Driving Short Distances

Driving Short Distances is the new book by Joff Winterhart, whose first graphic novel, Days of the Bagnold Summer, was described by Posy Simmonds as ‘original, funny, touching and beautifully observed’ and was shortlisted for the Costa Award for Best Novel.

In Driving Short Distances Joff Winterhart has created an unforgettable central player, Keith Nutt, who deserves to join Keith Talent in the short but potent list of great British literary Keiths. He is an unforgettable character, beautifully drawn and exquisitely written, and he confirms Winterhart as one of the most talented graphic novelists in the UK.

Masterpiece is an overused word in reviews and ordinarily I avoid it with much the same determination as Keith tries to avoid getting crumbs on his work trousers. In this case, however, it is the only one that will do. Winterhart has delivered a perfect book

Joff Winterhart’s follow-up to his sweet, loving, Costa Award-nominated debut Days Of The Bagnold Summer is another slice of pitch-perfect comic social realism. Imagine if Alan Bennett was a cartoonist and you’re halfway there… The whole thing is a lovely example of the Odd Couple format that slowly, carefully reveals its secrets. In short, it’s a Play for Today drama told in comic book form.

With mournful ink-and-paint drawings and a talent for wordless suggestion, Joff Winterhart’s comics create a sad and very British kind of underdog comedy… At heart, this perfectly observed comic is a story about recovery. It’s also one of the best books of any kind that I’ve read all year.

This graphic novel poignantly examines quarter-life crisis and surrogate father-son relationships… Joff Winterhart’s illustrations are marked by their grounded realism, and he explores the anxieties of being a young adult and the repetitions of small-town life. The book captures not only the central characters’ relationship, but also the familiar feelings of regret and boredom.

I simply can’t see how this marvelous, moving book about men… Could possibly fail to spread joy.

Joff Winterhart is an artist, writer, occasional film-maker, 'drummer', and dog fan. His graphic novel Days of the Bagnold Summer was shortlisted for the Costa Novel Award in 2012 and adapted into a film. His second graphic novel Driving Short Distances came out in 2017. He also made the animated films Two Guys I know and Violet and Turquoise, which won the Cymru BAFTA for best animation in 2003. He lives in Bristol, where he plays drums and writes songs in the long-running band Bucky, and thinks about getting a new dog.

Sam is 27 and needs to get a job. Keith, who claims to be a second cousin of his (absent) father, offers him one. On Keith’s card it says he does ‘distribution and delivery’, which seems to consist of ‘a lot of driving around, getting out of the car for a few minutes and then getting back in’, Sam tells his mother. And so the days go by, Keith driving to a trading estate, ducking into a portakabin, all the while telling Sam stories about his first boss, Geoff Crozier, his mentor in distribution and delivery. As the weeks pass, Sam gets to know Keith’s friends, flirty Hazel-Claire from whom they buy two pasties every day at lunchtime, a variety of receptionists, and a few tantalising secrets from Keith’s past… 
 
As in Days of the Bagnold Summer, Joff Winterhart is a master at depicting ordinary life in all its utterly poignant and funny mundanity.

Days of the Bagnold Summer

A tale of single parenting and heavy metal. Shortlisted for the 2012 Costa Award for Best Novel.

Days of the Bagnold Summer is extremely original, funny, touching and beautifully observed in both the drawing and the writing. There is probably no truer portrait of teenage and parental angst.

A universal crowd pleaser...my graphic novel of the year... I love this book so much, I would have to instantly excommunicate any friend who didn’t feel the same way – though such is its greatness, this won’t ever happen.

Britain’s got a new graphic novel star. This funny, sad, extraordinary study of a heavy metal-loving teen and his long-suffering single mum is so well observed it makes your heart tingle.

Days of the Bagnold Summer captures the humiliation and agony of adolescence with excruciating precision. This short, devastating book haunted me for weeks.

Seb Hunter, author of 'Hell Bent for Leather'

This is a memorable household, seemingly passed over by history yet given their rightful place on these pages – and recommended by us as well worth meeting.

Superstar in the making…as affecting as Raymond Briggs, as beady as Posy Simmonds, a truly fantastic debut… I cherished Winterhart’s drawings. These Bagnolds are well-observed to the point of cruelty, and yet his affection for them is never in doubt.

Remarkable…beautifully observed and balanced. It’s thought-provoking, entertaining and real without being sycophantic… You should make time for this book..

If like me you’re new to graphic novels then trust me when I say this is the perfect starting point, and if you’re a regular graphic novel reader then please give this little volume a chance. It may be small but it has so much heart inside that you’ll never quite be able to leave it behind.

Discover the quirky tale of single parenting and heavy metal behind the film from director Simon Bird (The Inbetweeners) 
 
'When someone looks back and writes a history of this summer, two people they will almost certainly leave out are Sue and Daniel Bagnold...' 
 
