Mark Illis writes novels, short stories, radio plays and TV drama. He is the author of three novels, A CHINESE SUMMER, THE ALCHEMIST, THE FEATHER REPORT and, most recently, a collection of short stories, TENDER.

Mark Illis is a great stylist: eloquent, graceful, quiet. His work has wonderful subtlety and surprising strength.
Anne Enright

TENDER is the story of the Dax family. Over thirty years we watch their lives unfold in ordinary and extraordinary ways as they try to cope with life, and each other. They're a family with a history that develops in front of your eyes. A family with stories to tell.

Praise for Tender

'Illis has an engaging style and his prose is vivid and inventively colloquial'
TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT

'These ordinary people are not cut out to set the world on fire, yet so vitally charged with the messy, fraught business of staying alive and sane that they exert a fierce emotional pull on the reader.'
THE INDEPENDENT

'It has the benefits of a wonderful novel, as well as the joy of reading a collection of short stories ... It is tender, funny, startling, sad, and resonates with truth.'
THE SHORT REVIEW