sorts of praise on what’s been described by some as an instant classic.

The Loney is about two brothers – one is mute, the other is his lifelong protector.

Every year their family visits the same sacred shrine on a desolate strip of northern coastline known as the Loney, in desperate hope of a cure.

During the long hours of waiting, the boys are left alone – and they cannot resist the causeway revealed with every turn of the treacherous tide, the old house they glimpse at its end...

Years later, mute Hanny is a grown man no longer in need of his brother’s care. But then a child’s body is found – and the Loney always gives up its secrets, in the end.

You can reserve yourself a place at the event which starts at 7.30pm on Wednesday, April 6, by buying a copy of the £7.99 paperback from the shop in advance – and if you read it before the big night, you’ll be able to quiz the author about it.

Find out about the forthcoming events on the calendar at the bookshop online at www.davids-bookshops.co.uk.