Description

Glasgow. 2007. Emo culture is thriving, but fifteen-year-old Cathy O'Kelly is not. Bullied out of primary, she's finally got a new start at the big school after two years being taught at home by her Mammy. She dreams of earning the marks she needs to be a proper Scots writer and avoiding getting on the wrong side of the bams. Again. Little does she know that the worst bullies of all don't wear tracksuits... An intimate tour of Cathy's conflicted inner world and budding friendships. Grae's second novel brings noughties nostalgia face-to-face with Glaswegian grit as her heroine struggles to create space for her writing dreams in working-class life. She must either find ways to manage her mental health struggles - 'the darkness', 'the bad maggots', the stigma of going to 'the heid doactor' - or let the fear and flashbacks drown out the tongue she speaks. Can a chance encounter with a punk band save her? Or will a different kind of bully push Cathy further into herself?