Michael Amherst, author of The Boyhood of Cain, on some places that inspired his debut novel.
The Abbey Tower
This is one of Tewkesbury’s prettier side streets. My father always said that he knew we were nearly home from holiday when the tower of the Abbey would appear across the fields on the M5 motorway. Sadly, the verges are now so overgrown you can’t see it – but I still look out for it. The Abbey Tower is a kind of homing beacon that looms all over town.
Tewkesbury Abbey
This is the main entrance to Tewkesbury Abbey, that I imagine as the church in the novel. I too would have morning prayers here, but we would take a different route. We’d only use this path through the yew trees if the floods were up or for the end-of-term service. I still visit every time I come to town.
The Bus Stop
The Lady Chapel
This didn’t come out very well owing to the light, but it is the Lady Chapel in the Abbey where I like to go and light votive candles. The two together on the second row from top are ones I lit for my parents.
The High Street
Tewkesbury high street. There is a comparable photo from thirty to forty years ago. This is looking up from the memorial cross, in the centre of town, which features in the novel’s opening.
Cameron and Swan
This is Ledbury, just before Christmas. It’s only midafternoon but already dark. Near here was a cafe, Cameron and Swan, where I’d go each day to write when living with my mum. I loved the routine of walking on the hills and then sitting down for an hour or so with the ideas that had come while walking.
The Foot of the Malverns
This is the view at the top of the chase – a run used by horses – at the foot of the Malverns. It is a cloudy winter day in this photo, but you can just see Bredon Hill in the far distance, of A. E. Housman fame. Behind me and to my left is my stepfather’s cottage, where he lives and lived with my mum. Behind the trees on the right of the photo is the beautiful little church where my mum is buried. There is a shepherd’s hut in my stepfather’s garden where I always stay and come and write in the summer. In winter, the steam of my breath is more visible than outside in the cold morning air!
The Road to London
A regular sight in the country. You wouldn’t think it but this is the main road from Ledbury to Tewkesbury and on my route back to London. A short wait with cars stationary while sheep are herded up the road by farmers and three sheepdogs.
The Library
Henry
The view from my front window in London, where sometimes I’ll sit and write with the laptop on my lap. Our cat, Henry, keeps lookout for any neighbouring cats, and will usually try and settle on my lap, which means on the keyboard.
The Boyhood of Cain is out now in hardback.
Michael Amherst has been published in the Guardian, New Statesman, the Spectator, The White Review and Contrappasso magazine. His book-length essay, Go the Way Your Blood Beats, won the 2019 Stonewall Nonfiction Prize. He is also the winner of the 2020 Hubert Butler Essay Prize and was shortlisted for the Observer/Anthony Burgess Prize for Arts Journalism.
A poignant debut novel about a boy on the precipice of adulthood, struggling to understand how he might give and deserve love.