Against the background of a declining steel town, Shifts charts the lives of four closely bound characters, Jack, Keith, Rob and Judith in a story of grief, love, work and betrayal.
When the plant closes all four are forced to take control of their lives. The men look to their work and to the past for explanation, while Judith seeks an answer in herself and those around her. The result is an ever more intense entanglement of their lives as they search for a new way to live.
"A fine young writer. His closely observed description is remarkable for its unsentimental chronicling of working-class life, written superbly, with a poet's eye, mind and voice"
The Guardian
"A beautiful, understated first novel. More than a bitter angry novel, Shifts is a sad and loving one. The prose is spare and poetic, at once plain and rich, musical in its rhythm of speech and clear description"
New York Times Book Review
"Meredith's prose captures the lilt of the Welsh accent, as well as the hard-nosed working-class flippancy... A first novel of consummate skill"
The Sunday Times
"A novel so good it is hard to believe it is his first"
Western Mail
Christopher Meredith is a poet, novelist and currently lecturer in Creative Writing at the University of Glamorgan. Born in Tredegar and educated at Abersytwyth and Swansea, he worked for some time in a south Wales steel plant, and as a teacher. His novels are Shifts, Griffri and Sidereal Time, and he is the author of a collection of poetry, Snaring Heaven. His books are taught in universities in Wales and England.
- ISBN10 185411199X
- ISBN13 9781854111999
- Publish Date 1 September 1997 (first published 1 August 1988)
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 30 November 2022
- Publish Country GB
- Publisher Poetry Wales Press
- Imprint Seren
- Edition 2nd Revised edition
- Format Paperback
- Pages 224
- Language English