The final novel by the legendary Irish icon Edna O’Brien, author of The Country Girls.''The taboo-breaking, the fabulous prose – there''s no one like Edna.'' Anne Enright''Girl broke me in two: a hard and beautiful miracle.'' Eimear McBride''An extraordinary act of imagination.'' J.M. Coetzee ''Glittering energy . . . Exemplary.'' Colm TóibínI was a girl once, but not any more . . .A young Nigerian woman, barely more than a girl herself, must learn to survive with a child of her own, in a world which seems entirely consumed by madness. As she navigates a landscape of terrors and trials, ruled by Boko Haram, can she find a place of safety within a society blinkered by mistrust and denial?‘Astonishing.’ New Statesman‘Raw and transfixing.’ Observer‘A masterpiece.’ Irish Independent‘Mesmerising.’ Sunday Times‘Devastating and moving.’ Daily Telegraph*Winner of the Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year 2020; longlisted for the 2020 Women''s Prize for Fiction; shortlisted for the 2020 Orwell Prize for Political Fiction; shortlisted for the James Tait Black Memorial Prize 2020*

Edna O''Brien''s beloved classics plunge us into the lives and loves of two girls in rural 1950s Ireland (with a new foreword by Eimear McBride).''The taboo-breaking, the fabulous prose – there''s no one like Edna O''Brien.'' Anne Enright''Surprising and beautiful and courageous .. A beacon.'' Megan Nolan ''Brilliant and brave.'' Ann Patchett''Glittering energy.'' Colm Tóibín ONE OF THE BBC''S ''100 NOVELS THAT SHAPED OUR WORLD''Caithleen ''Kate'' Brady and Bridget ''Baba'' Brennan are growing up in a repressive Irish village after World War II. Kate is a romantic, looking for love; Baba is a reckless survivor. After being expelled from convent school, they dream of the bright lights of Dublin - and are rewarded with bad luck and bad sex; marry for the wrong reasons; but continue to fight the expectations forced upon ''girls'' of every era to become brave new women.Edna O''Brien''s debut novels revolutionised Irish literature in the 1960s. Banned by the authorities as ''indecent'' and burned by the clergy, they were notorious for their frank portrayal of sexual desire: but scandal turned to fame, and made this glorious coming-of-age tale an instant classic that inspires and delights readers to this day.