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Pigeon
An incongruous ice-cream van lurches up into the Welsh hills through the hail, pursued by a boy and girl who chase it into their own dark make-believe world, and unfurl in their compelling voices a tale which ultimately breaks out of childhood and echoes across the years.
Pigeon is the tragic, occasionally hilarious and ultimately intense story of a childhood friendship and how it's torn apart, a story of guilt, silence and the loss of innocence, and a story about the kind of love which may survive it all.
Pigeon is the tragic, occasionally hilarious and ultimately intense story of a childhood friendship and how it's torn apart, a story of guilt, silence and the loss of innocence, and a story about the kind of love which may survive it all.
256 pages, Paperback
Published June 1, 2016
25 people are currently reading
431 people want to read
About the author
Alys Conran
4 books24 followersAlys Conran’s first novel Pigeon won the Wales Book of the Year Award 2017 and was shortlisted for the International Dylan Thomas Prize.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 50 reviews
December 1, 2016
Welsh writer Alys Conran is immensely talented. This debut novel is chock full of gorgeous prose. Some sentences were so perfect they made my mouth water.
The young lad at the heart of the story, Pigeon, has moved out of his mother's house and out into the shed to get away from his new, hateful, abusive step-father. He spends as much time as possible away from home, romping around town with his best friend Iola. There doesn't seem to be much to do, except enjoy an ice cream when the ice cream truck rolls by.
Pigeon gets it into his head that the ice cream truck man, Gwyn, is some kind of villain, a murderer or something. It's obvious to the reader from the get-go that this is some kind of projection of his hatred towards his stepdad. He involves Iola in this fantasy and they begin to plot how to get this man out of the village and out of their lives.
Pigeon loves his mom, hates watching her disappear under the boot of her new husband. He also loves language – his native Welsh, and English – and there is some marvelous writing here about how he hides behind and invents himself with new words.
The story takes a very dark, violent turn. He receives a severe punishment; Iola carries some guilt. Pigeon's mother needs him to keep her from completely shuffling off this mortal coil. In one poignant scene, he reads his mother a child's story book; it seems to bring her back from whatever dark edge she'd been on inside herself.
Unfortunately, Conran takes that metaphor--storytelling--and overuses it so much in the final sections that it almost ruined the novel for me. We are told that the townspeople's gossip about him is "a story Pigeon needs," that his new girlfriend makes him unhappy because she's "making stories of him, and he’s not having it. Pigeon won’t let her make this story hers," and on and on and on. And on. And on. Perhaps other readers won't have the allergic reaction that I did to this explicit repetition of a theme that would've been much more powerfully shown, rather than told again and again, but it was much too much for my tastes.
My other dissatisfaction related to the guilt that Iola carries related to the violent turn in the story. So much turned on this, and both the psychological and the practical aspects of what did and did not happen and who was aware and unaware of what at various points along the way – strained credulity.
If I have talked you out of trying this novel, fine; I won't feel so bad about that if I have also talked you into trying one of Alys Conran's later ones when they come out, because she has a gem of a novel in her.
The young lad at the heart of the story, Pigeon, has moved out of his mother's house and out into the shed to get away from his new, hateful, abusive step-father. He spends as much time as possible away from home, romping around town with his best friend Iola. There doesn't seem to be much to do, except enjoy an ice cream when the ice cream truck rolls by.
Pigeon gets it into his head that the ice cream truck man, Gwyn, is some kind of villain, a murderer or something. It's obvious to the reader from the get-go that this is some kind of projection of his hatred towards his stepdad. He involves Iola in this fantasy and they begin to plot how to get this man out of the village and out of their lives.
Pigeon loves his mom, hates watching her disappear under the boot of her new husband. He also loves language – his native Welsh, and English – and there is some marvelous writing here about how he hides behind and invents himself with new words.
The story takes a very dark, violent turn. He receives a severe punishment; Iola carries some guilt. Pigeon's mother needs him to keep her from completely shuffling off this mortal coil. In one poignant scene, he reads his mother a child's story book; it seems to bring her back from whatever dark edge she'd been on inside herself.
