Days of Treacle – a brand-new fiction book by Jon Howe
You’ve read all the facts you’ll ever need to know about Leeds United, now read the fiction. TSB legacy contributor Jon Howe adds to his canon of Leeds United writing with his first novel, which is set to take a worthy position among the best Leeds United fiction around.
- Days of Treacle is a sensitive and whimsical story about a male friendship rooted in football
and counterculture.
- Being different and being Leeds United fans is what drives Tom and Lewis, but Tom wants to
rebuild his mental health after an early setback in his life. Along with his charismatic pet dog
Wilko, Tom is doing his best to traverse middle age and takes comfort from a deep and
dependent connection with his best friend Lewis. But a missing Leeds United medal and a
new relationship doesn’t make that easy, putting Tom’s health, love life and lifelong
friendship at risk.
- Days of Treacle is soaked in pathos, contrariness and self-deprecation. Set in Leeds from the
1980s to the present day, this story follows Tom’s battles with loneliness, anxiety,
relationships, age, Leeds United and waiting for the two blue ticks to appear on WhatsApp
messages, and is told with a satirical perception that anyone similarly affected can relate to.
- Leeds United fans will find stories about trying to become a full-time apprentice footballer at
Leeds United in the 1980s, finding a lifelong spirit of defiance from the embers of Paris 1975,
meeting Billy Bremner, meeting Eric Cantona, travelling home and abroad to follow Leeds
United and all the madness that brings, and how the lead character Tom’s life intertwines
with the timeline of Leeds United’s modern history.
This is a personal voyage and discovery story with warmth, dark humour, intrigue, struggle,
romance, accusations, loss and recovery. And as you would expect from a book about two dedicated
and world-weary Leeds United fans, Days of Treacle leaves you believing there is nothing you
haven’t seen in life.
Copies bought through The Square Ball will be signed, personalised and posted by Jon Howe himself. Copies will start to mail by w/c 15th December.
Personal message – If you would like Jon to write a personal message or dedication inside
the book, please write it carefully in the box at the top of this page.
