Brass

Nineteen-year-old Millie O'Reilly is clever, spiky and adored by men yet utterly forlorn. Shockingly candid and brutally poetic, Helen Walsh has created a portrait of a city and a generation that offers a female perspective on the harsh truth of growing up in today's Britain. "The most striking coming-of-age story that I have read for a long time . . . Helen Walsh is up there with Irvine Welsh in her ability to show what it is that draws people to the extremes of pleasure." Natasha Walter, Vogue Nineteen-year-old Millie O'Reilly is clever, spiky and adored by men, but feels increasingly trapped. She seeks escape in the hedonistic underbelly of Liverpool, getting off on rough sex and cheap highs. Shockingly candid and brutally poetic, Helen Walsh has created a portrait both of a city and a generation, offering a female perspective on the harsh truth of growing up in today's Britain. "A novel whose imagery you won't easily scrub off the back of your mind. It is spellbinding and utterly unique." Independent "An incredibly uplifting experience . . . You wouldn't say the future of mainstream fiction was exactly safe in her hands, but it'll certainly be more adult, more comic, more eventful." Guardian "Walsh has a gift for creating character through voice . . . To use an image that both protagonist and author would enjoy, these are the budding breasts of a voluptuous talent." The Times "Something of ferocious power . . . Helen Walsh is not going to be a major and interesting new voice; she already is one." Niall Griffiths Nineteen-year-old Millie O'Reilly is clever, spiky and adored by men yet utterly forlorn. Increasingly disillusioned, she seeks an escape in the underbelly of Liverpool... Shockingly candid and brutally poetic, Helen Walsh has created a portrait of a city and a generation that offers a female perspective on the harsh truth of growing up in today's Britain. Brass is an unsettling but ultimately compassionate account of the possibilities of identity and the desirability of love.