Cricket Book announced from Maccabees Guitarist and Tailenders Host, Felix White

Cassell, part of the Octopus Publishing Group, today announces the acquisition of the debut book on cricket from Maccabees guitarist Felix White, which will publish in August 2021.

It’s Always Summer Somewhere is an honest, entertaining and powerful account of a life lived with cricket. Cassell’s Publisher, Trevor Davies, acquired rights in all languages from Nick Walters of DLA.

Felix White, for reasons often beyond him, has always been deeply in love with the game of cricket. He has become known for his ability to articulate how the game feeds into everyday life and his passion is at the fore on the BBC's award winning, number one cricket podcast and 5Live show, Tailenders, which he co-presents with Radio 1 Breakfast host Greg James and England’s most successful bowler ever, Jimmy Anderson.

In It’s Always Summer Somewhere, Felix takes us through his life growing up in south-west London and describes how his story is punctuated and given meaning by cricket. Through his own exploits as a slow left arm spinner of 'lovely loopy stuff', to the tragic illness of his mother, life with the Maccabees and his eventual cricket redemption, Felix touches on both the comedic and the tragic in equal measure. Throughout, there's the ever-present roller coaster of
following the England cricket team, whose exploits provide constant meaning and reference for Felix’s own journey.

The story, an ever-unfolding exploration into why and how we channel so much into the things we love, is framed with contributions from a number of cricketers unwittingly responsible for the formative moments in Felix’s life, including Phil Tufnell, Michael Atherton, Nasser Hussain, Kumar Sangakkara and Jos Buttler. Felix meets each and their reflections turn the story into a field study of sorts on grief, transgenerational displacement and how our relationships shape us, each conversation changing how he looks back onto his own experience and period of his life.

Felix White is a musician, broadcaster and co-founder of independent record label, Yala! He has also, for as long as his conscious memory extends, been in love with the game of cricket. Neither of his parents – from Lebanon and the Isle of Wight – were into the game, so it is a slight mystery to everyone that he took to it as much as he did. He co-presents BBC podcast Tailenders with Greg James and England’s most successful ever fast bowler Jimmy Anderson, which has proved a ‘safe space’ in which to channel his enthusiasm for it regularly. The Maccabees, the band for whom he is renowned, released four studio albums and split at their commercial peak after 14 years together,
off the back of a UK number one album and major festival headline shows. He lives in South London where he continues to work on numerous musical projects, including film scores, and has still not overcome his rational fear of a cricket ball.

Felix White commented, “I have been told, more than a few times, that my love for cricket can border on the obsessive. I have never tried to argue otherwise. At first, I imagined It’s Always Summer Somewhere as an opportunity to really explore why. I was genuinely intrigued as to what I would find. I didn’t envisage, though, how deep the process would take me into all aspects of my life; through my relationships and trans-generational displacement, keeping a thread throughout of the way the game and music has spoken to me, always foreboding or explaining something in my life back to me. As I got further in, I became really committed to being as honest as I possibly could with absolutely everything while paying homage to how simultaneously ridiculous and profound being a musician can be along the way. It’s a far wider story than I had first imagined I’d tell, one that is punctuated with all the bizarre and endless ways grief manifests itself. The really telling thing in conclusion was, it turned out, it might not have been about the cricket at all. I imagine sports, music and art lovers everywhere might understand the feeling.”

Trevor Davies said of the acquisition, ‘I’m thrilled that Felix has chosen Cassell to publish his memoir. He is an incredibly gifted writer with an utterly unique story. It’s Always Summer Somewhere skilfully weaves together three seemingly diverse themes of mortality, music and cricket to make an entertaining, poignant and gripping read. Not only does it work as a testament of a man’s cricket cricketing obsession, but it also serves as a fascinating look at the arc of a band’s life and the struggle to come to terms with loss.’

© Cricket World 2021