One Year of Ugly

'Deliciously dark' EMMA JANE UNSWORTH 'Funny and important' LAURA JANE WILLIAMS

It was Aunt Celia who got us into the whole mess. The entire Palacios family thrust smack into the middle of a crime ring.

Meet Yola Palacios.

Having escaped crumbling, socialist Venezuela, Yola and her family are settling into their peaceful new life in Trinidad.

But when her beloved Aunt Celia dies, the family once again find their lives turned upside down. For Celia had been keeping a very big secret - the Palacios are seriously in debt to a local criminal called Ugly, and without the funds to pay him off, they must do his bidding until the debt is cleared. So far, so ugly.

In the midst of the turmoil appears Roman - Ugly's distractingly gorgeous right-hand man. And although she knows it's foolish, not to mention dangerous, Yola just can't help but give in to the attraction. Could this wildly inappropriate (and very messy) romance be the perfect antidote?

Told with wry humour and irresistible wit, ONE YEAR OF UGLY is devastatingly funny, blisteringly fresh story of family, first love, and finding home.

“'Absolutely joyous! A deliciously dark comedy about family and loyalty. Sharp, slick, merciless - and packed with unexpected love stories. It shoots from the hip and steals your heart. I gobbled it up' Emma Jane Unsworth, author of Adults 'Timely, evocative, funny and important - a gorgeous exploration of love, family, and what it means to call a place home. I gobbled this up!' Laura Jane Williams, author of Our Stop 'Brilliant. Beautifully drawn characters, and a unique mixture of dark, funny and gritty - I found myself laughing in places I probably shouldn't have, and veryyy invested in Yola and Rom”

'Absolutely joyous! A deliciously dark comedy about family and loyalty. Sharp, slick, merciless - and packed with unexpected love stories. It shoots from the hip and steals your heart. I gobbled it up' Emma Jane Unsworth, author of Adults

'Timely, evocative, funny and important - a gorgeous exploration of love, family, and what it means to call a place home. I gobbled this up!' Laura Jane Williams, author of Our Stop

'Funny and engaging' Abi Dare, author of The Girl with the Louding Voice

'Brilliant. Beautifully drawn characters, and a unique mixture of dark, funny and gritty - I found myself laughing in places I probably shouldn't have, and veryyy invested in Yola and Roman's romance!' Ella Dove, author of Five Steps to Happy

'Engrossing and hilarious' Joanna Glen, author of The Other Half of Augusta Hope

'Funny, heart-warming and smart' Layla AlAmmar, author of The Pact We Made

CAROLINE MACKENZIE is a freelance translator living in Trinidad with her husband and son. A national scholar, she studied in the UK on an Open Scholarship for four years to qualify as a specialist translator before returning to her native Trinidad, where she began writing more extensively. Her short fiction has appeared in literary publications around the world, and in 2017 she was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Short Story Prize. In 2018 she was named the Short Fiction winner of the Small Axe Literary Competition. One Year of Ugly is her first novel.

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