Written with tremendous empathy and compassion, Capes’s electrifying debut charts the coming-of-age of Bess – teenage, pregnant and living on the edge of society – and what it means to be young and neglected in twenty-first century Britain.
Longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2022
Sometimes it's easy to fall between the cracks...
At 3.04pm on a hot, sticky day in June, Bess finds out that she's pregnant.
She could tell her social worker Henry, but he's useless.
She should tell her foster mother, Lisa, but she won't understand.
She really ought to tell Boy, but she hasn't spoken to him in weeks.
Bess knows more than anyone that love doesn't come without conditions.
But this isn't a love story...
Publisher: Orion Publishing Co
ISBN: 9781398700109
Number of pages: 336
Weight: 237 g
Dimensions: 194 x 126 x 26 mm
The literary equivalent of gold dust - BENJAMIN ZEPHANIAH
I am so proud of my super-talented former student, Kirsty Capes. I'm so impressed with how her writing has flourished with the cracking characters and energetic prose of her fantastic debut novel - BERNARDINE EVARISTO
Moving and beautifully-written - LIBBY PAGE
Vivid, bold and beautifully observed - ABBIE GREAVES
A story of every day, that is never told - ANSTEY HARRIS
Real, raw, heart-wrenching and so wonderfully written - JESSICA RYN
Heroic and powerful, but also tender; this is such an important novel - CHARLOTTE MENDELSON
So good I'm lying in a tepid bath because my 15 minutes reading turned into 45. What a voice! - AMY BEASHEL
Elegant and empathic [...] a portrait of how it feels to be young, brazen and terrified - JESSICA MOOR
I felt this book in my gut! It's funny, it's emotional, and at times definitely heartbreaking, but Bess is a hero you can believe in - JENDELLA BENSON
It's not often that life in care is talked about, which is just one of the reasons we love this book - COSMOPOLITAN
Careless stands out, a coming-of-age novel that draw's on the author's own experience of growing up in care - DAILY MAIL
With a funny and flawed heroine, this is a book that deserves to be a huge hit - STYLIST
Bess's narration is neither bitter nor self-pitying. Rather, her pragmatism, and humour, make her a compelling protagonist - BBC
Bess is one of the best heroines I’ve read for a long time. She is young, vulnerable, rude, feisty and incredibly loyal.
Kirsty Capes weaves a wonderful story of a young girl’s dreams , what is to be in care and...
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This is Bess' story. A distinctive voice, from a perspective little explored, takes us on a journey from positive pregnancy test back to the meet-cute/car crashing into a church that kicked off an eventful year... More
This is by far the most relatable and real coming-of-age story I've ever read, and yet its main themes and lessons are ones I feel like I dealt with in my 20s, so it's by no means an immature novel. Bess is... More
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