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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: 9781398700086
Number of pages: 336
Weight: 555 g
Dimensions: 236 x 158 x 36 mm
MEDIA REVIEWS
'The literary equivalent of gold dust.' - Benjamin Zephaniah
'Moving and beautifully-written - a voice and a story that needs to be heard.' - Libby Page, author of The Lido
'Vivid, bold and beautifully observed.' - Abbie Greaves, author of The Silent Treatment
'A story of every day, that is never told. Uplifting and simultaneously heart-breaking.' - Anstey Harris, author of The Truths and Triumphs of Grace Atherton
'Real, raw, heart-wrenching and so wonderfully written. A truly honest coming-of-age story. I laughed, cried, squirmed and couldn't stop reading.' - Jessica Ryn, author of The Extraordinary Hope of Dawn Brightside
'Heroic and powerful, but also tender; this is such an important novel.' - Charlotte Mendelson, author of Daughters of Jerusalem
'So good I'm lying in a tepid bath because my 15 minutes reading turned into 45. What a voice!' - Amy Beashel, author of The Sky is Mine
'Such an elegant and empathic book, with characters I feel I've known forever. A portrait of how it feels to be young, brazen and terrified.' - Jessica Moor, author of Keeper
'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
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“Brilliant debut.”
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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“A visceral, emotional and nostalgic ride”
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
“Important, relatable, eye-opening, raw & hopeful”
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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