Only Here, Only Now

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.

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...

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, Only Here, Only Now is a story about poverty, identity and family that shines with hope and resilience.

About the Author

Tom Newlands is a Scottish author living in London. He is the winner of a London Writer's Award and a Creative Future Writer's Award. In 2021 he was selected for New Writing North's 'A Writing Chance,' which aimed to showcase the most talented writers in the UK from under-represented backgrounds. Only Here, Only Now is his first novel.

Reviews

"Only Here, Only Now is one of the best debuts I've read in years. Cora Mowat is an iconic heroine, growing up against the odds; she's 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. A wonderful, gut-wrenching, heart-soaring novel" ―Victoria MacKenzie, author of For Thy Great Pain Have Mercy on My Little Pain

"In a tremendous act of empathy, in his debut novel Tom Newlands describes both an abandoned, neglected landscape – the small Scottish seaside town of Muircross after the collapse of the mining industry – and what it is like to be inside the mind of a young girl, Cora Mowat, who has undiagnosed ADHD. By turns heartbreaking and hilarious, this is a story of survival against grim odds, superbly spun by a narrator grappling to get to grips with both herself and the incomprehensible world around her. Cora Mowat is my kind of weirdo" ―Cathi Unsworth, author of Weirdo, Bad Penny Blues

"A coming-of-age novel that takes the reader inside the brilliant, fizzing mind of a teenage girl with ADHD growing up in post-industrial Scotland. Funny and fierce" ―BBC Culture

"Rich and vivid... Tom Newlands may make several prize lists for his stunning debut, a portrait of a teenager with undiagnosed ADHD in a working-class, post-industrial community in Scotland... Newlands's impulsive, bold protagonist, who dreams big despite having very little, is richly layered... This sprawling coming-of-age tale explores poverty, belonging, grief and rage, and Newlands writes with such energy that his book, though bleak, is hard to put down... But what impresses most is the author's compassion for his flawed characters. There's humour as well as love, hope and resilience in this accomplished novel" ―Observer

Dimensions: 15.4 x 3.7 x 23.5 cm