Luke Allnutt Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

Luke Allnutt is a British author that came to fame with his debut novel ‘We Own the Sky’.

+Biography

Trapeze made a lot of noise when it secured Luke Allnutt’s ‘We Own the Sky’ following a 5-way auction. Luke Allnutt started writing the novel in 2013 and he never thought he would land a six-figure deal after it was all said and done.

‘We Own the Sky’ tells the touching story of a lonely man struggling to come to terms with his son’s cancer diagnosis.

Luke Allnutt knows something about the trials and heartache of cancer.

The author grew up in Surrey. He took to writing fairly early on and even secured a position in the field of journalism. The author’s career took him all the way to the Czech Republic.

Allnutt did work for British and American publications. He was primarily charged with pursuing political and technological stories.

The author’s entry into fiction came when he wrote ‘Unspoken’. The Kindle Single hit the internet in 2013. The author wrote it in response to the death of his father from a brain tumor.

The book explored Luke Allnutt’s reaction to the news that his father only had months to live, not to mention the observations he made as the old man walked the final moments of his life on earth.

‘We Own the Sky’ followed soon after, written by Allnutt after he received his own cancer diagnosis. The author was 36-years-old when he learned that he had stage 3 bowel cancer.

Already a family man with a wife and a son, Allnutt’s entire world was shaken. Even if his treatment proceeded as planned, the doctors assured Allnutt that there was no way to guarantee that the cancer wouldn’t come back.

In fact, the doctors could only guarantee him five more years of life. Allnutt and his wife eventually recovered from the shock of it all. Allnutt had surgery some weeks afterward. A chunk of his colon was removed.

He was also told to prepare for six months of chemotherapy. In the weeks that followed, Allnutt and his wife decided to have a second child. They had discussed the idea of giving their first child a sibling.

However, with the cancer diagnosis, it became imperative that they get pregnant immediately if only to add a spark of hope to their gloomy existence. The author has spoken frequently of the day his wife Marketa told him that she was pregnant.

Most people told them they were lucky. Healthier couples than them had taken months before they finally conceived. Marketa and Allnutt encountered no struggle of note in their efforts to conceive.
However, rather than improve his outlook, the news of his wife’s pregnancy threw Allnutt into further despair. At first, he was haunted by the idea of bringing into the world a child whose earliest memories would revolve around a weak, hairless, dying father.

That idea was quickly replaced by the even more depressing notion of Allnutt’s son growing up without a father. The author imagined all the milestones he would never get to share with his son and it caused him to despair.

Allnutt eventually escaped that pit. He rose to the occasion, supported his wife through her pregnancy and welcomed his second child into the world. The experience was a joyous one, banishing the gloom that the author had carried for so long whilst also helping him persevere through the trials of his cancer treatment.

Allnutt’s debut novel struck such a chord amongst publishers because it was written from personal experience. Allnutt understands the despair and helplessness that the characters of ‘We Own the Sky’ feel and he succeeds in bringing a grounded exploration of the scourge of cancer to the page.

The author’s book was christened the next big commercial fiction sensation in the year that Trapeze landed it. The rights for the book were sold in over ten countries, setting Luke Allnutt up for quite the sizable payday.

+Unspoken

Luke Allnutt didn’t know what to expect from his father when the man was diagnosed with cancer and given mere months to live. Part of him thought that they would spend the next several days walking through nature and having deep, reflective conversations.

Luke thought he and his father would reminisce about the good old days and possibly even discuss their potential futures. None of that happened. At the end of the day, Luke learned to read his father’s silence, drawing from it far more meaning than anything a lengthy conversation would have delivered.

‘Unspoken’ was the novel through which so many people were introduced to Luke Allnutt. The book was written as an attempt on the part of the author to come to terms with his father’s illness and eventual death.

+We Own the Sky

Rob Coates had the perfect life. His wife was far more incredible than any woman he could have imagined marrying, and their son made every new day an adventure. Life had given Rob so much that he was left quite helpless when he began to lose it all.

The family is devastated by the news of an illness. Unable to cope, Rob disappears into photography. He finds some solace in taking pictures of the cliff tops and skyscrapers he used to visit with his son Jack.

But the activity does little to extinguish the loneliness and the despair.

In order to find new meaning in life, Rob will embark on an unforgettable journey.

This book catapulted Luke Allnutt to fame. Tender and heartbreaking but also surprisingly life-affirming, ‘We Own the Sky’ is told from the perspective of Rob as he and his wife try to come to terms with their son’s illness.

Jack is unwell and he isn’t expected to get better. Luke tries to explore the relationship between the father and the son. He takes readers along Rob’s journey as the grieving man goes to great lengths to make sense of the hell that has consumed his life.

Rob and Anne are initially brought together by the illness that strikes their son. However, because of their disparate personalities, a divide starts to form in between them and it isn’t long before the foundations of the family crack at the seams in the wake of two grieving parents who cannot agree on the correct way to deal with their child’s diagnosis.