Unfortunately, Conran takes that metaphor--storytelling--and overuses it so much in the final sections that it almost ruined the novel for me. We are told that the townspeople's gossip about him is "a story Pigeon needs," that his new girlfriend makes him unhappy because she's "making stories of him, and he’s not having it. Pigeon won’t let her make this story hers," and on and on and on. And on. And on. Perhaps other readers won't have the allergic reaction that I did to this explicit repetition of a theme that would've been much more powerfully shown, rather than told again and again, but it was much too much for my tastes.
My other dissatisfaction related to the guilt that Iola carries related to the violent turn in the story. So much turned on this, and both the psychological and the practical aspects of what did and did not happen and who was aware and unaware of what at various points along the way – strained credulity.
If I have talked you out of trying this novel, fine; I won't feel so bad about that if I have also talked you into trying one of Alys Conran's later ones when they come out, because she has a gem of a novel in her.
February 25, 2018
Beautiful. Heart rending. A story of friendship , love and loss.
September 23, 2020
Meh. I don't even know when I got this one, or why. Pretty standard stuff, nothing special and droned on here and there. Didn't hate it but didn't really like it either.
November 29, 2017
A while ago I read a similar book to this, Not Thomas - Sara Gethin . It is also set in a socially deprived area of a Welsh town and about neglected childhood (though the children are younger). However I found Gethin’s book hard reading and almost depressing. Certainly it is an important book and boldly written, but difficult to describe it as enjoyable.
Short-listed for the Dylan Thomas prize, Alys Conran’s novel is about a young teenager, Pigeon, and his peers growing up in North Wales. All the children seem to be suffering some sort of abuse, or at least discomfort in their lives, but they are headed towards more serious law-breaking and a bigger tragedy.
It is a much easier read than Not Thomas as there is the possibility of a happy ending, and the children’s lives improving. Rather than relate the dreadful conditions that we know kids live in, it gives the main players character so the reader empathises with them despite their actions, it is beautifully written and provides mystery even. Initially that mystery is about where exactly the book is set, which North Wales seaside town? More significantly, how old are the children are at the start of the book? Conran leaves clues, but we are never sure. And most of all, will justice be served, and can Pigeon and Iola salvage anything from there young lives?
Certainly I can recommend this book, but particularly should you be an admirer of dry stone walls...
Short-listed for the Dylan Thomas prize, Alys Conran’s novel is about a young teenager, Pigeon, and his peers growing up in North Wales. All the children seem to be suffering some sort of abuse, or at least discomfort in their lives, but they are headed towards more serious law-breaking and a bigger tragedy.
It is a much easier read than Not Thomas as there is the possibility of a happy ending, and the children’s lives improving. Rather than relate the dreadful conditions that we know kids live in, it gives the main players character so the reader empathises with them despite their actions, it is beautifully written and provides mystery even. Initially that mystery is about where exactly the book is set, which North Wales seaside town? More significantly, how old are the children are at the start of the book? Conran leaves clues, but we are never sure. And most of all, will justice be served, and can Pigeon and Iola salvage anything from there young lives?
Certainly I can recommend this book, but particularly should you be an admirer of dry stone walls...
November 6, 2017
What an amazing book. So skillfully written, so subtle in its beauty and sadness. I almost started it again when I finished.
June 15, 2017
What a book should be; an elegantly turned examination of humanity. A gripping tale, not for its plot, which will do everything you want one to, but more for its delicate evocation of the complicated turns and folds plotted doings have on the human psyche.
July 20, 2017
An incredibly moving tale about two young Welsh kids, exploring themes of language, memory and friendship. Read more on my blog here - http://createdtoread.com/book-review-...
October 26, 2022
This book is just amazing. I’m glad to say that my dissertation is going to be about it!
I am going to start recommending it to everyone!
I am going to start recommending it to everyone!
October 23, 2024
4.5/ond fi ffili marco fe lawr i 4.
June 29, 2016
Heartbreakingly beautiful storytelling.
Alys Conran paints a vivid picture of a small town in Wales, home to Pigeon and Iola. The image of the two running up the hill after the ice cream van, arriving panting and breathless is likely to evoke memories for many a reader.
The tale is told by the two children and they swept me along from the day to day details of their lives into a wider, more tragic story of broken childhood.
