Useful reading for visitors who want to understand Sheffield:
-
The Loney by Andrew Michael Hurley. Not set in Sheffield, but the author teaches in the city and the bleak Lancashire coast he describes shares its atmosphere with the Peak moors above Sheffield. A slow, eerie novel about faith and the English landscape.
-
The Star Tavern by Stuart Maconie. The northern broadcaster and writer's affectionate, detailed survey of the pubs and music venues of post-industrial Yorkshire, including a long chapter on Sheffield's pub culture.
-
Threads by Barry Hines, the screenplay-novel of the 1984 BBC film. Set in Sheffield during a nuclear strike, this is one of the most harrowing pieces of British fiction ever produced. Still required watching and reading for anyone interested in how the Cold War felt to those living through it.
-
The Northern Clemency by Philip Hensher. A vast, panoramic novel about two Sheffield families from the early 1970s through the miners' strike to the end of the century. The best novel of late 20th-century Sheffield life.
-
Pulp: A Personal History by Mark Sturdy. The story of how Jarvis Cocker's band emerged from Sheffield bedsits in the 1980s to become one of the defining acts of Britpop. As much a book about the city as about the band.