Half a Creature from the Sea: A Life in Stories

David Almond pairs short fiction with memories of his childhood in Felling-on-Tyne, an English working-class town, during the 1950s and 1960s. Many of the stories draw from autobiographical material and return to subjects found in his novels, including religion, art, friendship, and working-class life. Their world is rooted in familiar streets, fields, beaches, and community, while also allowing imagined figures and ghosts to enter. The collection moves between lived experience and invention, treating both as part of storytelling.