Thrown together by a harrowing twist of fate, two girls will find hope and redemption in friendship in this award-winning, emotional gut punch of a novel from the author of Bright Burning Things.
Sassy, streetwise Sammy is a teenage girl who is falling through the cracks. Neglected by an alcoholic mother, the problems she endures at school and home lead her into the hands of adults who don't have her best interests in mind. Failed by them at every turn, Sammy acts out, seeking attention from boys, then men, when what she wants most is protection.
Meanwhile, in a small village in Eastern Europe, preternaturally beautiful and naïve Nico is about to turn thirteen and as her family falls upon desperate times, her father is approached to marry her off. Her family knows that the nice life this stranger seems to be offering Nico is too good to be true, but they and Nico hope for the best as she’s shuttled across the border into Ireland, where she and Sammy find one another in their new home, a suburban brothel.
As Nico and Sammy journey into this dark underbelly and out the other side, their friendship—and the unexpected acts of kindness they give and receive—form a potent bond.
Lisa Harding, an Irish actress, playwright, novelist and screenwriter decided to change her life when she applied for the MPhil in creative writing at Trinity College Dublin as a mature student. She graduated in 2014, having pursued a tumultuous career as an actress until that time. She can now say, with some relief, that she is no longer waiting for her agent to call with that elusive audition. She is no longer waiting for others to make decisions about her creative output. Every day now, as a writer, she can produce work and practice her craft.
Theatre plays have been performed at the Project Theatre Dublin, Battersea Arts Centre and Theatre 503 in London. Short stories have been published in The Winter Papers, Bath short story anthology and the Dublin Review.
Harvesting, her first novel, published when Lisa was forty, won the Kate O’Brien award, was nominated for best newcomer at the Irish Book Awards 2017 and shortlisted for the Kerry Group Prize 2018. It has been translated into French by Gallimard press. A screen adaptation is currently underway with the director of the Derry Girls. BRIGHT BURNING THINGS, her second critically acclaimed novel, is published by Bloomsbury UK and AUS, Harper Via in the US, with translations into French and Swedish forthcoming in 2022. It has also been optioned for film. She is currently working on her third novel with the working title Truth Games.
Lisa believes it is never too late to start writing and find your voice. She loves to teach creative writing in Ireland and is grateful to have discovered her true calling later in life.
She is represented by Clare Alexander at Aitken Alexander in London.
Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteThat's an interesting cover.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if I have read her last book I need to research that and see before I buy this one.
ReplyDeleteI am liking the sound of this one.
ReplyDelete