Book of the Week - Emily Mackie, And this is True

A first novel this week, which has attracted quite a bit of press interest and a very positive review in The Guardian. My copy is ordered.....

Emily Mackie was born in Winchester in 1983 and grew up in the Highlands of Scotland where "And this is true" is set. She graduated with an MA in Creative Writing from Bath Spa Universi ty in 2007 and now lives in Bristol, where she is working on her second novel.

'I kissed my father once, when he was sleeping.' Nevis Gow is fifteen. For eleven years he has lived in a van with his father Marshall, travelling the country. They don't need people or school or jobs. All they need is each other. But Nevis doesn't just love his father, he's in love with him too. Until one day Marshall crashes the van and everything changes. Stranded on a remote Highland farm amid a family overshadowed by grief, Marshall tries to steer them back to normality while Nevis fights to keep things the way they were. Soon, though, he comes to realise that nothing about his lost life in the van was quite as it seemed. In Nevis's meticulously detailed record of events, lines blur between love and obsession, reality and wish-fulfilment, dreams and memory. Shocking, funny and poignant, this is the first novel by a young writer of remarkable talent. Publisher and industry reviews : 'Emily Mackie's wonderful novel is a rare thing, delicate and dangerous at the same time. The plot is raw and shocking, the slow reveal is strikingly accomplished, the detail of the writing is fine and funny and precise'