Only Here, Only Now: The funny, moving and original debut

About this book

As Independent Scottish booksellers, we write all of our descriptions personally, we hope you enjoy this one.

In Fife, during the blazing hot summer of 1994, Cora Mowat feels misread by her mates, and uneasy in her own skin. She lives on a seaside council estate full of dafties, old folk and seagulls, with a restless brain and a head full of dreams. She wants out, but the future looks uncertain, and she is not sure it has room for a girl like her.

At home, the space tightens when her mam’s new boyfriend moves in. Gunner means well, but he is dodgy, a shaven headed shoplifter with secrets stashed under the bed. Their attempts at a makeshift family begin to fray, and Cora’s hunger for love and acceptance sharpens into something rawer.

Only Here, Only Now follows her search for a way through poverty, identity, and family, in a place that can feel like the end of the road. Sometimes the only way forward is to find a route back.