Rhodes’ fifth book came out in 2007. It won the Aye Write/Clare Maclean Prize for Scottish Fiction, and was nominated for the IMPAC Prize.
“Both hilarious and acutely affecting, perhaps even profound. *****” INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY
“In a year of mostly reading fiction my great discovery has been Gold by Dan Rhodes. This is an original novel, funny, dark, pitched somewhere between the pub novels of Patrick Hamilton and the early fiction of Beryl Bainbridge. It’s hilarious and heartbreaking.” MICHAEL HOLROYD, Guardian Books of the Year
“Smashing. Dan Rhodes comes close to perfecting the fragile balance of sadness and humour that has marked out his books as special for some time. This is a damn funny book… had me snorting like a hippo in mud.” SUNDAY HERALD.
“In all his books there beats a heart so sweet that to encounter it can be painful; this hones even further the razor edges of heartbreak when they inevitably come. Absolutely flawless comic writing – Gold is original, fresh and funny.” THE OBSERVER
“Very clever and very funny, Gold goes straight to the heart. Dan Rhodes is a true original, and after reading this you will never think about sneezing in the same way again.” HILARY MANTEL
“Laugh out loud funny. An amusing, original read – we recommend it.” HEAT (Gold spent an entire month in Heat magazine’s Top 10)
“This is a heartbreaking comic gem, with real pathos lurking underneath.” SUNDAY BUSINESS POST
“I love Dan Rhodes, and this book is up there with his best. It’s just utterly charming. It’s elegant, delicate, wry and absorbing writing.” DAVE GORMAN
“Literary novels can be a pain, but Dan Rhodes’ Gold brings nothing but blissful relief… Rhodes creates a remarkably full and convincing universe in a book that is less than two hundred pages long. Couched in perfect prose, and full of beautifully-pitched character writing (who but Rhodes can weave so seamlessly the hilarious and the pathetic, in its best sense?), Gold is a great and deceptively wise little book. Read it. *****” THE SKINNY
“Welcome to the world of Dan Rhodes, a literary destination full of curiosities… It’s difficult enough to write funnily, but to achieve what Rhodes does here and effortlessly sustain immaculate comic timing throughout a novel – well, that’s just rude. What could have been merely an amusing tale of Welsh country life acquires a touching depth as unexpected tragedy seeps through. *****” TIME OUT
“Gold is a funny novel, both humorous and strange. There’s real fun to be had.” THE OBSERVER
“Both affectionate and richly humorous.” 3:AM MAGAZINE
“Oh, how we love Dan Rhodes…. Reliably odd but fabulous.” THE GUARDIAN (The Measure)
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When the book came out we sent a team to Pembrokeshire to bring back a pictorial guide to the World of Miyuki. Here’s what they came up with.
A beach with some rocks on it:
Many, many bourbon biscuits. We know and accept that most people who visit this site are only looking for photographs of bourbon biscuits, and here they are. Gold is very much the go-to book for bourbon biscuit enthusiasts, so if you are one we do recommend you buy it. This photo was appropriated from Rhodes’ personal collection – and for those of you who were wondering, he did eat these biscuits in one go. All thirty of them – beat that for commitment to research.
Contact lenses on a wood burning stove:
Some scenery:
A short stretch of the Pembrokeshire Coast Path:
Some wild ponies (one of whom bears an uncanny resemblance to Bryan Ferry):
Here are all the available editions so far.
Canongate, First UK edition. ISBN: 9781841959535
This edition contains one or two charming minor printing errors. It is not recommended for anybody called Siân.
Alfaguara, Spain. ISBN: 9788420473659
Our scanner doesn’t do this magnificent edition justice – in real life the bubbles are a dazzling gold.
Sammakko, Finland. ISBN: 9789524830775
Tiderne Skifter, Denmark. ISBN: 9788779732988
Netherlands, De Bezige Bij. ISBN: 9789023426912
Hmmm. And they wondered why this didn’t sell…
Canongate, Scotland. Mass market paperback. ISBN: 9781847670489
The definitive, Siân-friendly edition.
US, Canongate. ISBN: 139781847670168:
The same as the UK edition, but with a curiously empty glass.
NORWAY, Baskerville. ISBN: 97882818704
Dan Rhodes 