I couldn't stop turning the pages but also didn't want it to end. And I am now sad that it has and I won't be spending time with Pigeon and Iola today.
Alys Conran paints a vivid picture of a small town in Wales, home to Pigeon and Iola. The image of the two running up the hill after the ice cream van, arriving panting and breathless is likely to evoke memories for many a reader.
The tale is told by the two children and they swept me along from the day to day details of their lives into a wider, more tragic story of broken childhood.
I couldn't stop turning the pages but also didn't want it to end. And I am now sad that it has and I won't be spending time with Pigeon and Iola today.
February 22, 2017
A really moving tale of a childhood friendship and how it is affected by tragic events. The book really captures the atmosphere of a village in rural Wales. I really enjoyed the book and am intrigued to read Alys Conran's next book.
March 26, 2018
Pigeon is a coming of age novel set in a small Welsh village. Both Iola and Pigeon have experienced tragedy and they are no strangers to hardship. Words and their imaginations are their escape, but the stories Pigeon invents about Gwyn the ice cream man have catastrophic consequences. The story is told from both their viewpoints - Iola's chapters are first person but Pigeon's are third person. This has the effect of distancing the reader somewhat from some of the worst aspects of their lives, stopping you from becoming too emotionally involved with what could or should be heart-breaking.
Welsh is their first language and a smattering of the dialogue is reproduced in Welsh, but an explanation or translation can usually be found in the next sentence or two - for example when the kids are choosing ice creams:
“B b be ’dach chi isio heddiw ’ta?” Gwyn’s question goes up at the end, really high, as high as here; but we still haven’t decided.
It's an interesting story set in a world of unemployment, deprivation and chapel. It's no rural idyll, but nor is it too grim. Alys Conran's depiction of a realistic and believable village overlooked by mountains and slate quarries has its own beauty.
Welsh is their first language and a smattering of the dialogue is reproduced in Welsh, but an explanation or translation can usually be found in the next sentence or two - for example when the kids are choosing ice creams:
“B b be ’dach chi isio heddiw ’ta?” Gwyn’s question goes up at the end, really high, as high as here; but we still haven’t decided.
It's an interesting story set in a world of unemployment, deprivation and chapel. It's no rural idyll, but nor is it too grim. Alys Conran's depiction of a realistic and believable village overlooked by mountains and slate quarries has its own beauty.
March 19, 2018
This book explores the dark corners of children brought up in dysfunctional families. It also reveals how words and language can be used as barriers and for engagement and enlightenment. It is a page-turner but I had to keep stopping to consider the situations where I found myself. Child murderer or not? Abused or abuser? Reality or imagined?
The amalgam of a north Wales impoverished village reflects the difficulties and the community spirit as the lives of two young children develop into young adults. Sometimes the dialogue is heart-rending and often poetic. Alys Conran will be able to take her place among the great writers of Wales if this is her only novel. We all hope to read more of her work.
An ideal book for Book Clubs wishing to explore Wales, Welshness, childhood and criminality. The shafts of sunlight that shoot through the clouds give us hope that personal peace can be found in the most straitened of circumstances
The amalgam of a north Wales impoverished village reflects the difficulties and the community spirit as the lives of two young children develop into young adults. Sometimes the dialogue is heart-rending and often poetic. Alys Conran will be able to take her place among the great writers of Wales if this is her only novel. We all hope to read more of her work.
An ideal book for Book Clubs wishing to explore Wales, Welshness, childhood and criminality. The shafts of sunlight that shoot through the clouds give us hope that personal peace can be found in the most straitened of circumstances
June 21, 2020
A great story focusing on family dysfunction in a small North Wales town. This starts as a lovely evocation of childhood during a long, hot summer but of course soon changes as we start to see the familial issues and tragedies that the children are living with and how their vivid imaginations both protects them from, and exacerbates these. With the odd exception I thought the world that the author built was very believable (there’s difficulty but there’s also normality) and, even if it occasionally felt over-egged, I loved the importance of language to the children and the way that Welsh was interwoven in the dialogue with the characters’ use of English or Welsh often underlining or changing the significance of what was said. A strong and, despite the difficult subject matter, enjoyable debut.