So begins Joff Winterhart's sublimely funny and perceptive graphic novel, Days of the Bagnold Summer. Sue, 52, works in a library. Daniel, 15, is still at school. This was the summer holidays Daniel was due to spend with his father and his father's pregnant new wife in Florida. When they cancel his trip, Sue and Daniel face six long weeks together... 
Joff Winterhart perfectly captures the ennui, the tension, the pathos and yes, the affection of this mother-son relationship. Already well-known for his animated films like Violet and Turquoise, he here shows himself to be a comics author of extraordinary talent. 
 
Shortlisted for the 2012 Costa Award for Best Novel

Joff Winterhart

A big fat tear has just plopped onto the final page of Dear Historian. What a perfect book... A complete masterclass. So well-observed, so clever, so funny, so beautifully made... I think this book observes old age better than any fiction I can think of. Truly special.

A kind, warm, understated book about ageing and bereavement and friendship across the generations

The quiet but touching story explores an unexpected friendship between a septuagenarian historian and a younger TV producer. Winterhart’s use of monoprinting — a labour-intensive process of drawing on paper atop an inked sheet of glass — lends texture to the monochrome scenes, imbuing them with a visually layered archaeology that befits his subject.

Exquisitely observed and utterly brilliant

Offbeat and understated, while absolutely radiating pathos, humour and charm. [Winterhart] has a knack for zeroing in on the most unassuming characters and allowing them to shine in all their idiosyncrasy. I found this very funny but also deeply moving, and so skilfully judged — his work moves in a way that feels entirely natural and believable, resisting grand finales in favour of what feels real and true

'A delightful odd-couple story about two women bringing the past to life...I thought it would be hard for Winterhart to top Driving Short Distances, one of my favourite graphic novels of the past 10 years. But somehow, with this rather offbeat premise, he’s managed it...The story Winterhart weaves around this curious clash of personalities is an unmitigated delight'

Brilliant... Offbeat, poignant, incredibly funny. It will win your heart!

Supported by consistently spot-on dialogue and scenes, the development of this friendship between two lonely souls sharing a common grief lends a unique depth to a delicate story

A witty, touching, and sometimes very funny album. [...] Dear Historian is above all a remarkably subtle study of manners and the image we have of ourselves and the image we think we project

'One of the most talented graphic novelists in the UK' ZADIE SMITH 
 
'Exquisitely observed and utterly brilliant' INDIA KNIGHT, Sunday Times 
 
'An unmitigated delight' OBSERVER *Graphic Novel of the Month* 
 
Improbable friends Margaret and Lucy navigate their age gap, the cult of personality, graveyards and bad knees: from cult-favourite graphic novelist Joff Winterhart 
 
At this point in her life, septuagenarian Margaret is particular about the things she likes. These include looking out of train windows, graveyards in the rain, an afternoon sherry. But most of all, it is her lifelong subject, the obscure 17th century polymath J.W Preece, who she has devoted her life to studying. 
 
Margaret doesn’t like: drawing attention to herself, extravagant behaviour and television. 
 
When she meets a young history TV producer, Lucy, they form a tentative bond, despite Margaret’s reluctance to be drawn into the media world. Several decades Margaret’s junior, heartbroken and unsure of herself, Lucy finds curious new inspiration as she falls under the spell of Margaret’s passions. 
 
With inimitable sensitivity and humour, cult-favourite graphic novelist Joff Winterhart returns with an irresistible portrait of two women navigating their age gap, loss, self-made-celebrity-historians, and bad knees… 
 
'Just when I thought I couldn’t love Joff Winterhart more, along came Dear Historian. It has all the wry humanity and keen eye for detail that won Driving Short Distances and Days of the Bagnold Summer such passionate fans' PATRICK GALE 
 
'Even in the prose aisles, you'd be hard-pressed to find a piece of literary fiction as nuanced and beautiful as this.' VULTURE, on Other People

Joff Winterhart

Praise for Dear Historian

A big fat tear has just plopped onto the final page of Dear Historian. What a perfect book... A complete masterclass. So well-observed, so clever, so funny, so beautifully made... I think this book observe ...

A kind, warm, understated book about ageing and bereavement and friendship across the generations

The quiet but touching story explores an unexpected friendship between a septuagenarian historian and a younger TV producer. Winterhart’s use of monoprinting — a labour-intensive process of drawing on paper atop an ...

A big fat tear has just plopped onto the final page of Dear Historian. What a perfect book... A complete masterclass. So well-observed, so clever, so funny, so beautifully made... I think this book observe ...

A kind, warm, understated book about ageing and bereavement and friendship across the generations

The quiet but touching story explores an unexpected friendship between a septuagenarian historian and a younger TV producer. Winterhart’s use of monoprinting — a labour-intensive process of drawing on paper atop an ...

A big fat tear has just plopped onto the final page of Dear Historian. What a perfect book... A complete masterclass. So well-observed, so clever, so funny, so beautifully made... I think this book observe ...

A kind, warm, understated book about ageing and bereavement and friendship across the generations

The quiet but touching story explores an unexpected friendship between a septuagenarian historian and a younger TV producer. Winterhart’s use of monoprinting — a labour-intensive process of drawing on paper atop an ...

Books by Joff Winterhart

Follow penguin

Follow ladybird

Follow puffin

Sign up to the Penguin newsletter