A poignant novel about a teenage girl finding herself set in 70s London
Thirteen-year-old Cath is a new girl at a Catholic convent. She is afraid of the nuns, unused to the restriction and terrified of God. She finds refuge in nature, and her friend Olive’s vision of the starry limitless universe.
Cath’s sister Very is at art school in seventies Punk London. She lives a wild chaotic life with bedraggled artists, outrageous homosexuals, and shadowy nightclub owners. When Cath visits Very, the two sisters whirl through the city together, along Chelsea Embankment and through the alleys of late-night Soho. But London, like the convent, holds its dangers and Cath must find her own way through.
McEwen captures the impressionability of youth, as well as the visceral nature of emotions which have yet to be dulled by experience … This seductive lyricism transforms the everyday into something exquisite, yet at the same time successfully evokes the threatening darkness of an inscrutable adult world. Compellingly written, this is a sensitive depiction of the trials and tribulations of growing up’ Anna Scott, Time Out
‘She portrays a young girl’s development with sensitivity and insight’ Independent on Sunday
‘Frequently moving and finally as haunting as its title suggests’ Mail on Sunday
Author
About Helena McEwen
Helena McEwen grew up in Scotland and lives in London. She trained as a painter at Camberwell and Chelsea art schools and has mounted several exhibitions of her paintings. Her debut novel, The Big House, was first published in 1999. Her second, Ghost Girl, follows a thirteen-year-old girl to a convent boarding school in the English countryside.