August 21, 2021
Clever are pigeons trusted in wars in mines as children run free wild down the slopes to the beaches the fairs young and free for just an ice cream music could turn all this to a ghastly prison is not tempting fate is it?
How does violence against women and children begin and end - How I ask you? In any country religion county town village internationally and locally you turn a blind eye to bruises on a young girl's wrists, her cousins mother's face a boy's cheek no weren't nothing in those days of yonder wouldn't be going on in my back yard no way ...
Childhood taken in seconds and fun frivolous fun sneaking a ciggy behind the house, kissing a girl behind the wall so what jumping off a high cliff to gain what ?
Great read I finished it in two days ... hoping to read more by Alys Conran a page turner this writer is!
How does violence against women and children begin and end - How I ask you? In any country religion county town village internationally and locally you turn a blind eye to bruises on a young girl's wrists, her cousins mother's face a boy's cheek no weren't nothing in those days of yonder wouldn't be going on in my back yard no way ...
Childhood taken in seconds and fun frivolous fun sneaking a ciggy behind the house, kissing a girl behind the wall so what jumping off a high cliff to gain what ?
Great read I finished it in two days ... hoping to read more by Alys Conran a page turner this writer is!
May 31, 2020
2.5 Context is everything and this book was decidedly too bleak to read during a pandemic. The first half was really just one painful/dysfunctional scene after another and I was hating it, but by the time I got to the second half, I was drawn in despite my reluctance. This is a coming of age story about the most grim, emotionally deprived community. So many of the people were small-minded and mean, but somehow, the two main characters, Pigeon and Iola, begin finding truth and redemption. This is not a book I loved reading but one I think I'll think about for years to come. There is some truly beautiful writing but at times it seemed like writing and took me out of the story.
September 26, 2022
Didn’t like the patronising Welsh language passages. Either fully translate or keep it in English......and I’m Welsh and understood those passages. Also, some of the lines were nonsensical. It kept saying Pigeon stands in the room with him holding HIM to the floor. How can Pigeon stand and be held on the floor. The descriptions are GCSE standard at best and that is insulting to GCSE students. I could quote many more passages that completely make absolutely no sense at all. I’m sorry to the author, I know it’s easy to criticise but if you are being published surely someone is proof reading first.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 4, 2022
When you fabricate your own reality, there is this opposing force which demands you of "reparation" of the supposedly "real" world you have decided to take a leave on. Once you fail to have the reparation done, you are presented or more likely forced to stand face to face with a reset button to rearrange the fragmentary bits of yourself, of rudimentary appeal. You might think of having kept the bits and occur to have lost the tiniest, most insignificant part, the final piece which could once again put everything in its place. What to do with this? You negotiate the loss by willing to have another loss.
October 15, 2023
Ro'n i'n ansicr os y byddwn i'n joio'r llyfr hwn ar achos ysgrifenwyd gyda POV plant, a sa i wedi joio llyfre tebygol. Ond ges i fy synnu'n hapus! Doedd yr arddull sgwennu ddim yn anaeddfed neu rhy 'ifanc' ond cyfleuwyd emosiyne a meddylie'r cymeriade'n eglur ac yn iawn. Ro'n i'n joio gweld Iola a Pijin yn tyfu lan trwy'r llyfr a gweld sut maen nhw'n aeddfedu a datblygu. Ro'n i'n licio rhannau Gwyn hefyd, ro'n nhw'n newid cyflymdra diddorol. Er rhaid i fi gyfaddef na deallais i derfyniad y llyfr. Dw i'n credu taw rhywbeth i'w wneud gyda hunaniaeth ynglŷn â iaith oedd e - fel y rhanne lle oedd Pijin yn stryglo gyda'i Gymraeg - ond dwn i ddim! Serch hynny, llyfr da - pedwar seren o bump.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 18, 2020
Alys Conran is a damn literary genius. I almost feel angry when reading her works because how does one person become so talented? Then, the deep empathy, gorgeous writing, and amazing character development steps in and I can't be upset at all. Pigeon is just wonderful, and I should have reviewed this before now. I cried the first time I read it and did not do any better the second time around. I gave a copy to my grandma, who also loved it and also cried.
