Only Here, Only Now

<p><b>Winner of the McKitterick Prize 2025</b><br><b>Shortlisted for the Gordon Burn Prize 2025</b><br><b>Runner up for the the ADCI Literary Prize 2025</b><br><br><b>''Absolutely loved this. Funny and heartbreaking in equal measure''<br>DOUGLAS STUART<br></b><br><b>''Glorious . . . so unusual, so moving, so memorable''</b><br><b><i>GUARDIAN</i></b><br><b><br>''Tom Newlands may make several prize lists for his stunning debut''</b><br><b><i>OBSERVER</i></b><br><br><b>''This isn''t just a great first novel; it''s a great novel. And Cora, the mad, chaotic, wise, funny narrator, is one of the great characters''</b><br><b>RODDY DOYLE</b><br><br><b>''It''s not every day you read a modern classic. But this feels destined to become one. A thunderous achievement''<br>NATHAN FILER</b><br><br>Fife, in the blazing hot summer of 1994. Cora Mowat''s mates don''t understand her, but then Cora Mowat doesn''t understand herself. She''s stuck on a seaside council estate full of dafties, old folk and seagulls, with a thousand dreams and a restless brain that won''t behave. She''s dying to escape but unsure of what the future holds - if it holds anything at all for a girl like her.<br><br>When her Mam''s new boyfriend moves in, tensions rise in their tiny house. Gunner means well, but he''s dodgy - a shaven-headed shoplifter with more than a few secrets stashed under the bed. As their attempts to forge a makeshift family unravel, Cora rails against her small-town existence in search of love, acceptance and a path to something good. But sometimes you can''t move forward until you find your way back . . .<br><br>In this extraordinary debut, drawn from life but written with riotous imagination, Tom Newlands explores what it means to come of age in a forgotten corner of Scotland and dream of a life that feels out of reach. Vibrant, lyrical and fiercely funny, <i>Only Here, Only Now</i> is a story about poverty, identity and family that shines with hope and resilience.<br><br><b>''A fantastic debut novel . . . it''s a corker''<br>KATHY BURKE</b><br><br><b>''<i>Only Here, Only Now</i> heralds the arrival of an urgent and unique new voice''<br>DAVID PEACE<br></b><br><b>''Cora Mowat is a feisty, Impulse-drenched, Lilt-blooded smasher of a main character and Tom Newland''s prose is fierce and tender, taking us straight to the thudding heart of Cora''s chaotic life''<br>VICTORIA MACKENZIE</b><br><br><b>''Tom Newlands is the real thing. His story will change you''<br></b></p>