Book Description
‘One day I’ll die,’ Poll’s always going, ‘and then you’ll be sorry, my girl.’
No I won’t. I’ll put the bloody flags out. I’ll tie a red-satin bow round Winston’s neck, dance stark naked up and down Mesnes Park, and put an ad in the ‘Celebrations’ column of the Wigan Observer.
Katherine Millar is becoming desperate. At eighteen, when every other girl at school is dating and partying and heading for university, Katherine is stuck at home with just her grandmother, Poll, for company. Poll barely lets Katherine leave the house and has very strong opinions on everything from makeup (‘Smear some Vaseline on your face, that’s all you need at your age’) and clothes (‘What would you want a trouser suit for? You look like the side of a house as it is’) to Katherine’s favourite haunt, the local library (‘I don’t know what you want to keep trailing all the way up there for. It’s good telly tonight’).
But when Katherine receives a birthday present from an anonymous friend, it suddenly feels as though her whole, miserable world is about to change—if only Poll will let it. In between changing her name, discovering boys (and girls), and bulimia, Katherine tries to figure out if all of this upheaval is just the remnants of her troubled past—or the key to her future.
About the Author
KATE LONG is the author of the international bestseller
The Bad Mother’s Handbook. She lives with her family in Shropshire, England.