Absolutely stellar work, from a genuinely lovely human.
Absolutely stellar work, from a genuinely lovely human.
May 12, 2023
As I get ready to embark on a trek to Wales I've been looking for some Welsh literature other than Dylan Thomas. It's really difficult to find! There's little promotion for contemporary Welsh authors so I was thrilled to stumble upon this novel. I loved this story! Such a sad and tender coming of age and the choices we make based on the birth lottery we were dealt. This very much reminded me of an Appalachian story. I loved the combination of Welsh and English language and the exploration of loss of language. Beautiful read!
May 5, 2025
DNF at 60%
The writing style was great for a debut, but it needs more polishing. Some sentences are in Welsh, and I’d argue that if you want to write a book that would reach international audiences, those sentences should be easy to figure out within the context, or there should be a footnote with translations. There are no surprises or a rhythm to the story. The climax happens around the middle of the novel, and it’s a downward spiral after that. All in all, though, it wasn’t a bad book. It was just nothing special for me.
The writing style was great for a debut, but it needs more polishing. Some sentences are in Welsh, and I’d argue that if you want to write a book that would reach international audiences, those sentences should be easy to figure out within the context, or there should be a footnote with translations. There are no surprises or a rhythm to the story. The climax happens around the middle of the novel, and it’s a downward spiral after that. All in all, though, it wasn’t a bad book. It was just nothing special for me.
December 12, 2017
I feel like my heart was ripped out of my chest and stomped on. This book is emotionally raw, moving, and heartbreaking. There is quite a bit of Welsh language included and my rudimentary Welsh speaking got me through some of it though not all. Most of the phrasing is explained but you may want to use google translate for some.
The prose is outstanding here and Alys Conran deserves all of the praise given for this novel. Every bit of it.
The prose is outstanding here and Alys Conran deserves all of the praise given for this novel. Every bit of it.
July 5, 2024
I sincerely wanted to love Pigeon. I really did and I've tried but at the end it didn't left such a mark as he (sometimes too despretately) wanted to leave. Maybe I am too cynical or I've read and seen too much of this type of books and movies about impoverd kids and families.
I love the idea of loosing a language and with it someone's identity -it really intrigues me when it comes to Welsh/English dynamics.
I love the idea of loosing a language and with it someone's identity -it really intrigues me when it comes to Welsh/English dynamics.
February 5, 2019
I heard Alys Conran speak at the Gladstone’s Library Hearth Festival and picked this up .Initially struggle a little with the interspersed Welsh I read on and I’m so glad I did. This is a wonderful book - so sad and thoughtful and poignant. I loved Pigeon . A wonderful read which I’m planning to share with my work based reading group.
September 8, 2019
I'm glad I finally got round to reading this recommendation from our reading group.
The fact I'd been learning Welsh for just over a year made the snippets of Welsh in the book more meaningful (but you can understand what's said without it).
It's a gentle bittersweet story with enough element of mystery to keep you guessing how things will turn out.
The fact I'd been learning Welsh for just over a year made the snippets of Welsh in the book more meaningful (but you can understand what's said without it).
It's a gentle bittersweet story with enough element of mystery to keep you guessing how things will turn out.
April 25, 2018
I don't know why I continued to read this. I couldn't get into the first 20-30 pages. My interest was peaked a little bit by the theme but the writing style didn't do it for me. This book held me up for a while.
July 5, 2018
This book was set in North Wales, near to a slate quarry. I found it hard to read, each chapter was centred on one person and you couldn't easily work out who it was. I didn't like any of the characters, nobody seem to work and none of them were happy.
April 23, 2022
Gripping, confusing, emotional, difficult to walk away from... A new writer to watch out for. Pigeon is a young Welsh boy who is obsessed with framing the local ice cream vendor with murder. Terrible situations ensue, lived are changed forever. You'll never forget pigeon!
February 15, 2023
Starts a little slow, small kids etc., but it jumps ahead in time quickly enough and becomes more and more engrossing. By the end I was totally hooked and felt I’d lived through the events myself. Stunningly plotted and characterised, this is a cracking novel.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 50 reviews