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>MICHAEL SHEEN<br><br>'Funny, truthful, heartbreaking yet hopeful'<br></b><b>JENNIE GODFREY</b></p>